CITY COUNCIL.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1817, 17 December 1879, Page 2

CITY COUNCIL.

Wednesday, Dbcembeb 17. The annual meeting of the City Council was held at noon. Present —His Worship the Mayor, Crs. Gapes, King, Bishop, "Vincent, Cherrill, Cuff, Hulberfr, Wyatt, England, Lambert, and Ayers The Town Clerk read a communication from the returning officer at tho late Mayoral election stating that Mr O. T. Ick had been elected as Mayor elect for the ens .ingjjca*. The Mayor elect then signed the usual declaration. The annual meeting then closed, and the ordinary meeting was held. The credit balance at the Bank was stated as being £577 12s 3d. The receipts for the week were announced as being £322 13s. Accounts to the amount of £B7l 16s Si were passed for payment. The Mayor said it was a matter for regret that the Municipal Act Amendment Bill had been thrown out. The Council would also observe that the Wellington Municipal Loan Bill had been withdrawn, which seemed to him indicated a feeling that the colony had borrowed sufficient for the present. It was, therefore, a matter for consideration whether the loan for water works and Town Hall could be floated. Under these circumstances he thought it would be as well under the present aspect of affairs not to engage in any extra expenses. [Hear, hear.] The pay-

sheet, bb they would observe, was something like £l2O per week, which he thought was far too great in their present financial position. He should like to say also, that in his oninion they should not avail themselves of the £SOOO overdraft provided for at the Bank of New Zealand. Then again the channelling of private streets, though a most desirable* work, would, he desired to point out, cost some £6OOO, which would have to a groat extent to come out of the general rates. He had always contended that it would bo the safest way to have the money paid in before these works were undertaken. To recover them afterwards was a matter of great difficulty, and besides the Council must remember that they had to defray really one-third of the cost. He desired to bring under the notice of the Council the desirableness of taking some steps to utilise their revenue at Q-eraldine so as to make ifc revenuo producing. Then again there was, the question of the utilisation of the market reserve, which he hoped to see attended to during the yetr. The question of the erection of the town hall and the water supply wouldHfaleo have to be decided during the present mayoral year, and he trusted ttat both these questions would be placed before the ratepayers at the earliest possible date. Cr. Gapes desired to ask whether it was intended to refer the question of water supply back again to the ratepayers. The Mayor said that he understood that the committee who had dealt with the matter should prepare the matter of the water supply in a financial and engineering point of view, so that it might go before the Council. What the Council desired to know was whether the water supply committee adopted the financial proposals contained in Mr Blackett's report. Cr. Vincent said that, so far as he understood, the proposals so made were accepted by the water supply committee, but there had not yet been any meeting of the new committee, so that he was unable to state officially that such was the case.

