The Globe. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1877.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 831, 21 February 1877, Page 2

The Globe. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1877.

It is a curious coincidence that while we, in Christchurch, are agitating at the present moment for a Municipal Town Hall and a drainage scheme, the Wellington people should also he clamouring in the same direction. The engineer selected by the Wellington civic authorities, Mr Climie, a gentleman of considerable reputation in that branch of the profession for which his services have been put in requisition, has just issued the report of the scheme he advocates, and it has been published. A few words regarding the method suggested for the purposes ot the capital city may not be out of {.dace at the present juncture of affairs, when at least half the ratepayers of Christchurch have something to say on this vexed question of drainage. Of course we must premise by stating that the difficulties surrounding any attempt at draining Wellington and its immediate vicinity, are not in any way to be compared with what may be said to form obstacles of an almost insurmountable nature here as far, at all events, as pleasing all parties interested is concerned. The town of Wellington nestles at the foot of a range of hills, and fronts an extensive harbour, while beyond a strip of somewhat rough country not mere than a couple or three miles broad, stretches the open ocean. The surface drainage around the city finds its way, naturally, down the stoop slopes at the bottom of which Wellington is built, into the harbour. Mr Carruthers, it may be recollected, when consulted some time ago by the Wellington people advocated a scheme by which the local sewage would be discharged into the harbour, but a commission of engineers reported adveisely upon this plan, and it was rejected. Mr Climie’s idea seems a simple and feasible one, and in many details his system is similar to that recommended by Mr Carruthers to our Drainage Board. He proposes to finally discharge the sewage matter upon the sea shore, where the owner of the land near intends utilizing it as manure,through a tunnel one mile anda quarter long, to he pierced through the strip of laud in question know r n by the name of the Peninsula. At the junction of the tunnel with the main sewer, that is at the outfall of the latter, Mr. Climie proposes to lift the sewage to a height of 22ffc by means of a steam pump. The artificial elevation thus obtained will give an inclination to the tunnel, which will suffice to carry off the sewage matter through it at a considerable rate of speed. Throughout its length the main sewer will be constructed in an oval egg-shape, in order to reduce as much as possible the risk of any sedimenta being retained, this oval shape giving a maximum amount of flushing power with a minimum quantity of liquid. Dive feet per mile, giving the liquid a velocity of 151 ft per minute, will be the incline of the sewer. All the arterial pipes from all parts of the city are meant to strike the main sewer at an acute angle, in order to accelerate the velocity of the flow. This main sewer, through the greater portion of its course, will be sunk below the sea level, so as to secure the incline we mentioned above. Water carriage, it is intended, shall be used to remove all excrementa or refuse from the dwellings, which will thus be expelled with immediate despatch. Thus it is seen that Mr. Climie is fully in favor of the water system. He considers it the sine qua non of an efficient scheme of drainage, that the deleterious elements which accumulations of putrefactive matters originate in so short a space of time, shall be got rid ot as quickly as possible, say within two or three hours at the most. A novel and somewhat ingenious device he has adopted with regard to the ventilation of the sewers, certainly a most important point. Mr. Climie proposes to dispose of the noxious gases arising from the manholes by means of a pipe, taken up the lamp-posts, which pipe will communicate with a sieve containing charcoal. The noxious and fulsome gases will thus be absorbed by this powerful deodoriser, and that by means which combine low cost witli perfect effectiveness. Before engaging Mr. Climie for this important work, the Wellington municipality took certain precautions which our Drainage Board should certainly have also adopted in the interests of the ratepayers. Stipulations were made as to the exact cost of the scheme, that it should provide for a population of 50,000 people, that

the sewage should not pollute the bay | nor be thrown into it, and, finally, that! the engineer’s plana, specifications, &c., should he prepared, finally com- j pleted, within a given time—certainly j: within the fifth part of the period | allowed to Mr. Carruthers. So far, | we believe, Mr. Climie’s proposals have S been favourably received, by both the public and the civic authorities of the Empire city; perhaps, that illwind, which has lately so sadly disturbed our Christchurch drainage matters, may reach across Cook’s Straits, and disturb, as here it has done, both the equanimity and the bile of certain people concerned. Our circumstances, however, are singularly different, inasmuch as our Wellington neighbours, among other natural advantages, possess this somewhat hilly peninsula to which wo have had occasion to refer, and, to a great extent, it would act as a “ break-smell,” whereby the plan of discharging sewage into the sea, say, three miles from a town, may succeed. In Sydney, we find, it has been determined to discharge the sewage, through a tunnel four miles in length, upon the beach at Bondi, and there the engineer, in charge of the works, was especially engaged at home, where he had had considerable experience in the most modern modes of draining and effecting sanitary improvements in populous towns.