IDEA TO PROVIDE DRAINAGE

Southland Times, Issue 23544, 25 June 1938, Page 4

IDEA TO PROVIDE DRAINAGE

Scheme For Township Of Hawthorndale

MEETING OF RATEPAYERS TO BE HELD The proposed drainage 'scheme for the township of Hawthorndale was discussed by the Southland County Council yesterday. A comprehensive report was submitted by the county engineer (Mr G. R. Milward) and. after considering it the council decided to call a meeting of ratepayers in the township to discuss the scheme. “In the area to be considered there are 31 residences, and in addition there are some stables which discharge roof water,” said the engineer in his report. “The natural drainage for this area is in a south-westerly direction through adjoining property, then through the township of Inglewood, but as the following of the natural course would entail such a long length of outfall construction and maintenance . I recommend that the water be diverted and carried to the Puni Creek almost opposite the township itself.” For the purposes of the scheme he was assuming that an open ditch outfall could be made from the Puni Creek through the swamp to the railway, then along the south side of the railway reserve, said the engineer. Drainage by a system of open ditches in the locality would be most undesirable, both from a maintenance viewpoint and because of the fairly close settlement, and as the financing of the scheme would probably be by means of loan money, he had based the estimates on a standard usually used in the suburban drainage of cities. In calculating the sizes of pipe required he had assumed that the number of houses would increase to about 50 during the life of a loan of,, say, 20 years. 11131 was a guess, but he did not think there would be a great increase, as the district was fairly remote from Invercargill. USE OF SILT TRAPS Provision had also been made for the connecting to the system of any tile drains for the purposes of draining sections on which there were no buildings, but it should be insisted, he said, that all tile drains be installed with a silt trap inside the street line, so that no silt would find its way into the main. “This scheme would be purely a stormwater discharge, and it would not be permissible for house water fro™ sinks to be emptied into the dram, he said. “The outfall for the system would be the Puni Creek, and as the Puni Creek flows through the city of Invercargill objection would be taken by the city authorities and by the Health Department to any foul discharge into the Puni Creek. There would be no objection, however, to the installation or septic tanks in the residences, and the outfall of such septic tanks could be connected to the stormwater system. A preliminary estimate of the proposed cost would be £1591. “It appears that a special rating area would be necessary, and, if possible, on a capital value basis, as the owner of, say, half-a-dozen quarter-acre sections with no buildings would not be prepared to pay the same rate for each section as would the. owner of a section with a house on it.” , ~ . . The engineer suggested that a meeting of ratepayers in the area should be called and the whole position put before them. It was decided to act on the suggestion and call a meeting of ratepayers. REPLACEMENT OF HEDGE A letter was received from Mr W. G. Pearce, Main Highways Board representative, advising that the bostfa was prepared to find a subsidy of £1 for £1 for the work of replacing hedges with wire fences on the flanks of a side road entrance near Brydone. Cr A S. McNaught said that the corner was a dangerous one and the hedges blocked the view of traffic. He had interviewed the owner of the property and the owner had agreed to take the hedges out at the councils expense. Cr McNaught said he did not commit the council to any expenditure on the work. It was decided to accept the orier or the Main Highways Board and have the work done. At the request of the Automobile Association (Southland) it was decided to supply white pegs to be placed at the approaches to a wooden bridge on Diamond Peak road, and to arrange for the side rails and end supports of the bridge near the Glencoe school on the Gore-Hedgehope highway to be painted white. . , A Waikawa ratepayer wrote askmg to be exempted from paying rates on the grounds that the Waikawa-Curio Bay road which he used in order to collect his mail was in such a condition as to make it extremely difficult to reach Waikawa at all. “We have been working on the road for months, and it is necessary to fill up some of the holes every time we use the road ; it sometimes takes an hour and a-half to complete the last two miles of the journey,” stated the letter. “It hardly seems fair to expect us to make the road and pay rates as well. It was decided to reply stating that work on the road would be carried out when finance was available. TENDERS ACCEPTED The following tenders were accepted:— Awarua and Wallacetown ridings.— Delivery of maintenance gravel (Wright’s Bush-Myross Bush roads): A. McDowall, £536 18/4. Toe Toes riding—Fortrose-Tokanui district roads: J. Moylan, £285 11/3.