Cr. Grapes reported that with regard to the question of the drainage of Lincoln road it was standing over for the present, until the Drainage Board decided what steps they would take in the matter. In reply to Cr. Lambert, Cr. Gapes stated that the surveyor had been instructed to asphalt the North side of Chester etreet by the Supreme Court. As to the other side, the works committee were in communication with the owners of property, the leases of which were nearly out. The Mayor said the solicitor had informed him that the alteration of the hackney carriage by-law, by reducing the license fee, would require a new by-law to bo formed. A letter was read from Mr Clover, askingpermission to hold an open air service in Cranmer square on Sunday, January 11th. The request was granted. A letter from Mr Bell, bb to a right of way ; was referred to the surveyor to report. A letter was read from Mr Perry, asking for a permit to drive until the New Tear's licenses were granted. It was resolved that if the inspector's report was satisfactory permission be granted to the applicant to drive until the licensee for the new year were granted. A letter was read from Mr Luigi Cerchi,. asking permission to erect a kiosk, bb per design submitted, for the sale of newspapers only. Crs. Cuff and Lambert suggested that a revenue might be raised from these permits. The Mayor thought that the sale of newspapers was different from that of any otherarticle, as he regarded the dissemination of news regarding the colony most desirable. On being put the permission was refused, by 8 to 4. The report of the city surveyor wbb read asfol'« *s : 1. The channelling and lowering of the following streets is completed ;—New street, Moa place, Taylor's lane, Madras street north,. Salisbury street east, and Baibadoes street north. 2. The works committee have given me instructions to call for tenders for more cement and timber for channelling, also for one year's supply of shingle for roads and channelling. 3. The works committee waited en the Drainage Board with reference to draining theLincolu road, and instracted me to stay the further channelling of it until the question is settled. 4. Tenders have been opened by the works committee for the bell tower, and also for the artesian well, and they referred the tenders to the Council. 5. The following building licenses were granted during the month of November last : Mr Sharpies, Whately road; Mr Davis, Queen. street; Mr Eoberts, Wilson street; Mr Scott, Peterboro street; Mr Harrison, Wilson street;. Mr Goss, Salisbury street; Mr Gragg, Cathedral square; Mr James, Baker's lane; Mr Cox, Vv orcester street; Mr Baxter, Colombo street; Mr Collins, Chester street; Mr Pavitt, Colombo street; Mr Mason, Kilmore street. 6. The alteration of the level of the road and footpath at Barbadoes bridge is completed, with the exception of the asphalting. C. Waxkden, City Surveyor. The report of the Surveyor was read clause by clause. The various clauses up to No. 3 were approved . On clause 4, Cr. Gapes slid that the reason why the* tenders had been referred to the Council was because they were all above the estimate. Cr. Cherrill inquired whether the Surveyor could not design something cheaper for the bell tower. The Surveyor said that he had designed it. as cheap as possible. After some discussion, Cr. Cherril moved—" That the resolutionfixing the cost of the firebeli tower not being, more than £7O be rescinded."' Cr. Lambert seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously. On the motion of Cr. Cherril, the tender of A. Buckley for £93 for erecting the firebeli tower was accepted. The Mayor said that there was only one tender for the sinking of artesian wells—viz., £l5O for the 3 inch, and £129 for 2J-. Cr. Cherrill said that he thought this was excessive. It was resolved that fresh tenders be called *for. The report of the inspector of nuisances was read. Cr Hulbert, on behalf of the reserves committee, reported that the committee had decided to advertise for tenders at per foot for stands in the market square. On the motion of Cr. England, all business with the exception of Mr Blackwell's letter, and an explanation from Cr. Gapes, was deferred until Monday next. A letter was read from Mr Blackwell as follows : Lombard Buildings, Christchurch, 15th Docember, 1679. To the Chairman and Members of the Water Committee, Christchurch,

Gentlemen. —An article in the " Lyttleton. Times" of this morning (a copy of which I enclose) purporting to treat of the respective merits of the two reports on the water supply question presented by the engineers appointed, but really resolving itself into a disengennona and puerile attack on uiy figures and calculations, is so evidently the work of a partisan that I think it a pity that a paper of such acknowledged standing as the one in question should have allowed it to appear without first satisfying itself, as it had the means of doing, of the correctness of its facts and figures, in which case the public might have been spared the recital of such a tissue of absurdities as the arguments based on such facts and figures amount to. The astounding misstatements and miscalculations in this article are evident to anyone who has read my report carefully, whilst the personal insinuation indulged in towards the end is beneath my notice. (I think the memoir and testimonials which I placed in your hands are sufficient at sv «n to such an inuendo). Mr first impure, therefore, was to take no notice of the attack, but as the false conclusion sought to be deduced from this strange medley of wrong figures and bad arithmetic may possibly succeed in complicating the question of the water supply in the minds of some of the ratepayers, 1 think it my duty to send you an explanation of the points alluded to in the article in question. The first mis-statement that strikes our attention is that "the lowest limit of variation (referring to the level of the water in the cylinder) is just the thing which both ergincers agree cannot bs determined at present." On referring to page 9 of my report you will read as follows : *' The result of the various trial borings and other observations show, however, that the water in the cylinder is not liable to fall lower than it is at present," followed by my reasons for such conclusions. The writer of the article proceeds to say that •' The determination of this question depends on the result of further observations and experiments of a costly and possibly protracted character." On page 13 of my report I say : _ " Of course before designing the cylinders, or deciding the exact locality for the intake, it would be necessary to determine precisely the nature of tho ground by means of accurate borings." I can only add that all the informa-

