LYTTELTON'S YEAR.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9521, 20 April 1909, Page 1

LYTTELTON'S YEAR.

■ . » THE TOWN CLERk'S REVIEW. ' At last night's meeting of the Lyttelton Borough Council, the Town Clerk, Mr G. A. Lewin, presented 7 his annual report •on the works of the borough. The year had, he said, been one of . exceptional activity, owing to the erection of a new power-houee rt Heathcote and the installation'of a producer gas plant and the construction of the water-carriage sewage eystein. The latter work involved the greatest capital expenditure ever undertaken by the Corporation. The active operations of drain-laying had been commenced in July last year. The main intercepting sewer wae finished, and very satisfactory progress had been made with the branch drains. The report detailed the progress made with the drainage works, and referred to the innovation of '/ho system of laying each service from the dwelling to the main stireet in order to ensure the general adoption of the new system . as soon as possible. More than half the house connections had bean, made, and, given fair weather, all the mains should be laid by the end of July, and the services should all be connected, up a. couple of months later. An kiea of the magnitude of the work could be obtained from the fact that over, fifteen miles of pipes had .been, laid, and 650 gully-traps, 400 discernTrecfing^trapa -and special pipes/ of all kinds nad been put in. The general maintenance works of the: town had gone on much as' usual, without .notable I features. Corsair * Bay had increased I much in popularity and in, fame, and i the proposals • for its further improvement would add to its popularity. In Tegard to finance, the report stated that the year had commenced with a debit-balance in the revenue ac- ! counts of £1910 Is. The position at the end of the year was : — General ao» count debit, £4051 12s Id; water supply debit, £730 Us 4d ; total, £4782 3s 5d ; gas supply account credit, £732 4s ; net deficiency, £4049 19s sd. The receipts during the year had been : — Balance, April 1, 1908, £1340 3s 6d ; district fund account, £14,519 13s lOd ; temporary loans account, £20,072 5s 6d; drainage loan account, £10,114 13s sd ; total, £47,508 13s Bd. The expenditure had been : — District fund account, j £16,414 19s 3d; temporary loan ac- : count, £20,719 19s 8d; drainage loan ' account, £10,373 4s 9d ; gas loan ac- ; count, 10s; leaving a debit balance of £1461 17s sd. In the gas department, the Council had taken a bold step in reducing the price of lighting gas from 8s 4d to 6s 8d per thousand feet; but in spite of the : resultant yearly concession to the consumers of £320, the receipts from the department were within £50 of those of the previous year, and the ascertained net profits were actually higher, £790 as against £787. The profits were roughly 8 per cent on a capital of £20,000, while the Council's predecessors were only able to make 8 on half that amount of capital, though charging 10s per 1000 ft for the gas. Refering 10s per 1000 ft for the gas. Now that the concession in price had proved a Vfis© 6^P? & should be kept prominently in view during the coming year, especially as little or no revenue woula be needed for extension purposes. Tables appended showed that during the year 884 tons of coal had been carbonised, producing 10,005,000 feet of gas, or 11.854 feet per ton ; 346.4 tons of coke, ' and 10,159 gallons- of tar, or 12.03 gallons per ton. Of the gas made 96.89 j per cent had been accounted for. The net cost of the coal per 1000 feet of gas was 2.95 d. The revenue from the department was: — Gas sold £2891 13s 9d, tar sold £246 13s Id, coke sold £483 15s, totalling 96.21 d per thousand feet of gas. The cost was as follows : — Coal £844, manufacture £826 16s, interest £784 10s, renewals £183 2$ lid, administration £125 15s, incidentals and lamp-lighting £157 7s lid, totalline; 75.71 d per -thousand feet. The profit, plus profit on fittings sold and incidentals, was £869 11s lOd. The report stated that the year had marked a distinct epoch in the history of water-supply, producer gas, with high-lift turbine pumps, having superseded the old steam plant. The saving in fuel was sufficient to pay 4| per cent on the total capital expenditure, and then there remained a yearly surplus, which, if invested as a sinking runji. on & 4 per cent basis, would in sixteen years extinguish the £3000 spent on the plant. The success of the new plant raised the qu estion of reviewing the pumping plant at the Lyttelton snb-station, the growing demand ort the higher levels, and the further aemarid to, be created by sewage work necessitating' not only additional storage but a more efficient plant and a rising main of increased diame- '■ ter. - . ' "' . • I