OUR CITY ENGINEERS.

Progress, Volume XV, Issue 6, 1 February 1920, Page 711

OUR CITY ENGINEERS.

Mr. Bush, of Auckland, and Mr. Morton, of Wellington, return to New Zealand.

The city engineers of Auckland and Wellington have both ' returned to New Zealand after an extensive tour of America and England. No - doubt we will benefit as a result of the enterprise of both these Council's action. It is sound policy to keep our practical men up-to-date. Mr. Bush, City Engineer of Auckland, investigated nearly all phases of munici-

10,000 miles had been laid in concrete,' while another 10,000 miles had been paved with asphaltie or bituminous surfaces. Sheet asphalt was mostly used on the city roads. The increase in motor-car traffic had stimulated road construction, and enormous sums were being expended in paving both city and country streets. There were three "ocean to ocean" high-

pal enterprise during his tour of the United States, Canada, and Great Britain, which he has just completed. Some of the matters which came under his notice in the course of these "investigations, which weire made at the instance of the City Council, were reviewed by Mr. Bush recently, on his return by the Ruapehu. He stated that he inquired into such questions' as road construction,' labour-saving machinery, municipal organisation and administraton, water works, sewerge, markets, town-planning, the house problem, etc. s Discussing road construction, Mr 1 Bush stated that what- struck-him most in America was-the re-'; malrkable development of the great highways. ;.; Ten .years ago the country' roads connecting cities were practically earth v ; To-day it was estimated that over

ways under construction in the United States, all in concrete,. and in some of the States loans of over £10,000,000 were being raised for reading development. The Federal Government had made a grant of £20,000,000 for 1920, in respect of the roads over which mails were carried. J * * In. England,, considering the deteriorating influences of the war, the main roads were in excellent condition. This was exemplified during the great railway strike, when the enormous population of the inland towns and, cities depended upon motor transport for their food supplies. The country roads were principally macadam, treated with some form- of tar or bituminous surfacing. In the British cities, wood and asphalt pavements were found in the shopping streets, while for those carrying the heaviest traffic,

granite settes on concrete foundations, were considered to be the only pavements that would stand the severe loads now carried by motor lorries, steam waggons and tractors. .There /was a remarkably large number of steam waggons in use in Great Britain. In this respect it was ahead of America, though motor-cars were not so numerous as in the States, or in Canada. Concrete foundations were principally used in Britain and America for all first-class road pavements. So far as -concrete roads were concerned the work done in Auckland in the last two years was, said Mir Bush, as good a class as that done in America. Labour-saving Machinery. The use of labour-saving machinery in the United States was remarkable. Practically no operation in connection with large engineering works which could be more economically and efficiently performed by machinery than by hand labour was carried out by the latter method to-day. Machines -were in -'use for digging trenches, for laying sewers and water mains, for refilling and ramming trenches, for excavating foundations and removing earth in any quantity, for mixing concrete and other materials, and even for driving headings and tunnelling work in mines, etc. The first cost of such machinery was often very considerable, but America Was so large, and there was so much work always proceeding, that machines were easily hired if it was not worth while to purchase them for a "particular piece of work. ; In regard to the use of labour-saving machinery, Britain was far behind America, but Mr. Bush said he anticipated that the very large increase in wages now- being received by the British workman would cause more attention to be given to this important matter. In New Zealand, with its much smaller population, and necessarily lesser amount of work, hand labour would have to be used for many of these operations, but he was confident that in tbe carrying out of large works New Zealand and Australia both were likely to follow American methods more quickly than the older countries.

Water Supply and Power.

~- Mr. Bush said that water supply undertakings in America were on a very large scale. . The consumption of water per capita there was far larger than in-most other countries. As an instance, the city of Los Angeles had brought water from the Owens River, 300. to 400 miles distant from the city, and not only was the supply used for ordinary purposes, but also irrigating large Tracts of what was previously desert land, but which now formed a part of the city area. v/'•:;: : -' - fc v ':■ ■...•},..>:

The most remarkable feature about this undertaking, : However,;: was the ■ development \ of hydro-electric power. Some 37.000 "was alreadv being developed by .utilising the ; fall of the water in the aqueduct. It was estimated that ultimately 2.000,000 • h.p. could be obtained from the Owens River and the aqueduct. America was much better off than Britain for water sources for hydro-electric power. J San Francisco' was

now going in for a scheme costing £9,000,000, of a somewhat similar character to that of Los Angeles, although the supply for San Francisco was nearer to the city than was that of the other centre. Mr. Bush was able to visit and inspect all the great reservoirs and dams of the New York water supply system, the largest undertaking of its kind in the world. He found that the practice of metering the supplies was far more ’ commonly adopted in the United States than in Britain or in New Zealand. but, even with the metering the American was ranch more lavish or wasteful in the use of water than the average British citizen. Sewerage and Sanitation. In regard to sewerage works and sewage disposal. Mr, Bush said he found in America that, where a discharge could be obtained into tidal water or into large rivers, the discharge of raw sewage was commonly undertaken. Where the same course was not possible arreat attention was oeing paid to the activated sludge system of sewave treatment. - At Milwaukee he bad inspected a, station where most' ela--1 "We experiments, extend in or oyer four years bed b p en carried mit to test this method before finally adnntincr it. In other parts of the United States and' Britain worins were befog carried out, .on this method. The activated sludge svstem could be generally described, said Mr. Bush, as the purification of the sewage by the introduction of forced air. which speeded up the usual process of bacterial treatment. It is expected to produce by this process a dee which, hv Dressing and drying, can be converted into a saleable manure.

The methods in use for the disposal of hnn.se refuse in America, and also in England since the war. were verv interesting, said Mr. Bush. The necessity for utilising waste products bad resulted in a new treatment of the subject. In America it was common to find that at the house the refuse was separated into two, and sometimes three, kinds. In the former case the cinders and combustible refuse was separated from the kitchen waste, or garbage as it was usually called, and the latter was used for the.' feeding of pigs. "Where three separations were made the third consisted of paper, rasrs. arid similar matter. whv»h was sorted at a. denot and sold. "Refuse destructors were, therefore, not so numerous in the United States as in Britain. In.the case of +he latter country manv of the progressive cities such as Birmingham and Sheffield, had installed plants foir utilising waste products, and largely reducing the quantity of refuse that had to be burnt or otherwise disposed of. In the collection of house refuse electric vehicles were being used in Britain, while the use of motor vehicles for municipal purposes was being adopted largely on both sides of the Atlantic. ' '..

A Change.—"lsn't your wife dogmatic?;" V . "She was when Pomeranian pups were the style, but/now she's auto-matie.'' :. .> I: -'■''-

—Baltimore "American,''