iion required could be obtained at once for less After misquoting, in several places, as 500,000 an item that is plainly stated in my report to be 1,500,000, aDd proceeding to argue on these figures of its own, the results arrived at being, as may be well imagined, somewhat peiplexing to any one wbo ha 9 read my report intelligently, the writer gees on to say that—"Mr Blackwell gives a supply of 1 300,000 gallons for domestic purposes, being at the rate of twentysix gallons per head, which a delivery per minute o£ 2166 gallons, half being required during th-3 first five hours." Those latter figures aie, as jou will observe, simply incorrect, and the words I have italicised do not even appear in my report. Yon will find I have, on page seven, arranged fir the varying rate 3 ' , . ~ Now I cannot understand how nny civil engineers, who have devoted their attention to hydraulics, can materially differ upon the simple question of discharge of water through pipes, -unless formalce. giving extreme rfsults, have been adopted. This is a question which should always be left to the profession to determine ; but as the newspapers continue, from time to time, to'publiah letters calculated to thoroughly confuse the public min'l on this point, _ I will take the opportunity of explaining the principle upon which the discharge through pipes is generally calculated. There is a hydrostatic law, universally acknowledged, that water trill always Jimd its own level— thus, supposing this proposed water main of over seventeen miles in length terminated in Chrittchurch by a vertical open topped pipe of sufficient height, the water in the same, when at rest, would bo at the same level a 3 that at the head works, but should a valve_ be opened, or consumption commenced, motion is immediately set np in the main, and we then should have to deal with the calculations under the laws of hydraulics. On examining the level of the water in this vertical pipe, we should find that when, and as long as, the velocity increased in the long length of miin, so, and in proportion, would the level of the water in the vertical pipe fall, until a maximum discharge was attained devoid of pressure ; on the velocity being checked however, we should immediately notice a corresponding increase in the height of our gauge, and by measuring these fluctuations we should arrive at whit is known to engineers as loss of head due to friction. What inference does this lead ua to ? Simply that having a given discharge to make provision for we can, by increasing the diameter of the main, so diminish the velocity, as to concentrate all the possible head in the required locality. _ To determine this ' loss of head due to_ friction,' the Engineer has generally to use his discretion as to whose formula; to adopt. There are more than a dozen to choose from, none of which agree exactly, although they have_ been arrived at by the moat celebrated hydraulicians after years of diligent enquiry. I have adopted a mean of them all, giving excellent reßnlts in practice. You will now see why I have provided for a main capable of discharging fo large a quantity as 5,530,000 gallons in 24 honrs, which it would do without pressure, notwithstanding our wouldbe critic's assertion to the contrary. The surplus beyond that actually required for the several purposes for which it is intended, is used for giving pressure to the whole. "With regard to the proposal to refer_ the reports to the best authorities in Great Britain for their decision, I certainly have no objection; on the eontrary, I should gladly accede to such a proposition, provided the reports were sent to the Institution of Civil Kngineers itself, which is the most compatont and impartial tribunal. I was not aware that I had dwelt unduly on financial matters. Having endeavoured to show how the work generally should be cariied out, commencing from the head works down to the reticulation, Ac, of the city, I only gave such gener.il financial explanations as I considered necessary to make the scheme thoroughly intelligible. A detailed estimate of the whole I avoided giving, as the expenses that I should have been entitled to would have amounted to more than I imagine the Council would care to incur at present. With regard to the revenue likely to result from water sold for trade purposes, 1 was not unprepared (as you will see on p. 18 of my report! to find that in the opinion of some I had been over sanguine in my estimate, which wi'.l naturally meet with considerable opposition at first from those who are personally interested in other motive powers ; but when the matter comes to, be fully discussed you will, I feel confident, entirely concur in the opinion I have expressed. I have now gone through the article as well as I can understand it, a matter I confess I fonnd to be of some difficulty, and I think you will concur with me in saying that my reportintelligently and impartially read — it completely in itself. Any further information, however, or explanation you maj reqaire, I shall be most glad to afford, either by letter or by a personal attendance at a meeting of the Council for that purpose. I have the honour to be, Gentlemen, Your obedient servant, Letris B. Buckwell, Assoc. M. Inst. O.K. It was decided that the letter be received. Cr. Gapes then proceeded to make a personal explanation as regarded the resignation of the water supply committee. At the conclusion of the statement, Cr. Hulbert moved— *• That the Council do now adjourn." He did so out of no discourtesy to Cr. Gapes, but the day was getting late, and the question would not be expected to be decided that day. Would Cr. Gapes allow the matter to stand over till Monday P Cr. Gapes would decline to stay the publication of the reply to what had been said about him. Cr. Hulbert said that Cr. Gapes would have to Buffer the mortification which he had endeavored to save him of the statement not being received by the Council. Cr. Bishop seconded the motion for adjournment.