DRAINAGE BOARD.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 818, 5 February 1877, Page 2

DRAINAGE BOARD.

The usual fortnightly meeting of the Board was held at halfVpast tea o'clock this morning. Present—Messrs Joneg, Bobbs, Hall, Duncan, Wright, Ross, and Harman. THE CHAIRMAN; Mr Duncan said he had been desired by Mr Tancved to apologise for his absence at this meeting. Mr Tancred informed him that on very short notice, he had to proceed to Dunedin. He would have written a letter to the Board if time had permitted him to do so. On the motion of Mr Harman, seconded by Mr Eogp, the. chair was taken by Mr Hobbs.

THE DRAINAGE QUESTION. The chairman said he had prepared a few notes which he thought he ought to read at the earliest opportunity. With the permission of the Board, he would proceed to read as follows :—"Observing that there has been a large amount of adverse criticism during the last few days upon the action of ths Board in adopting Mr Carruthers' scheme, I deem it advisable to make a few comments thereon. In so doing, I propose to briefly review the circumstances which called this Board inio existence, and its subsequent acts in performing its functions. The origin of this Board is due to a conference of some members of the City Council and the chair• men of the anjjining Road Boards, who met to consider the best method of grappling with the difficult question of providing efficient permanent drainage for the city and suburbs. At this conference it was decided to employ a solicitor to draft a Bill for the General Assembly, the chief object of which was the establishment of one. central Board, to have the control cf the whole district requiring drainage. The Bill was drafted, and with a few slight alterations became law, and under that law this Board has been elected, every portion of the district being fairly represented. On the Board's commencing operations, its first duty was to consider the best means of obtaining a good engineering scheme for the drainage of the whole district. In fulfilling this duty, there were several courses open to the Board. The late Provincial Government had decided, in order to spend a vote of the late Provincial Council (passed for the same purpose) to advertise and offer a premium for competitive designs, but, in consequence of this Board having been elected for this especial purpose, the Provincial Government paid over to it the unexpended portion of that vote. The question of following this same course was debated by the Board and declined, The difficulty which presented itself, supposing this course had been adopted, was the inability of a Board of non-professional men to dedecide, amongst the number of schemes submitted, which would be the best. It is true, the various plans might have been referred to eminent engineers in England for their opinion but it was felt that this was inadvisable, as it meant considerable delay which was dangerous, and also that English engineers would not be likely to have the requisite local knowledge of the district, without which their decision would be of little value. There remained then only one other course open to us, viz., that which we adoptad, that is to employ the highest engineering talent in the country, who could obtain the requisite local know ledge, and trust to the position of the gentleman in question to accept the responsibilities and J prepare th.e scheme. This, the ecgineer-in-caief for New Zealand, Mr John Carrntherß, has done. The scheme submitted is reasonable and feasible, and as such has been adopted so far as the system of sewers, &c. for which plans were shown for approval. In Mr Carruthers, we have an old and experienced member of the Society of British Engineers, and he has been particnlary careful to associate none but high class men with him in this work. I feel sure every member of this Board can bear testimony to the fact that the work of Mr Bell and Mr Webster is thoroughly reliable and accurate. The question of the drainage of the eity and suburbs has been well thought out by able men before this Board was in existence. Mr Marshman, in his prize essay on thiß subject, writes as follows:—"The Drainage Board having been constituted, and the nec- ssary surveys made and data obtained, a system of main drains should be projected, and an engineering plan of the whole district, with levels and working details, should be adopted and settled. The general plan so settled should be regarded as final, and any drain that might be undertaken, or any portion of work done connected with or affecting drainage should be done in accordance with this general plan. The city of Christchurch has already made a main outfall drain to the Heathcote estuary, and a certain length of main drain within and around the city. It is believed that the outfall drain, as well as the city drains, will fit in as part of the general scheme for the district. The general plan should show the main drainage as it will be when the system shall have been completed. It may not ba considered necessary, and it might not be possible financially, to complete it immediately. Some portions, though useful and ultimately required, might admit of postponement for the present; such postment might involve some disadvantages, but the local authorities may elect to submit to those disadvantages for a time ; eg., they may decide to postpoae the making of drains necessary for intercepting the sewage that now runs into the Avon and the Heathcote. But the general plan should include provision for maintaining both those rivers free from pollution. Until these intercepting drains shall have been made, the drainage of so much of the district, the normal fall of which is to the Heathcote, or the Avon must continue to go into them." The ratepayers will see from-this extract that the preliminary measures carried out by the Board are quite in accord with the views of the writer, and considering that this eesay was far and away the most able paper that had then been written on this subject, it is very satisfactory to know that generally speaking Mr Carruthers' scheme agrees with it. In conclusion, I trust the remarks I have made will tend to allay any feeling of dissatisfaction among the ratepayers; and I would ask them to consider that we have in this matter the reputation of high class engineers at stake, which I venture to aßsert is of far more consequence to them than the amount they are in this instance to receive for their services. It will be a work of years to complete the whole scheme, and consequently the increase of rates will be gradual, and will, I trust, be accompanied with a steady decrease of City Council rates, which I know to be practicable. I trust the Board will at this meeting carefully consider what portion of Mr Carruthers' tcheme should be at once commenced, and that the necessary steps will hi authorized, and also will bear out my statement that at present the question of polluting the estuary has npt been considered or decided on. Mr Wright said, bearing in mind that afti? conducting the sewage to the mouth of the outfall drain in the manner indicated by Mr Carruthers, that the Board had yet to decide whether it should be carried direct to the ocean, or whether it should be spread over the Sandhills, and disposed of by filtration. He paid a visit to the Land office to ascertain what Crown land was still unsold that might be availed of should the Board decide o adopt the latter alternative, and he found : n area of abous 400 acreg betwego tfc.-i mouth.

