NEW CONNEXIONS TO SEWER

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27512, 20 November 1954, Page 8

NEW CONNEXIONS TO SEWER

PROGRESS OF SCHEMES REVIEWED

Provided the labour force for drainlaying was adequate, there were several hundred houses which could be connected to the sewer within the next few months, said the deputyengineer of the Christchurch Metropolitan Drainage Board /Mr. H. F. Page) in a survey of the situation yesterday. Mr Page said there were about 70 houses in Fendalton and Riccarton subdivisions which could be connected immediately because of the lifting of the restrictions in that area. There were some 350 houses in Housing Department blocks which could be connected as soon as final inspections had been made, and lines for the inspection were now being prepared. In the northern part of the city, some 180 houses would be awaiting connexion when the No. 6 rising main diversion was completed early next year. At Bowenvale there would be about 110 houses requiring connexion when the sewerage scheme there was finished. In the north-west of Christchurch, 135 houses in a Government block could

be connected as soon as the board had put down a short length of sewer. For that work, however, there had been no tenders when they were invited. The board had recently let a small contract which would give connexion to 50 houses in Suva street and Acacia avenue.

Others of the board’s projects were the progressive connexion of the New Brighton area and the connexion of about 450 Housing Department houses at Hornby, said Mr Page. That did not end the list: normal individual expansion, as well as areas brought in as the reticulation schemes extended, also had to be considered. Some members of the board felt that an increase in the number of drainlayers would help avoid delays, and the board therefore was encouraging men to become drainlayers. At present there were 150 registered drainlayers in the board’s district. The board has written to the General Labourers* Union, offering to give advice to men who might wish to become drainlayers. Candidates for registration have to work six months with a drainlayer and arft then eligible to sit a test for a licence.