THE DRAINAGE WORKS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13673, 15 August 1908, Page 6

THE DRAINAGE WORKS.

INSUFFICIENT LIGHTING AT-. J : NIGHTS. • c THE CONTRACTORS FINED. ■ ■ ' i From time to time there have been-as- j Bertions made to the effect that the underground drainage works are not sufficiently ligbtfed- -and -the complaints culminated yesterday in an action being brought in the Magistrates Court, -before Mr. C. A. "Wray, S:M., against Andrew Fibbes and Jehn '(Xyma, the contractors. The charge • ■was one of having, left a. dangerous formation at. the junction, .of LeCren and Elizabeth Streets unlighted .between . sunset of -August Bth' and sunrise of August Sch. Mr S. G. Raymond, appeared for the contractors and .entered a - plea of not; Green, who said that the-subject matter of .the charge a-mound" of clay-spoil from the trenches, -was-nnlighted and fenced off. with, barren. Being at a.corner.it ;was a more dangerous obstruition .than' it would have been elsewhere. Ihe defendants. had. been spok en to and cautioned by the Borough Council officers without effect and the attention of the police was then drawn to the matter. ' Constable Hammond stated that on bat-. •urday night last he saw the obstacle mentioned at the junction of 'Elizabeth and'LeCien Streets,' the iormatiun being 16 or 18 feet in length. It was fenced ofi -With a barricade ot'barre-.fi, but was not lighted. This: was about 8 p.m. There w«us a,; similar obstructiun further down LeCren street and. between the two the road was in a bad state with several heaps of clay about. : ...- • . .To Mr. Raymond: There was no hole. The second obstruction was at the end ot Commercial Street and both appeared to be of surplus-spoil from the trenches.' The moon was at about half fuil--■b\ W. Marchant, engineer in charge of the drainage works, saia that defenuants were responsible lor the obstruction mentioned in the charge. On Saturday nignt his attention was drawn to both the mounds of clay mentioned by Constable Hammond- He had &everai times spoken to the contractors about tne danger; they did nat' take" sufficient' interest in the safety of the public, merely sending someone round to light the lamps, but without seeing that" the lamps were provided. This was a very-serious "matter; under the contract the contractors were primarily responsible. He did not know if the Borough Council' were liable for the removal of the .spoiL . v To Mr. Raymond: There were two lots of casks around the two obstacles on Saturday night, whether the contractors were right in saying that they removed them on Friday or not. There, was scantling along.the tops of the casks, which projected 10 or 12 feet- into the road, This was at 5.30 p.m. and he told the clerk of works to go and' see if the obctrucUont were, lighted and if 'not to inform the police. . Constable McLean stated that he saw the obstruction at the corner of LeCren and Elizabeth Streets about 11 ..o'clock on Saturday, night,. when it was unlighted. The barrels surrounded the spoil, evidently being there to keep the public off. -. A. Beswick, boroungh. overseer, said the Council removed the spoil only when they required .it and gave notice in such esses. The.Council were not liable for this removaL ' To Mr J Raymond : The contractors had sent him word that they had some soil suitable for Caroline Bay and he said he would have some, but when they began to send clay and not 6oil he stopped them. He had previously had clay from ihe contractors to fill .up holes and trenches. . ■ Mr. Ravmond said that ,the contractors had informed Mr. Beswick that they had some spoil for -him. and . as. he replied that hfe would .accept it they surmised that he wonld. take ti away. The mound of clay.was net surrounded by a barricade and could not be under any circumstances a " dangerous formation." The by-law said "any hole, excavation or dangerous formation," and he submitted that a dangerous formation under the Borough bylaw had references. to buildings or something artificially formed for purposes of and this definition could not apply to a mound of earth. Under the Public Works Act or the Municipal Corporations Act the defendants might be liable, but not under the borough by-law. .F. Clymaj one of the contractors, 6aid thai as the trenches in connection with the works were filled in the barrieis were removed and in this case a' message was sent, to Mr. Beswick on Friday and Mr. Beswick replied that he wanted some spoil and would shift this. mound of surplus 6tuff, which was left next to the channel, •unlighted. It was not, as other witnesses "had stated, surrounded by barrels; what barrels, were there were lying in the gutter out of the way, while the majority were shifted on Friday to.Wilson Street. Some barrels of sand for future operations were there yet. He never barricaded any surplus spoil, only open trenches. This spoil was left for Mr. Beswick and had he not said he would take it Mr Potter would have done &o on Friday. To Sub-Inspector Green: He denied the evidence of Mr- .Maxchant and the police to the effect that the spoil was surrounded with barrels and scantling and there was no'casks run 12 or 14 feet out into ■ the street. There were none at 4 p.m. on Saturdav nor on Monday morning. The clay was "not dangerous where rt was left a3 it "was alongside the putter. He admitted having been previously spoken to about insufficient lighting.

H. Miliigan, carter for, defendants, said he shifted some barrels from the centre of the street, from a pit which had just been filled ■ in, and carted them to Wilson Street. There was some spoil left at the side of the street, but whether is was barricaded or not.he' did not remember. A boy named- Dunn testified that he never saw any barrels round the spoil, which he -understood was left for Mr. Beswick. This concluded the evidence. His Worship 6aid there was no doubt the contractors had left the streets in an unsafe condition and as for the state of this particular part on the night in question there was the evidence of the engineer in charge and the two constables; and he must accept their statements. There wa3 a question as to whether there was a. breach' of the by-law and on that point he found that timber and spoil had been left in the way. As for the technical meaning of a dangerous formation lie could not eee how any sensible person could say this was not a dangerous formation, There had been a clear breach of the by-law and the wonder was that there were not some accidents, for the streets were in a' most dangerous state. He inflicted a fine of £5 and costs.