LOWER HUTT DRAINAGE

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1063, 28 February 1911, Page 8

LOWER HUTT DRAINAGE

PROPOSED ( LOAN OF £10,000, POLL TO BE TAKEN. About thirty ratepayers of Lower Hutt assembled in tho Town Hall of that borough 'last .evening to consider a proposal to raise a loan of ~£IO,OOO, to complete the borough drainage and sewerage scheme. The Mayor of.Lower Hutt (Mr. E. P. Biinny) presided. With him on tho platform Councillors Bald.vin and Koots. ' ' : Mr. Bunny explained at the outset that an amending' Act passed last session made it unnecessary to hold a' public meeting as a preliminary to taking a poll of ratepayers on a loan proposal." Nevertheless tho council had thought'it only right to call the meeting, so that , any points upon which ratepayers desired enlightenment might be explained. The Government had already, the Mayor continued, agreed provisionally to supply the amount of the loau in the event of the money being required. ' The rate of interest would bo Si per cent, and a sinking fund of. 1} per cent, would also have to.be provided. This meant that for every .£IOO borrowed tho sum" of £i 17s. 6d. would havo to be pnid annually. When the payments had been''continued over a poriod of 30 years, the loan won Id bo wiped but. These werothe best terms upon which the money could be obtained from tho Government at the present time, and there was in fact no other source, from which. tU loun could be obtained on : equally satisfactory :terms.A Delay Explained, It was tho object of tho council to finish up this' , drainage woric and they believed that when the loan now proposed had been expended the--original scheme: would, ba completed. Tht> : engineer '.was now satisfied that tlioboroue;h:water-sup-ply with a very littlo additional expenditure, which -njed not be mentioned here, would suffice, for the needs of Lower Hutt for a'good many:years to come.'. For atime the engineer had been doubtful as to whether the wafer supply would suffice, and this explained tho delay of the council in bringing down the'loan pronoral. Had tho water supply, not been, sufficient, it would have been, of no use raisin; "a loan of only JCIQ.OOO. As tho speaker had stated, tho engineer., was now. satisfied that tho water-sunnly. would suffice,' and the time was ripo.for'nrocecding with the drainsgo : loan-.- Kfcjtbratin!! his' belief that this would bo'the final .loan proposal, Mr. Bunny mentioned that the council had a sum of XBoo.or <£D00,..in; hand. Moreover, ■ provision ha,d been made tq raise, if it should prove necessary, 'an additional t™ per cent! on, an existing loan of .£IO,OOO, and ten percent, additional on, tho now loan of £10,000 if it were agreed to.by tho ratepayers. ' • ArNocessary:Work. ■■'■ - ; ■<

The proposal of the council, Mr. Bunny mentioned, was to call tenders for the construction' of tho drainage. , "works on sniall sections, and to get as manysections a3 possiblo :started with the least possible, dehy.'. Apart from tho desirabilityof coninlotihg the sowernws scheme, there, were-.:two additional , reasons, which should impel the ratepayers to sanction' this loan;.;.ln li) 06 the borough had entered into an agreement with - certain ratepayers to abolish tho sanitary depot, and if .this-, undertaking woro not carried out it would become liable to serious penalties. A"secbiid reason was that if the ceivorago-'wcrf) oomuloted a , single employee -\rould: suffice "to carry' on tho sanitary soryico-iu the borough. Tho engineer hnd estimated'that this would mean a saving of .£BOO a year, nnd it was very, dcsiwblo that this saving ' should bo effected as : soon as possiblo. Personally, said Air. Bunny, ho very, much regrotte'd having to come forward and ask for. any loan at all.- Ho would .much urefcr. to do without borrowing. But this loan was absolutely' necessary. The council had encountered great - difficulties in.-, regard to this matter, which the sneaker hopod some at least of the ratenayors would appreciate. '■ ' "■- .

