The Mangaotuku

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 272, 24 April 1914, Page 7

The Mangaotuku

A CAW, EOR DIVERSION

A TOUR OP INSPECTION'. From the mouth of tlie much-discuss-ed Mangaotuku stream along its <our.sc to the Kings-well road—(his walk occupied some three houis of the time of a Daily News' representative yesterday, and wMe lie did not meet with any of the dead eats recently mentioned at the Borough Council table, he secured evidence of their existence in the stream from time to time, and incidentally gathered not a little information.

Tin: News man approached his Worship the Major (Mr. (i. W. Browne) yesterday for information concerning his proposal to divert the stream in qnestion and the steps taken by the Borough Council for the sanitation of the town, and in reply Mr. Browne suggested a personally-conducted inspection of the stream.

UNDER BROUGHAM STREET

Brougham street is supported on a wooden culvert over the Mangaotuku stream, and the state of that culvert is such that the Borough Council is seriously considering the advisability of closing it to heavy traffic. At the small bridge behind Mr. Newton King's buildings in Devon street, the Mangaotuku (lows into the Huatoki river. By standing in its bed, one can see the state of the culvert of wooden joists and sleepers which holds up Brougham street, and from there can pass underneath a number of wooden buildings which stand over the river. At the back of some of the buildings in Brougham street are loose-boxes used for stabling horses in the day time, and the only means of drainage which these stables possess is the natural one. into the Mangaotuku stream. The stream, which twists in a manner which would have dislocated the proverbial snake, flows under other stables in Devon street, and it is impossible to suppose that none of the stable droppings fall between the Hour boards into the stream.

FURTHER BACK.

Working up the stream as it Hows under several Devon street buildings, including' a butcher's shop, it is readily seen that the network of piles forms a block for all the rubbish which comes down stream. The lloor of one building in parlieular is scarcely two feet above the surface o. the water. That, these places form a line harbor for rats is evidenced by the network of footprints left by the previous night's gam-

bols. The stream Hows under the ColVoo Palace, acms.-i Et;nu.iit street, ami incidentally nasi, several small horse puddocks from which Ihe rains may wash down innumerable things, for there is ample slope to the river bank. Doubling round behind, the Club buildings in Kgmont street, it. becomes, u dirty'. sluggish little rill, ils progress iiU]H'ded and its rubbish collected' by the liraudie- of bedraggled trees' which form a tangle in the water. Following from 1 hence to-the JCgmoiit brewery one passes back- . yards, and along the banKs. lish oones and other refuse which may or may not find their way to the water. Xo refuse is allowed to enter the stream from the brewery, but above, it is a laugel of weeds and trees, and it is reported that | garden and other refuse is persisiently thrown into the water higher up. Tim r-OURCIC OP THIC TKOt'ISLK.

It is when one lias walked up the stream past picturesque spots by 11 r. Furlong's and Mr. Sykcs' properties Unit one sees some ol the. worst place- in the streamlet's course. From 'here on to Water Lane it widens out, and formswampy, unhealthy-looking land. Malted tangles of undergrowth are common, and the water is almost. .-:a;.minl. (in He- bottom of the itreaiii and among the tangled growth are tins, bottles, apI pies, potato peelings and orange skins. One of the borough coum iilors. who was I picked up en route, said he had had no

idea that the stream was like that. A man who has resided in that locality for over thirty years told our representative that to his own knowledge the bed of the stream had raised itself four feet in recent times, and the result of this is swamp where good land should be. The same informant, and another one, stated that dead eats were at times seen in the water. At Outfield road there is a bridge over the stream, and below that, bridge is a complete block, a clump of small willows, matted beyond description. The water cannot flow through this, so it flows around it, and forms more, swamp. The bed of the stream contains tins, bottles and similar impediments. A private deviation has been made just past this. From this point the story is but the same. Twists and turns innumerable, a narrow trickle or a wide swamp, stagnation (where children bathe) or inundation, which spoils the land.

THE DIVERSION PROPOSAL. This stream flows, as has been shown, right through the centre of the town, and it feeds the Huatoki with rubbish which it brings <lown under many business and residential premises. This is a matter which must be remedied, as anyone who had followed the course of the stream will admit. The area in which the stream is most badly blocked and polluted has just recently been brought into the borough area. It is that district which the Borough Council has laid duplicate sewers up King street in order to serve. This duplication, as the Mayor pointed out, was outside the original scheme for the sewerage of the town. At Cutfield road the Council has commenced a culvert to be carried across the bed of the Mangaotnku stream, which would entail a small deviation. The borough engineer, in a scheme drawn up at the instance of the Mayor, now proposes instead that a deviation should be made at TCingswell street. This point is a mile or two further back, where the water Hows clear and swift through a deviation made by the St. Aubyn Town Hoard. A tunnel of some 15 chains in length would then carry the stream out to sea. The bed of the stream would be filled in, giving adjacent property owners good land instead of swamp. The Cutfield road culvert would be a simple matter, on a solid foundation, and a necessary culvert at iirougham street would be saved. The storm water from the western portion of the town, which now Hows into the Mangantnkti stream, would be carried in a conduit pipe to the Huatoki stream. From Cutfield road it would be taken westward to the stream diversion.

Either the stream must be diverted or its course must be straightened, channelled and culverted throughout. That much is evident, from an inspection even by a layman, there seems from observation to be a ease, for the diversion which, as the Mayor says, has been many limes mooted.