DRAINAGE BOARD.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1249, 8 March 1878, Page 2

DRAINAGE BOARD.

The Board lhct jrfc 10,30 a.m.' Present— Messrs Harmon (in the chair), Duncan, Hall, Jones, Koss, Wright.

mk clark's visit

The Chairman said that he would read to the I) jam »Ixvs letter .he had forwarded to Mr Clark in accordance with the resolution of fee The letter stated jihat Mi, Olark was kit unfettered as to design by the, Hoard, and that {ol'tiie information''pibchrahle. would be placed before hira. | Head.'] He. might alsjo s«,y iiyit ajl reports of meetings, lexers, and everything that had appeared jn the papers either for or againttue Board had been carefully collected and placed b lore Mr Clark. Every trouble had been taken to afford Mr Chirk the very fullest information on the whole subject. Mr Du can .said he was very glad to hear what had fallin from the chairman, because it appeared that an impression had got abroad th i the Board were endeavoring tq hias Mr Clark irf the direction of a certain touisq. '' lhi§ he gathered fyoin what fyid'appeared in the. P'Piri relative to' a memo, reid at a meeting of the City Council. He Yfi\s, therefore, vevy gM indeed t > hoar the rqmarks of the chairman on this subject, and also hoped that the ratepayers would be made aware of the faot that Mr Clar'v was perfectly unfettered. THE NEW DKA.INAUE SCHEME. The Chairman said that p°rhaps as a deputation would wait on them immediately, it might be well to consider the subject. Mr Hall thought the only answer could give the deputation waa that tlioy could not allow M" Chirk to be Interfered with until he had put his report before them. Ml" 'toss wished to know whether there was any official or non-official information as to Mr Clark's intentions. Tne Chairman said that it had arisen from an interview which ho (the chairman) hud' procured Mr Bray with Mr Chile. Mr Bray hid gone away from that interview with someidei in his mind as to what Mr C'rirk'n propositiorg were likely to be, a ;d had read a memo, to the City Council, Mr Wv gV t t thought that the action taken by the gentleman who had the memorandum, ahd endorsed by the City Council, was, at this stage of tkc proceedings, quite indecent. What the ratepayers should do was to leave Mr Clark, as the Board had bone, totally unfettered. Mr Duncan would like it to go forth to the nublic that the Board had in no way influenced Mr Clark as to the report ho should submit. The Chairman said what they should answer was that the representations of the deputation should receive the fullest Mr Clark's tepovfc was boi'yrb them. Tuoyhad left Mr Clark totally unfettered ia the matter, and therefore until they had Mr Clark's report

before them tbey could not consider anything' upon mere idea and conjecture of what Mr Clark's plans mighfbe. Mr Wright said that he considered the action taken was not only premature but unwarranted.

Mr Boss desired to point out that the Board had not the slightest information before it in any shape a« to what the tenor of Mr Clark's report would be. The gentleman who read the memo, however had jumped to the conclusion that Mr Clark's report would include a system of water-closets and deep drainage. Mr Hall Paid that he thought there ought to be no interference at all with Mr Clark, and that the answer to the deputation should be that until Mr Clark's report was before them they were unable to consider the representations to be made to them. After some further discussion, the matter dropped. engineer's report. The Chairman said that, owing to Mr Bell being so much engaged with Mr Clark, he had not prepared any report. THE WAIRARAPA. Mr Boag waited on the Board with respect to the diversion of the River Wairarapa and the construction of an alleged drain by the Board. He desired the Board to give him an outlet to the liver at another point. After some conversation, it was resolved to refer the Bubject to a sub-committee, consisting of Messrs Duncan and Ha l !, to visit the ground and decide upon the best course to be adopted with regard to the matter. CORRESPONDENCE. A letter was read from the Spreydon Road Board, stating that a copy of the valuation roll would be furnished on payment of the cost of the work. A letter was read from Mr D. Kruse, with reference to the drain through his land. ACCOUNTS. Several accounts were passed for payment, mr. clark's report. In reply to u question from Mr Duncan, The Chairman said that no intimation had bean received of the date at which Mr Clark's report would be ready. NOTICE OF MOTION. By Mr Hal'. To move—" That the drainage area be divided into wards or districts for the purpose of levying rates. That the Board pro* ceed to fix the boundaries in accordance with the amended Act." DEPUTATION.

