DUNEDIN'S PROGRESS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2410, 16 March 1915, Page 6

DUNEDIN'S PROGRESS

; INTERVIEW WITH THE MATOHiI The Mayor of Dunedin (Mr. Shacklock) was a visitor to Wellington last „ week in connection with the Belgian. J Relief Conference, convened by His Exr cellency the Governor-. In the course [. of an interview Mr. Shacklock said " that immediately following the declara--2 tion of war there' had been a good deal 3 of unemployment in Dunedin, bnt through the works which had been put ' in hand the back of the trouble had * been broken, and he did not anticipate that it would be as acute again as it l " had been. One of these works, which ° was likely to mean a good deal to Dunedin was the_ walling in of the Water of Leith, which stream has on occay sions been N most unruly, and in Hood- ■" time was apt'to wander indiscriminaie- ° ly to the annoyance of the council and several citizens. At the harbour, end' a . of. the stream the Harbour Board had ® already* constructed a conduit Jo take 0 tho Leith .flow through its reclaimed ! land, and now the stream was being 6 confined between concrete walls right ;t up through the town, and the hitherto n waste lands which have constituted the >■ stream's restless bed, will bo filled in. and utilised as garden plots and small, t reserves. This work was being done' s by the council in association with, the t Dunedin Patriotic Committees An--0 other work on which the unemployed s were put was the formation of a good 1 road between the seaside places St. e Clair and St. Kilda at "an elevation i above the beach, which work when coms pleted would make a splendid Ocean 6 Drive. The spoil for the making of i this road was being obtained by ex--0 oavating into the side of t the cliffs to e the south of the St. Clair baths, . so •. that two birds were being Filled with 1 the one stone. The council was not y employing young men on the work, as e it considered that all the younger men t should either find other work, preferably ,f in the country, or go to the front. The e work was regarded as a relief, work t pure and simple. . _ ' h A fairly big work now ,in progress in Dunedin was the erection of another , reservoir (out of revenue) nerfr the Waitati saddle, and a long way above u the existing reservoir. The task in ' that connection had been to divert three small streams on tho Waitati ® side of the hill to the watershed' of the Leith, which was being done by I cutting a deep trench in the crest of the saddle. • Mr. ShacKloek hoped that fl this substantial aid to the city's water I supply would be available by nest Spring. The Mayor of Dunedin was questioned as to the revenue-producing qualiII ties of the new municipal tepid baths l " in Moray Place, and said that the city l ' had to bo prepared to face an annual r > loss on its latest venture on the preseni 3 return.