COST OF WATER INSTALLATION.

Shannon News, 17 October 1924, Page 3

COST OF WATER INSTALLATION.

T I THE ENGINEER'S ESTIMATE. WILL IT BE EXCEEDED? , J During the reading o.f the Enginj eer's report at last meeting of the Shannon Borough Council, the Ln- , ; gineer (Mr R. Edwards) was prating ; the men on the work they had done, 1 when Cr. Butt interjected that the . Council did not want to near about the men, as anything they had done , tiliey had been paid for. . The Engineer; I consider it my I bounden duity and it is up to the Council to allow mie to explain the I position. The Mayor: We don't want you to go into every little detail. The Engineer; If the Council want tt its only fair they should enquire when I am present, otherwise serious statements similar to what took place at the last Couii- j oil meeting are likely to be made, i The Mayor said he had stated that the cost of' digging the drains, laying the pipes and fitting from the intake to Grand Street had cost in the vicinity Qf £3 per chain, whioh he still maintained was the cost. Civ Carter informed the Engineer that' the discussion was. not taken in private but at the general meeting. 'Xlie Mayor: The work has got to be done within the estimate. The Engineer: As far as my part in the work goes, it will be competed within the estimate. • /Cr]. Carter s|aid the people were clamouring for .water and he was continually being asked by ratepayers when it would the available ana of course he could not tell them.^ According to the Engineer everything possible was being done to. expedite the work-but he (the speaker) failed to see why two equally competent gangs could not be employed m the pipe laying and fitting without the cost of such work being increased.-* The Engineer said that it was not practicable. To the layman it appeared so. But to expedite a work of' this size in that manner the cost would go up immediately owing to the difficulty in joining up the pipes with the gangs w.qrking towards each other. ■ ■ ~,*,„ At this point two or three of the councillors stated they had been under the impression that the Mayor had stated about £3 per chain had been the cost of digging the trenches The Engineer stated that was what he understood from the report iii the "News," from which source, he got his 'information iabout the statement the Mayor had made. . The Engineer stated tibat the council had taken exception to the paysheets' during tne wet weather, but he cQuid assure tnem that, though there 'had been a lot of wet weather, it was not sufficiently heavy to pre-, vent the men working. In respect to the jointing of the pipes which work was being carried out by the Wanganui SpiraJl Co.'s own man, he contended the work could be done oy their Own men, just as w;etf. Or. Carter said it had been tne wish of the Company that, their own man should do this, work whidh had been approved of by. the Engineer at a'ereneral meeting, owing to trouble t over leaky joints, which had occurred in a southern town where the-Coun- . cil had undertaken the work themselves The company had taken alt responsibility for the work, thus reaving the council. TEd note: The "News" oi October 3rd published the -.ib.llowjng statement by the Mayor in the report on the criticism of the water works: "The Mayor in referring to the cost of digging the trenches and laymg the pipes and fittings to the town . boundary he said that from the. wages . that the Council had paid out, this work had cost aJ>out £3< per chain. , In another portion of the report the ( Mayor said "according to his reckoning £587 had been the cost of- digging 200 chains of trench.es, laying the pipes and fittings.."—lf the Engineer read the report, as no douM he- did, it is hard to understand how he. came to. the conclusion that the Mayor stated the cost was £3 per chain for digging the trenches only.]' ENGINEER'S REPORT. I The Borough Engineer (Mr R, Ld- * wards) reported as follows:—I have to report that the 8-inch main pipe j trench" has been completed except a . few minor matters. I may point cut . that at all depressions where necessary the pipes have been supported with concrete piers. The concrete ; valve pits are put in and all bends t supported by oonanete foundations; i the latter work is to prevent any oscillation, of the pipes at bends and i thus prevent weeping joints at these ; points. The filling in of the trench- i es has been completed except where i fitting for the settlers have been put ; in. The men are now at work on the • reticulation. The 8-inch pipes, in Grand street have been reduced to 6-irich pipes which are laid a considerable distance along Stout street. It ] will be interesting to the Council to i know, that between the reservoir and Grand street, and in the streets 470 chains; or 6 miles less 10 chains, have ': been dug, to Sept. 26th, 1924. The cost including the laying 205 chains i or 2£ miles and 5 chains including i all fittings and concrete work above * referred to cost in wages paid £464 I : 17s 6d. My estimate for the latter 205 chains as per report dated August, 1922, is £3 10s per Chan, equal to £7.17 10s while the actual cost in day lab- 1 our is £252 12s 6d less than the esti- i mate. HOW THE MEN WORKED. i An analysis by figures of the 8-inch : pipe trench a distance of 2J miles and : five chains shows distinctly how the ■ men have worked; 80 per cent, of the distance is composed of hard metal interspersed with boulders, and '0 per cent, of the distance is 'hard : tough clay. At many points tftie su-r- ; face was very wet. The stuff had to be picked out and not infrequently the use of the crowbar was necessary. The depths of the trench varied from 2ft to 7ft while the sectional area averaged 2.75 x 2.50, equal to 16 i yards 2?> feet cubic measurement. The cost of digging this trench per ( chain was 12s OJd, equal to B|d per * cubic yard. The weight, lifted on to the bank per chain was 22£ tons: I am certain that had-this work been ;

carried out by contract, the cost would, have gone up at least 25 percent. The above, expenditure includes the filling of a deep morass to support pipes,, heavy excavation s lor valves, bends and fittings at the reservoir and fitting the same; comprising all the alternating gear. i intend to employ a pipe fitter as soon as the smaller pipes and fittings are tp hand; this step will enable me to have twq sets of men laying tue small pipes. The sum of £507 2s 2d paid in wages includes' cutting 55 chains of pipe track, between t.i t head works and the reservoir, laying and fitting the 6-inch steel' pipes having 5Q bends 3 valves, concrete piers and valve pits, building a reinforced concrete influent chamber - 14ft 6-n high, 10ft X 9ft with 12in "thick outer wails and a centre wall, with wood top ajid manhole, fitting into same, inlet and outlet pipes. The chamber is let into , s olid rock, which all baa to be blasted out. It also includes excavations for iihe water gallery,, nvaking and laying 'the same and blasting out a, track for the pipes practically 90. per Cent, of the distance. To carry out this work'the stream had to be completely turned from its bed to the opposite bank at two points. This could only be effectby heavy excavations, mostly by bfa-sting operation. It also includeu widening out the stream at points for- the. purpose of easing the flood pressure on the construction works. I may point Qut all tbe metal, sand, cement and other materials had to be carried by vhand as no vehicle could possibly work in the position. In the. case of the abpyq works I am confident, that if. carried out on ''toe contract system, the cost would have been 50 per cent, more than the present, cost. It has been necessary to get 7J chains of extra 6ih". pipes and these pipes have been secured from the Spiral Pipe Co. at the tender price of 3s. 4d per foot, although your Council did not accept their tender for 6-inch pipes, I may point out this, is a considerable concession owing to a sharp rise in the cost of stteei- i I must pay tribute to this company who have in all cases treated the Council most liberally. Tbe 495 feet at 3s 4d per foot cost £B2 10s.

Cr. Beard; The Engineer still maintains he can put the scheme through within his estimate. If he cannolv then it will be time for us to kick him.

In reply to Gr, Carter the Engineer said the .work was progressing satisfactorily and the sum he. had estimated in Mack and white would u iihe work' and give them a, good job. Gr Butt: Can yQU give us any idea when the work will be completed. The Engineer; In three months or less the whole thing will be cleaned up. The report was then adopted.