A deputatio* comprising bis Worship the Mayor, Crs. Jameson and Pratt, were introduced to have an inter new with the Board respecting the drainage of the city. His Worship the Mayor said they had been waited upon in their capacity as City Councillors and ratepayers, regarding matters connected with the drainage of the city. Some of the ratepayers were alarmed at the powers which had been given to Mr Clark by the Board So far as they understood the Board had given Mr Clark full power to provide them with the best scheme for the drainage of Christchnrch, and had fixed no limit as to expense. A memo, which had been submitted to them seemed to point to the conclusion, from an interview the writer had had with Mr Clark, that it was intended by him to include in his scheme a system of waterclosets. This, bearing in mind the large amount of opposition manifested by the ratepayers, and expressed by them to the water-closet system, they coujd not but view with alarm. j He might say they were not there in their official capacity as city councillors, bat as ratepayers, having the interests of the city at heatb, and the object of their visit was to place before the Board the necessity of informing Mr Chirk as to the opinions of the ratepayers with regard to the water-closet system*prior to his sending in his report; If it was correct that Mr Clark intended to incorporate the watercloset system in his scheme, it was thought that by laying this matter before the Board, before Mr Clark sent in his report his instructions in this direction might be modified. He desired it to be distinctly understood that the deputation were not there to make any opposition io Mr Clark, or with reference to. deep drainage, but simply to ask that the, Board should put Mr Clark in possession of the objection the ratepayers held to the introduction of the water-closet system.. Mr Jameson cjuite agreed with what had fallen from the Mayor, who had in a few words stated the pnrpoit of the deputation. He was of opinion that the Board should leave Mr Clark quite free in devising his scheme of drainage except on the one point, -viz., that of the introduction of the water-closet system. Upon this the ratepayers had most distinctly stated their opinion, which was decidedly opposed to that system. He considered that they be content, at any rate for some time $, with with the pan system, in the, of which they had sojue considerable expense.

M? ?<aii agreed with Mr Jameson that the Board should have made a reservation in their instructions to Mr Clark as regarded the water closet system. It might be that they had do so. But the deputation wished to be assured, of the faot. It was only right that Mr CJa*k should know that however valuable sndj complete his report might be, as Bpmg a system of drainage for if \% contained a it would be v-my distasteful indeed, to the ratepayers. t Mr'H,a\\—s|e Oha man will read you the instruction* contained in his letter to Mr Clark. The Mayor said that, before this was done, he desired to say a few words. They knew now the cost of removing the excreta by their present system, and ho might eay that they were in a fair way to considerably reduce it. The mere interest on the expense of erecting the water cloßets would be far greater than ratepayer was put to now to remove «b,e soil to the reserve.

