BOROUGH AFFAIRS.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 December 1921, Page 5

BOROUGH AFFAIRS.

MEETING OF THE COUNCIL. A WESTOWN COMPLAINT. The New Plymouth Borough Council met last night. Present: The Mayor (Mr. F. E. Wilson), Crs. J. Kibby, V. Griffiths, T. N. Blackball, E. Dingle, W. Rumball, R. A. Large, R. L. Parkin and J. Brown. On behalf of the Westown Progressive Association Mr. R. B. Reid wrote pointing out that the Omata Road in its present state was positively dangerous to traffic, and also that the northern end o-f David Street was in a similar state. The association considered the matter of giving attention to these roads was an urgent one. Reporting on this request the engineer (Mr. W. H. Cook) stated that he had not asked the council to spend moneys in* re-surfacing David Street as it carried only light traffic, and was a blind street. Further patching would, be done, however, when the lorries were available. He reported having inspected the Omata Road, but he could not see any place which was dangerous. It was decided that a reply be sent in terms of the engineer’s letter. QUESTION OF LEVELS. Five residents of Dartmoor Avenue wrote stating that the recent altering of the street levels in that road had affected the question of access to their properties, causing a good deal of inconvenience. They asked that they be provided with access as easy as had existed before the alteration was made. The engineer, reporting on this, stated that the new level was on the lines of what had always been announced previously regarding the proposed work. It was generally understood that owners did permanent work at their own risk, and if the borough was to be put to the cost of altering means of access after levels had been fixed the ratepayers would be put to a heavy expense. The communication was referred to a sub-committee which has been set up to deal with the question of levels. WATER MAINS. Reporting on the laying of 2in. pipes in Tukapa Road, the engineer recommended that the pipe should be laid as far as Belt Road so that it could be tapped for extension down Belt Road east. This would leave 15=6 feet, which could be used in Dartmoor Avenue, ana if the 2in. was carried to Dorset Street and the lin. pipe along Dorset Road it would give a supply, but not a firstclass one nor a fire-fighting supply. It was decided to continue the 2in. main, but to defer laying the lin. pipe along Dorset Street, as such a course would only be temporary and would be replaced later by a 4in. main. PROGRESS* OF HYDRO WORKS. A report* was received from the resident engineer (Mr. A. L. Pearless) allowing that the cost of tne access tramline from the depot to the heading near the forebay was £4480 los 9d. Mr. Pearless also wrote stating that as there would be few employees available at Christmas he was notifying them that work would be suspended from December 23 to January 4. As. it was inadvisable to keep the excavation of the tunnels too far ahead of the concrete lining he had stopped the driving at D head, the men being employed •meanwhile on the Penstock line.

A progress report on hydro-electric extensions was received from the consulting engineers (Messrs. Blair Mason, Lee and Owen). With regard to contract No. 1 they stated that the lining of the tunnel had completed and the work of cleaning out was in progress. There remained yet to be done some excavation at the tunnel approach at the outlet end. The work of plastering the intake was in progress. In regard to contract No. 2 Mr. A. Anderson, of Anderson’s, Ltd., Christchurch, visited New Plymouth and was shown over the site of the works, and arrangements were made in reference to the order of carrying out the work on the pipeline. Touching on contact No. 3, the report stated: The invert was lowered to the level required by the enlarged size of tunnel and 330 feet of invert concreted. A length of 103 feet of tunnel was completely lined, and in addition 424 feet was excavated. In connection with the pipeline, some 1500 yards had been excavated and three shifts had been put on to expedite the work, but wet weather had caused delay. The average number of employees throughout the month was 95. GENERAL. Applications for the extension, of sewers were received from Mr. W. J. Penn (Avenue Road), Mr. J. VV. Connett (Shortland Street, off Avenue Road); and Mrs. 0. E. Clarke (Morley Street). —lt was decided that the applicants be informed the matter cannot be considered at present, pending a re-consid-eration of the sewage question. Proposed improvements at Fitzroy Road, upon which Crs. Kibby and Brown reported, were deferred till March next. The estimated cost was £146. „ The tender from Messrs. Wright and Salmond of £l’6lll for sluice valves at the forebay was accepted. - The engineer submitted estimates tor the erection of a hopper at the crushei 'site, the cost being £450 for a. wooden ‘structure and £550 if in concrete. A motion was moved by the Mayor in •favor of deferring the construction till the estimates are drawn up in March but was lost against an amendment moved by Cr. Kibby, and seconded by ■Cr. Brown, to the effect that the hopper be erected in concrete. A sketch plan for the mounting of •the siege gun at Kawaroa. Park in ■finished boulder work was submitted by •the engineer, and it was decided to forward it on to the Kawaroa Park Society. ENGINEER’S REPORT, The borough engineer reported: Waterworks. —No large floods occurred during the month, one rise of 3ft 6in being recorded, which brought down quantities of moss. Albert Road has been cleaned up and put into fair repair. The plant is in good order. Mains and Services. —The turncock has inspected 975 service installations and served 160 notices regarding leaky taps and other fittings which required repairs. sumers are complying with the demands fairly promptly. Many persons allow taps to discharge constantly with the view of flushing their drains. This leads to waste of water, and has no effective value m flushing the sewer pipes. Twenty-three new services have been laid for the month. Roads.—Smith Street: This work was xoing on very well until the lorries hod

to be taken off to haul to the hydro works, when work had to cease for some time. Dartmoor Road: The formation is all but completed, and when the lorries are available metalling can be proceeded with. Hydro-Electric Works—3so yards has been delivered to the Kent Road site and forebay. The resident engineer expects this quantity to be used fairly quickly, and estimates his requirements at the rate of over 100 cubic yards weekly, which will take both lorries three days per week to keep him going. This will seriously interfere with tarring operations, to commence after the holiday season, and also prevent the completion of metalling newly-formed streets, which will suffer by being cut about by traffic, causing extra expense for retouching up. Unless we can hire lorries I cannot see a clear way to carry on the tarring continuously. To stand down the tar gang while carrying out other work will undoubtedly lead to losing the best men and prove uneconomical, as new men must be broken in to the work frequently. The crushing plant has been working continuously and is giving every satisfaction.

Septic Tank.—Preparations have been made for emptying the septic tank, and provided the power proves sufficient to work the much larger number of buckets, the emptying should be well forward by Christmas. Several roads have been regritted where the bitumen surface showed signs of weeping during the warm weather. Permanent Levels.—Messrs. .Sladden and Palmer have completed 18} miles, and forwarded plans of the streets in which such levelling has been completed. Pegging and levelling work has been done in other streets. ELECTRICITY DEPARTMENT. The electrical engineer reported:— The applications received during the month number 42, the connections made tc the mains 16, and additions 9. Work in connection with the three phase change over is progressing satisfactorily, and the rewinding of one of the existing rlternators has been completed, and it should be in operation in a day or two. This leaves only one other machine at the powerhouse to be rewound, but by using the new 1250-k.w. alternator we are able to get the system changed over, and rewind this one machine at a later date. We will require to shut down the supply on two more occasions before the change over can be made, and as usual a Sunday (5 am. to 9 am.) has been chosen as the time being the least inconvenient to the consumers. Unless anything unforeseen happens I expect to be supplying three-phase currents on approximately the 19th of this month. The Waiwakaiho River has been very low on several occasions during the month, necessitating a good deal of dredging at the intake, but when this was done we did not experience any shortage of water. The plant is operating satisfactorily, and I have nothing abnormal to report.