CIIY DRAINAGE.

Colonist, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8066, 10 October 1894, Page 2

CIIY DRAINAGE.

To the Editor of the Colonist. Sir, - Perusiog your otherwise fairly our* tailed report o! my u:teranoes in the Oouuoil ou Friday las', I fiod that you report me as having Baid the " sewaga " should go through the old Haltwater Bridge channel ; wheroas I said the " storm wa er " should go that way, and the sewage out by way of the Waimea street culvert to meet the Maitai Etream whioh would take it seaward elesr of the t affie.

Feeling Bure that no one is more in earnest about the drainage of tbia city tban yonrtef, I send you for publication my views on the matter, based upon the following faots :— The lowest part of the City is at the old Saltwater Bridge, now a culvert, and that is tbe natural cutlet ; the attempts to maks the stormwater go elsewhere is only productive of trouble, cost, and vexation. When nature asserts herself in very heavy rainfalls, the answer as to the right place for the outlet comes quiok and forcible; it iB a case of " Fox-a-ballagh," and finds out the weak points in engineering and structures. The attempt to foroa the storm-water out of the Waimea culvert will not do. That culvert was extended for the express purpose of carrying the sewage and solid excrement northward until it met the Maitai a .ream, and to abate a dangerous nuisance said to have produoed the epidemio of typhoid some years ago ; till this extension was made the sewage used to spread over the flat, and, in suocmer, after the spring tides took off, used to fester and give out pestiferous vapour j, to be by the sea breeze blown back on the city. The extension of this culvert was, and is, one of the beet works ever constructed by the City Council, and perfeotly fills the bill intended by those who carried the work through.

Before the Railway was oarried to the Port there used to be ful three feet more water up to the old Saltwater culvert, This shallowing of our natural drainage outlet was another of the tricks played off upon this City by the Government (they saved about £500 by i«) ; it is of a piece with the encroachment on the Wharf approach road, and three foot patb. It will be neoessary to deepen the channel from the bridge to the Gasworks Wharf to rebuild to its original depth the old, tumbledown, salt-water oolvert, and, working southward, form a channel about 30 f et wide and about 5 feet to top of banks, which would be proteoted by wilbws or ether suitable work ; this channel to be carried over the lowest ground, in a proper carve, till opposite the north Bide of Hardy-street West. Vanguardstreet would ba pierced by two large culverts to receive the Vanguard-street water and the water from Hardy-street and Waimea-road, &c. This would be the first decided step in the direction of separating the sewage from tbe storm water.

There is no occasion to increase the rates, and I Bhould objeot to aa inoreas", feeling sure that it is well within our means to carry out the above-noted sogges'ions by small contracts, under the direction of the City Surveyor, and small aqnual appropriations. If the tide was kept out, the unsightly mud would soon show verdure, and be pleasant instead of offensive to look upon.

Inference was made to the money spent upon the drainage plans. Yes, that was a very great mistake. If the reoords ara looked up, it will ba seen that the writer protested against the payments being made, as there was no Buitab'e plan, and therefore there was no value for money. A vary peouliar phase of the matter was that the least suitable was selected, and the proof is, that they have never been used.

A dread seemß to Bit on some that, in order to drain thoroughly, a large Bum would have to be borrowed, involving a considerable annual outlay for interest. This is only a " bogey," all that is wanted is a fall and complete inquiry into the matter. When the praotioal solution has been found, an ancusl appropriation Buch as we can afford may be expended on the scheme ; experience and economy will be gathered as the work proceeds. No doubt it will take sears to complete—this is better than getting into debt. Yours, &q., William Akersten.