MASTERTON BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9029, 16 January 1908, Page 5

MASTERTON BOROUGH COUNCIL.

WORKS COMMITTEE.

At the ordinary meeting of the Borough Works Committeemen Tuesday evening a good deal of business was transacted. Cr J. H. Pauling presided. Plans for the construction of new roads in the Wrigley estate were submitted and approved, subject to the by-laws being complied with. The Acting-Engineer repurted having inspected the footpaths in Sussex street, in connection with which a. complaint had been received at the last meeting of the Council. He wasinstructed to do what work he considered necessary in the street. A petition was received from residents of the south side of Cole street, urging repairs to the footpaths on that side. The committee, while recognising that the footpath does need attention, and having regard to the fact that the funds at the disposal of th", "committee are inadequate to-do what they should wish, resolved to defer the matter until a later date. An application from the poundkeeper (Mr C, H. Savage) for an increase of salary for services rendered in connection with the conserving of the borough gravel reserve, was granted. An application from the manager of the abattoir (Mr Gillies) lor an increase in the allowance made him for house accommodation was adjourned until next mesting. The Acting-Engineer reported that the water mains had been completed from Church street to Jean's estate. Permission was given the Masterton School Committee to carry a drain under the footpath on the south side of Russell street to drain the school premises subject to the work being done to the Acting-Engineer's satisfaction. ~ The Acting-Engineer called attention to the fact that while the Acts of Parliament under which the borough was administered cast upon the Borough Council the duty of safeguarding the health of the com-, munity, and enjoined them to provide means for sewering the borough, and while the drainege by-laws indicated what a building owner should or should not do to properly equip dwelling houses with appliances necessary to health, he was faced daily with applications from persons both within, the area charged with loan expend! tui'e for drainage and outside that area, within the borough, for permission to instal sanitary fit- ' tings which were intended to. be used primarily only in connection with a scheme, of sewerage. If the by-laws and Act of Parliament were intrepreted literally a refusal to consent to such, installations would necessarily mean that the occupiers of premises would be unable to use fixed baths or sinks with-, out creating a nuisance likely to prove injurious to health. He asked for an expression of opinion from the committee as to what line of action it was desired he should take. The committee decided that pending the installation of a complete scheme of drainage, in all such cases as cited applications accompanied by plans should be submitted showing the system of treatment of the sewerage by means of a closed trap receptacle fitted with an overflowing pipe connected to a boulder pit, which would admit of percolation through the surrounding soil.