BOROUGH DRAINAGE CONNECTIONS

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 549, 12 March 1913, Page 5

BOROUGH DRAINAGE CONNECTIONS

REPORT OF COMMITTEE

PROJECTED LOAN SUFFICIENT.

The matter of providing for the connections in the sewerage area of T« Kuiti between the houses and the sewer again came up for discussion at thi Borough Council meeting on Monday night, when the following recommendations were submitted by the Finance Committee in connection with the matter,:—

1. That the owners of property within the sewerage area pay for the connection from the main sewer to and into his private property. 2. That the council agree to assist the owners of property with the cost of the licensed drain layers connecting works only, and not with the sanitary appliances or fittings. 3. That the present advertisement now appearing in the local paper remain as it is, aB the committee considars it to be satisEactory, and that a poll of the ratepayers upon the proposal be taksn in accordance therewith.

The committee have arrived at the decision of recommendation No. 3 after conferring with the borough engineer upon Ihe matter who estimates the cost of the work of connecting 100 premises -in the sewerage area, which would be all that is required, to.be £2ooo—and he considers 40 property owners would make their own connections without seeking the assistance of the council which would leave £I3OO, less 25 per cent, of that amount which would be found by the owners themselves —that is estimating each connection to cost £2o—thus leaving £IOOO tu carry out the work.

Gr Jones said he had voted against the recommendations and would like to explain his reasons. In the first place the projected loan of £IOOO was the bare minimum required; beheld further that the council should finance the property owners as far as was necessary, and there was according to the borough solicitor'* opinion, a certain amount of ambiguity in their wording of the proposal. Cr Julian said he agreed to a certain extent with Cr Jones, but the delav which would b6 occasioned- by going over the ground again would be detrimental to the ratepayers. Moreover, the metalling vt the streets was being somewhat delayed until the drainage connections were put in and they had every reason to push ahead. The report was adopted. Cr Somerville moved that property owners be given two months' notice within which to complete drainage connections. The mover explained that it was desirable to get the connections all completed before using the system. The motion was seconded by Cr Graham and carried. Cr Somerville further moved that it be advertised that the engineer is prepared to arrange on behalf of the owners for calling tenders on behalf of owners. If the tenders were arranged for in bulk by the engineer a contract might be arranged on cheaper lines than if the owners let the work themselves one by one. He thought a more satisfactory contract could probably be arranged in this manner both in the interests of the owners and the contractor, The borough engineer had to be paid five per cent, for supervision whether the owner let h\sj own contract or not, and it would probably save the owners something in outlay. Cr Graham said as long as the council was safeguarded it would probably be advisable to adopt that course, but steps should be taken to protect the council. The Mayor said this would, of course, be done. The motion, which waa seconded by Cr Walsh, was carried.