. ,Thc Water, Supply. . Mr. Russell asked if' tho Engineer's >eport on tho water supply could not be produced.. Ho uudorstood that tho engineer had modo ono report which stated that tho Lower Ilutt, water siinply was inadequate, and that.only one-half tho supply that had been supposed to exist was actually obtainable, This seemed to bo in conflict with tho report of which tho Mayor had. spoken. • ■ •Tho Mayor said.a former engineer had reported that a sum of .£175 would Uavo to be expended in- sinking now wells, and this amount had actually figured on the estimates. Tho-present engineer had, however, succeeded in so. improving the existing wells U:at tho expenditure; named had become unnecessary." . ■ ■ Mr.. Russell said tho report of which ho had spoken had appeared in a, Wellington newspaper under "scare heads." It .was unfortunate that such an alarming report should have been published if it was .not correct, ,'..,, ; Mr. Bunny stated that after making his first report the. engineer- conducted certain experiments of which (he result showed that ho had ncihans taken a Fomowhat pessimistic viow at first. As to tho alarming headlines, neither the engineer nor the council could be held re-, sponsiblo.- ' '-,■■. .■■■;' The Engineer Explains. At tho request of the Mayor, the engineer (Mr. Roach) made a statement in regard to the borough water ,supplv. When he first tested tho borough wells ho found, that they dolivored. only 400 gallons a minute, although 'it had been previously stated that thoy were capable of delivering 800 gallons a minute. On clearing out tho wells, however,'and using suction power, which iiad not been done before, ho found that ■ tho wells wcro capable of producing as much: water as was wanted. Tho trouble-was at prosent that tho piimns ' available were not very powerful, bul thero, was a great store of underground- water.- His first report, Mr. Roach continued, was correct so far as. the actual tests were concerned. Eo had not since reported to tho council exactly what he had done becauso, he was waiting to get tilings a little more advanced. ' ■•■•■• .Replying to Mr. Russell, Mr. l Roach declared himself satisfied that the Hutt water supply would satisfy all legitimate requirements for tho next fow years; / -.. About an Estimate,''.: •-...■ Mr. Kussell said that, about, eighteen months previously' Messrs : Mccson and' Marchant, engineers employed by tho borough, had .estimated that an amount of ,£12,500 would suffice, to complete the sewerage-, scheme. ~-., A sum. of .£9OOO had since been raa'do Kvailablo for . sewerage out of a previous loan of .£IO,OOO, and it was now proposed to make another JE9OOO Available for sewerage out of a now loan of .£IO.OOO. Tho first 'estimate seemed to have been unreliable, , the '-engineers apparently had erred to tho extent of .£5500.

Mr. Bunny said the estimate mentioned had been frameil on ths understanding that tho drainage was practically completed on the utst side of the river. It had been computed that about .£12,500 was required to complete tho drainage 011 this (the east) side, of the river, and the estimate was not far out. Mr. Ruswll . next asked whether tho Moyar had not stated when he stood for election that it would take .£IO,OOO to complete the borough drainage, scheme. The sum of ,£IO,OOO had been borrowed, and authority was now sought tq borrow another .£10,000.' The Mayor said he was not responsible for'the work or for ,tho estimates. All he could do was as far as • possible to watch, over expenditure. He was guided to a great extent by the'advice-of !the expert "oir hand." Mr. Hoach had probably erred on the sido of"liberality in framing his estimate, bsing acquainted with local difficulties which arose from the existence of shifting sand, etc. Mr. Russell: "When you came, before us for the last loan did you not say that you required JSIO.OOO to complete tne work? .•'■-}' Mr. Bunny said the position at the time mentioned was "that ,£IO,OOO was the most the Government would allow the council to have. The council was confiued to that sum, and could not then borrow any more. , ' . . Mr. Petevkin a«ked -whether every house in .streets traversed. by." sewers would' be connected. ■ . . ,■• . . • • ' The Mayor stated ■: that the policy of the council was to Rrant Tery few exceptions. • Anyone desirinp an exemption had to npply to the council, which was.guided by the advice of its engineer. Mr.. Peterkin. said, he thought there should be no exemptions. ■ I\o vote was taken. Th« Mayor, having answered all questions that were asked, simply stated that a poll would bo taken on the loan proposal.on March'B, and the assembled ratepayers dispersed.