The aaid that he would in a few i wcuds. to indicate to the deputation the I cquW the Board proposed to follow. They had brought Mi- Clark down here with the view, ojf obtaining from him a report upon the bcsj oceans of draining the city. Ho far as th,e,y. copld; see, that gentleman was the, xsis besjt authority upon the subject tbatj CQuld bjß made available fe.« their'' £fo had made tha. i| able "potion of' hfe UW. Indeed, it was his ■ specialty. Yfo thought, therefore, that the least VMy e&uld do was to wait until his report had been sent in before they ventured to con,* jeeture as to what its purport would ho. In giving Mr Clark his instructions! the i&oawl had put entirely on one side anv i.leas ijhey might have as to what was right wro,ug> for the most efficient/ drainage of the eiiy. They , had that'gehtlemuh entirely unfettered. The j instructions of the Board to Mr Clark, as con. I vnyed U\ a Jotter from himself (the Chairman) WWH3 us follows: [Read.] As he bad said, tho Board had entirely put on one side their ova ideas, and had simply asked Mr Q}ai& *o» a report as to what he considered should) be the course for them t?i Following up this idea they fca& extracted from the newspappia anything having reference to the question' whether i% correspondence, ! reports ! of public meetings, or articl a Everything haying any bearing upon the qvvaipn. of the dyahiagG of the city had been tl a us. placed before Mr Clark whether for or against the Board. In doing this they had been actuated by a desire to iHve Mr Clark the fullest possible information on every point, and to allow Jthc opinions of any one who had made the subject a study to go beforo .\jin for his consideration. Tbe B,qariJ ba,(i, therefore, seen with very great f>rpm a report in one of the <hat' Mi'- Bray had submitter! it, _"ii'o 'the members o§ the Council cirw.lvaif he 5 expected would he the purport of the ! report of Mr Clark, Now the Board h .d no knowledge whatever-, either officially or otherwise, of what tho nature of Mr Clark's report waujd be. When the report was handed in it wo .ild, as a matter of the greatest postible interest to the ratepayers, be made public at tW earliest possible opportunity, and the Board had the report before them, they would be prepared to give the bosi consideration to tho representations made to them by the uot 'alone on the present occasion, [ \i,uv 0a on former ones. Tito Mayor s iid tbat with regard to what &ad appeared in the p.ipers, Mr Bray had stated that the idea aimed at by him as in \ho probable character of the report o* Mr Clark was gleaned i'r)m an interview &* had had with him. The reason \\}*y tihe matter was brought forward uuw was that the ratepayers thought that by doing so now it might save a large expenditure, because Mr Clark Tjouiff th-.n become aware of the of th<i givat majority tho ratepayers to the water-e'oyei Byatotn. He mwht s»y, speaking i'oVv himse'f, and of course from a strictly non-yrOfossioual point of view, that the cot of any scheme formed a very essential point in his eyes. ' hough a Hchenuo mi ht be an excelleut one, and one which reflected the utmost credit upon the engineer it, yet if it were an exceedingly costly one it would not be a good one in his opinion. Mr Eoss said he desired just to ratn&is; that he had asked Mr J?p& whether the sowers laid down. ',O, Mr Carruthers scheme would ha Yhgo, enough if they at an,'v.tiuHi'date roquired to them for the wftter-clopot system, and ho had replied iu the affirmative. ~,.., Mr JawCfOJi desired to point out that the expense of introducing the system

would be materially increased by the fact that to carry it out they would require a very largely increased sys-teni of water sr.pply. They had now before them scheme* for water supply, but if this were introduced they would require to be very largely added to, hence a much greater expense would have to be incurred.

Mr Duncan desired to say a few on this subject. What the Board had done was this, they had got Mr Clark to come Over here to report upon the best scheme of drainage. They had said to him. "Here is a city of a certain number of population, give us a plan for drainage which will be effective." The Boird therefore had not biased him in any way, nor bad they endeavoured to force their own opinions upon him. Therefore he considered that it was very pnwise and very hasty for any one to come now and read a memo, like the one that had been read to the City Council. The Board had never intended to put the dejecta into their sewers ; they had sai i so over and over !<gniu, and he did think that the dt'xms should have placed a little more confidence in the Board than they appeared to have done. Mr Pratt said that this matter had been fought out before, and there had always been the strongest possible opposition on the part of the ratepayers to the dejecta passing into the sewers. For the Board to leave Mr Clark entirely nnfet eted after such an expression of opinion was, to his idea, a very great mistake. There should have been a reservation in this matter so far as the water closed system went. They had waited on theBoard now because it was not very likely that a gentleman like Mr Clark, after having sent in a report, would consent to modify it, and therefore they thought it would be as well to bring the matter before the Board in order that Mr Clark might know the feelings of the people before that report was sent in. There conld be no mistake at all about this that the water-closet system was entirely opposed to the opinions of the ratepayers. M Duncan: All this has been laid before MrClark, as the chairman has already said. Mr Pratt said that this waß so, but tho ratepayers wished to know what were the instruction- given to Mr Clark by the Board.

