DAY'S BAY DRAINAGE AND WATER SUPPLY

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 236, 24 June 1918, Page 6

DAY'S BAY DRAINAGE AND WATER SUPPLY

MEETING OF RATEPAYERS SOME PERTINENT QUESTIONS A largely attended meeting of ratepayers of Day's Bay was held on Saturday evening to discuss various aspects of the drainage and water supply proposals which are to be submitted to i poll on Monday next, July 1. Mr. D. M. Findlay presided, and. explained to those present tho baels of rating under the proposals, with approximate estimates of the calls which would be made in individual cases. Ho also uttered a strong plea that the ratepayers in considering, their vote at the poll should weigh carefully their responsibility to the community, whose general welfare and prosperity, ho urged, would bo materially influenced for better or worse, as the case might be, by the result of next Monday's poll. There was no doubt that the initial cost ot installation would bear somewhat heavily on some, but as against ■ that, he undertook to say, the value of property would practically bo doubled. If the proposals were negatived by tho vote, the .empowering legislation would become null and void, and that legislar tion, he pointed out, had not been an easy matter to negotiate at such K time. He could assure them that the 6cheme was a good one, and would prove to be quite efficient. The City Engineer's reputation was at stake, and that ought to be a sufficient guarantee. To' reject the scheme would be to court a serious epidemic which would react tothe detriment of the general interests of the community, which, as regarded its oliniote, situation, and general attractions held a unique distinction as a euburb.

A number of questions were asked at the conclusion of the chairman's remarks. Some of tho questioners wero anxious to be assured that the pipes to ba used would give satisfaction, and that an effort would be made to ensure that cast-iron pipes, which were practically good for all time, and which could be landed from Sydney works at a lower rate, should be used in preference to the spiral eteel pipes mentioned by the City Engineer as likely to be used in view of the difficulty in procuring cast-iron pipes. It was pointed out that the renewal of a spiral steel pipe reticulation after a certain period would be inevitable, involving an additional cost to the ratepayers. Mr. Bagnall raised the question of tho efficacy of the system proposed, and quoted tho experience of the Feilding and the Birmingham municipalities. "Was the system a sanitary system? That was to say, would it be equipped with filter-beds for facilitating the destruction of the one set of bacteria by the otherits natural enemy? If he could be assured on that point he would vote for the scheme. If not, he would vote against it, as experience had shown that unless septic tank systems were "sanitary"—equipped with filter beds—they would not give satisfaction, and pollution would follow. r The chairman said that the City Engineer could be trusted to see to it that the scheme would bo efficient. Mr. Bngnall insisted'that the point was one for a health officer, not an engineer. It was a very important point, vital to the scheme.

Mr. M'Callura, whosaid he had technical khowledge of plumbing costs, considered that tho ratepayers would do well to postpone the scheme till after the war. The cost of material had risen enormously—in certain items it had gone up 136 par cent. Ratepayers would .find when they eamo to connect up their properties with tho system that they would have to pay very heavily—he knew of certain properties which, in his judgment, would cost anything from or £S0 to .£IOO to connect up. ' The chairman regretted that several of the questioners had not availed themselves of the opportunity to put these points to Mr. Morton nt the previous meeting in the- Pavilion, when they could have had their doubts set at rest. Ho himself was not prepared to answer questions of a technical kind. He was quiito prepared to trust to the judgment and capacity of Mr. Morton to give them a sound echenie, and he urged those preeeut to do likewise, and at the poll nest Monday indicate their confidence in a practical way.

After a vote of tlianka to the chairman the meeting dispersed.