of the outfall drain and the Avon, and for which he made application last Monday in the usual manner in the interest; of the Board, and it was now for the Board to decide whether it would secure these 400 acrem for £BOO. or apply to the General Government to reserve the same for the purpose of the Drainage Board ; and considering that the reserve would be for the use of a district that within fifteen years will probably contain a population of 100,000, he thought there could be no doubt of the reserve being granted, and would advise the Board to make immediate application for it through tho Chief Commissioner of Waste Lands. Mr Duncan thought the action that had been taken by Mr Wright was a matter which the Board ought to have taken into consideration. He was glad that Mr Wright had thought of it, and he thought the Board could not do better than secure the land in question. He should Hko to hear what the engineer thought of the matter. Mr Ball said he had not seen the land refer red to by Mr Wright. The land he pointed out to Mr Ca-Viuthera as suitable for the purpose was to the south of it, and waa flat land. He would like to see the land referred to by Mr Wright before he gave an opinion. It was resolved that Mr Wright should renew his application for the land in question. Mr Harman moved—" That the chaiiman be requested to make application to the Government for a reserve of this land for the purposes of the Board." Mr Jones seconded the motion, which was agreed to' The chairman said it was now open to members of the Board to offer whatever remarks they thought proper with regard to the adverse criticism which had been going on in the newspapers. Mr Jones said he was rather glad than otherwise to see so much interest taken in the question of drainage, and he thought it waß perfectly legitimate that people should have an opportunity of stating their opinions on this subject. At the last meeting of the Board he advocated the postponement of the consideration of the plans in order that the public and the -Board might fully consider them, but it was pointed out that it would be somewhat uncourteous to Mr Carruthers if the Board did not approve his plans at that meeting. He for one would not deßert an engineer whom the Board had appointed to deal with this matter, but at the same time he thought that even adverse criticism would do good. Mr Boss said he quite agreed with the remarks made by the chairman, and with the resolution which the Board bad come to on Monday last. The whole thing resolved iteelf into this: Whether the opinion of thirty newspaper correspondents ehould be taken before that of high classed engineers. His judgment led him most decidedly to support their engineers. Mr Harman said there seemed to be some misimpression as to what the Board had done in this matter. They had simply adopted a series of levels, by means of which the drainage of a very difficult area could be conveyed to a given point. The Board had yet to decide what should be done with the drainage when it was taken to this point, which of course would be a matter for future consideration. He had reason to know that a great deal of the present opposition was raised by persons who did not like to be called on to pay the rates which it would be necessary to levy to crury out this system of drainage. la fast, these people would rot agree with any system of drainage, were it even devised by a heaven-born engineer. Mr Wright said the Board had been accused of going twelve years backwards. This was certainly an untrue accusation, b2oaii33 he contended that instead of going twelve years backwards the Board was actually going twelve years forwards by providing a system of drainage that would be suitable for a population of from 80,000 to 100,000. He thought the resolution come to by the Board on Monday last was a very proper one, . The matter then dropped. OFFICES. The Chairman reported that Mr Johnston's premises had been taken as offices for the Board; possession to be had on the Ist of April. ENGINEER'S REPORT. The Engineer reported as follows: "The past fortnight has deen taken up in finishing the plans and sections under the directions of the consulting engineer, who wishes to have copies on paper in order to work out details; as this involves a replotting of all the sections, there is a very considerable amount of work in it, and I will require to procure additional temporary assistance in order to get them finished and sent to bim with as little delay as possible. The staff in the office will be fully employed taking out quantities to forward to Mr Oorruthers for him to make a general estimate for the cost of the whole work, and in making Beveral small detail surveys required by Mr Carruthers to enable him to design overflow and flushing works, &c. " If it is the intention of the Board to commence any of the large sewers at once, I would recommend the purchase of more cement, bo as not to be entirely dependent on the arrival in time of orders sent to England; this would also necessitate the building of another shed. " I have directed borings to be taken along the Ferry road, to ascertain nature of foundation, as I expect difficulty in building Bewerß there on account of water and quicksand at the great depths at which the sewers are placed. The work of building this sewer will take a long time, and it will not be possible to close the Ferry road drain until it is completed, as besides the work it does in carrying away rain floods from the south of the town, it will be necessary to pump water out of the trenches of the sewer into it, which would otherwise flood the Ferry road or keep it continually wet. " The matters referred to the engineer at the last meeting have been attended to. " I have the honor to remain, « C. Napier Bell, " Engineer." The Board approved of tho first paragraph of the report, It was resolved, on tho motion of Mr Duncan, seconded by Mr Jonos, that tenders for cement be called for. The remainder of the report was apprtved. Mr Duncan moved—" That the engineer be instructed to have the drainage works between Christcburch Quay and the southeast corner of the East Town belt, thence to the Gasworks road ; also between the present outfull drain on the East belt along Tuam