Mr Wright desired to point out that they could not have their Engineer bound and free afc the same time.' If the Board had reserved this one point there might have been others also upon which they desired to bind Mr Clark, and there was no knowing where it would end. The whole of the correspondence, and indeed every thing relating to the question, had been put before Mr Clark, and as the main part of the former was condemnatoiy of the action of the Board they could hardly be accused of having put their ideas before Mr Clark. What he said was this, that when the scheme was W. fore them the Board should consider whother the ideas contained in it were in accordance witft the opinions expressed by the ratepayers at different times. If not, and if after trying to arrange matters they wei-e unable to. do so, then he felt that the Board should resign* [Hear, hear.] Mr Ross quite agreed with what had falters from Mr Wright. He felt somewhat a#gmed that, without the Board being informed either officially or otherwise of what Mr Clark proposed, the ratepayers had jumped to the conclusion that the Board had biassed Mr Clark with their opinions.

Mr Hobbs said that bad the Board strictly adhered to the resolution under which they \o/ x procured Mr Clark's virit here, they might h', ve cqnfined Mr Clark's services to the niar*. con . of Mr Carruthars's scheme, 'incompliance with the term* of the resolnt'' 0 n arrived at after the conference with tbv committee of ratepayers. Had do- ae this the great benefit of Mr h rge professional exper|ence would have, few lost to the district. But the Board had §o»e fuvther than this, and had asked Mr Ofcrk, w.thout in any degree influencing him, W give them a report as to the best schema He had hoped that the matter had beer, finally settled, and that the Board would; wave received at the hands of the ratepayers that amount of confidence and consideration which he thought they were entitled to look for. He quite agreed with what had been said as to the bad taste exhibited by tho gentleman who had written the memorandum with the idea of thrusting his opinions down Mr Clark's throat. His Worship said that they had come there to speak face to face, and openly. If Mr Clark proposed that his scheme should include the water-closet system it would never be carried out, however excellent it might be u\ other respects, and he would tell thrill why. The expense to householders i was far too great. Without pretending to be an authority on these matters, he might say that he had been told that the mere cost of each closet would be something like .£ls. This it must be understood did not include connection with the sewer, &c. Now taking the number of houses in Christchurch at 5000 they thus had an expenditure of some ,£75,000 fbr the erection of closets alone. This would be a < very heavy tax upon householders, particularly the smaller ones. He felt sure that ithe upshot of the scheme, if it contained tie.-water-closet-system, would be that it would not*, be done. Therefore they thought, as ratepayers,, and having a large interest in this matter, thai, it was their duty to come to the Board! and sepresent the matter to them, so as to prevent ihe> incorporation of a system in th* scheme -sshicht was opposed to the wishes of the ratepayers,. This being so, he 3«tt sure Mr Claxk. wouM acquit them of syiy interference with the responsibility whicl» the Board had laid on him. Mr >robbs said that they, as a Board; of Health, had taken steps to earry on the dry system, which would probably last them for another ten years or so. The Board had already told the ratepayer that they wanted to get a. scheme which w>uld last for all time, but th an it need not be. carried out at once. It might "be years tyofore this was done; but they -must have some finality, or they would k.ecp on adding burdens to tho ratepayers for works, which after all would be of no permanent; benefit. Mr Duncan said that before the deputation left he wished to impress r&oftt distinctly upon the ratepayers that the D«irj.aKe Board had*, always s«d that they v*nex intended to have the dejecta in their sowers. The Chairman said that so soon as the report, of Mr 'Cjatfß- was before the Board, the repro s9s,ta/Bions of the. deputation would receive tihtbest consideration at the hands of the Board. Tho deputation having thanked the Board for' the courteous reception and attention they had met with, withdrew. ADJOURNMENT.

Mr Duncan mowd! —" That the next ordinary meeting of tho Board be held that day fortnight." M.r-truss seconded the motion, which was. agreed to.