1 street to the corner of Manchester street; thence along Manchester street to the South bolt ; also from the junction of Manchester • r nd St Asaph street aioug the last namec' street to its junction with Antigua stree'. ■roceeded with." Mr Harman seconded the motion, which '.ras agreed to. CORRESPONDENCE. A letter was read from the Manager of the Bank of New Zealand, stating that on Mod vay last the whole of the Drainage Board debentures had been disposed of at slightly over par, or £IOO Is. A, letter was read from Mr Brittan, Church Steward, asking the Board to clear a certain drain. Referred to the engineer. A letter was read from Messrs Garrick and Cowlishaw, stating that the Board had power to deal with the drain running through the Rev C. Fraser's land, but would have to pay compensation if any damage were sustained. Mr Duncan said this was not the point otwhich Messrs Garrick and Cowlishaw's opinion was required. The point was whether the drain belonged to Mr Eraser or the Board It waa resolved that the engineer should see Messrs Garrick and Cowlishaw on the subject. A letter was read from Mr C. Ladds, asking for payment of the balance of commission owing to him for collecting rates. It was resolved that Mr Ladds be asked to furnish a list of rates uncollected, and that he take his instructions from the Board aB to suing for the same. A letter from Mr H, Crooks re the drain on the North belt was referred to the engineer. A letter was read from Mr Carruthers, enclosing his account for £7OB 6s Bd—namely, eleven months' salary, £l6B 6i Bd, and £250, part payment for designs. It was resolved that the nccoust be paid. ACCOUNTS. Several accounts were passed for payment, LOCAL BOARD OF HEALTH. It was resolved that the chairman should arrange with the Bank as to having a separate account for the Board of Health, REPORT OF COMMITTEE. Mr Wright brought up the report of the committee appointed with leference to the scale of prices of earthenware pipes required for the district. The committee recommended that lists of pipes, with sizes _ required, should be furnished to the various makers in Christchurch, Dunedin, and Auckland, and firms in Scotland, asking for quotations delivered in Lyttelton. ANTIGUA STREET AND HOSPITAL DRAINS Mr Harman said before the Board adjourned he desired to state that it was his intention to move a series of resolutions in the Board- of Health, with the object of abating the nuisance arising from these drains. It occurred to him that the Board of Health could not deal with the matter as efficiently as the Drainage Board, and he would like to know whether the Board would consider the resolutions. The Board decided to consider the matter, Mr Harman then moved—"l. That it is the duty of this Board to prevent the discharge of hospital sewage into the River Avon. 2. That the chairman be requested to take such steps as he may deem advisable, after consultation with the engineer and the medical officer of the Board of Health, and with any other per Eon whose advice may appear to him to be requisite or desirable for ensuring the abatement of the nuisance caused by the Hospital Creek and the Antigua street ditch, at as early a date as possible." Mr Wright seconded the motion, which was agreed to. THE DRAINAGE TLAIsS, On tho joint suggestion of Mr Harman and Mr Duncan, it waa resolved that tracings of the plans be executed, find that they be open to the inspection of the public when completed, \ The Board then adjourned.