THE DRAINAGE SCHEME.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10072, 20 August 1910, Page 5

THE DRAINAGE SCHEME.

MEETING OF RATEPAYERS.

RESOLUTION OF APPROVAL CARRIED.

A statutory meeting of ratepayer! to consider the proposal to raise a loan of £31,000 for ths extension of the drainage scheme was held in the Town Hall last evening. About forty ratepayers were present. His Worship the Mayor, Mr J M. Coradine, occupied the chair, and Councillors W. Pragnell and J. H. Pauling were also on the platform. The Mayor said he wa<* sorry theie waß not a larger attendance of ratepayers to take an interest in a proposal which was one cf the most important ever placed betore the ratepayers. The meeting was a statutory me, and had been held in accordance with the Act. The matter of this Irainaee scheme had been before the 'atepayers for some years. When he vas Mayor some years ago the. ques;ion was a burning one. Ing his ablence in England a poll of the ratejayers bad been taken, and this had )een lost by a very narrow majority. Che Engineer had then been asked >y his predecessor in office to bring lown a scheme. This had been done, md he, the speaker, felt it bis duty o now place the scheme before the atepayers. A sum;; of £16,000 had ieen expended upoti the original Irainage system, which was only a nake-ahift system. The sepric tank vas insufficient to accommodate the iresent drainage of the town. :Dr. JakgilJ, the Health Officer, bad renrted in 1907 that the drainage pas insufficient, and that the septic ank was inadequate. He had also eported that portions of the j torough could not be drained, as i hey were too low, and that the ank, in its present uituation, was urrounded by population. The Council was therefore brought face o face with the question of ac- • [uiring a new site. The designing I f a new scheme was purely a proessional one, and the Council could lotbe expected to decide the best hing to be done. They recognised bat the present tanks could not be emoved without some expense. gThe cheme outlined by the Engineer was | ot the scheme of one man. It had een submitted to, and approved by j arious engineers. Under the present yHtem, there were more streets unrained than there were drained, 'he scheme now proposed would ettle the drainage question for all ime, or, at any rate, for a considerble time to come. Tt was proposed o shift the septic tank to the proierty of Messrs McGregor Bros., trhere fortv acres of land were to be icquired at a price to be fixed yy arbitration. The Health Offiiers had approved the new sit?, ,nd engineers had stated that it vould take the whole of the drainage if the town. Residents in the neighwurhood of the present tanks had :omplained of the outfall being vhere it was. [t was now proposed > ;o raise a loan of £31,000. The j noney could be obtained from [the j 3overnment at 3J per cent., which | was a cheaper rate than it could poslibly be obtained at any other time, j [lnder the scheme proposed they would reticulate seventeen miles of streets and lay the mains in such a aosition that they could be utilised [or extension from time to time. The mains would serve a population 3f 10,000 people, with a capacity for extension to serve 47,000. Per- > aonally, he was not in, favour of submitting any further partial 3chemes for drainage. (Applause.) There were some people opposing the scheme who were already well served with drainage. He did not think these were justified in denying to others what they had got themselves. He believed that those who were paying far drainage, and were not getting it, had a claim upon the Borough. It had been suggested that the scheme was going to cost too much money. He was not going to be a party, so long as he was Mayor, to a partial scheme. (Applause). The rat.:"which it was proposed to strike would be about f d in the £ on the unimproved value. To those outside the drainage area, the cost of the new scheme would be only 6s 3d on a section worth £IOO. The question of connections came into consideration, but the I health of the community was surely of the greatest importance. I*he Borough Council would be glad to assist people in making connections, but, under the present law, thia was impossible. He had been told both in ' and out of the Council that the scheme was too big. He had, how-

«»er, heard no businesslike objection to the proposal. He] had had enough of partial schemes. If they were going in for a scheme at all, they must go in for a complete one, and must, of [necessity, lose a little money by the removal of the present tanks. If they would not accept the whole scheme, they leave it alone entirely. As Mayor of the town he'would never be prepared to bring down a partial scheme. (Hear, hear.) It had been said the time was inopportune. He had never found an opportune time when a rafe had to be Btruck. (Lauehter). Prom a financial, as well as a health point of .view, the drainage stood out on its own. People would save money by adopting the drainage scheme. He ! could not, for the life of him, see : any solid objection to the scheme.

The point had been raised that they had a bufficitnt water supply. He' did not attach much weight to this objection. There was an abundance of water for the domestic supply. If they adopted the new scheme, they would, of course, have to write

off a certain sum for new leads, etc., but then they had the land on which the present tank stood, which they could sell, conclusion, tie said that the Engineer was prepared to answer.' L any professional question. So far as Queen Street was concerned, fie owners would iiprobably have to'pay a little, more; I but then they derived increased advantages, and they had the tenants to fall hack upon. (Hear, hear). Personally, he would be just as hard as anybody; but he considered the interests of the town before his own little money sacrifice. Be intended taking ?< poll of the ratepayers on the subject, as he was empowered to do.

Mr John Gross asked if, m the event of the poll being'rejected by the ratepayers, the Council could still go on with the scheme. The Mayor stated that this could only be dune if the Health Department took^action.

Mr S. Bartlett asked what guarantee they had that this scheme, like others, would not be a "botch." The Mayor said he could not agree that past schemes had bjen "botches." The people had not sanctioned a sufficient loan to ch thework properly. So far as the present proposal was concerned, it had baen thoroughly enquired into and

r.ported upon. Mr Edwards asked what majority was required to carry the poll. The lWa»nr replied that a bare mar jori'.y was sufficient. tor H. C. Robinson said there were thrje points lo be considered in connection with the proposal. Toe t

was whether the extension of the scheme was necessary. Bis own opinion was that [it was absolutely required. Th« second poii t wa< whether the sc'-eme x was a propel one, and the third, if it wbf, would l it be economically earned out, Tie two latter poinia could not. be an* 'awered by laymen, hut 'he had ; sufficient confiience ir, the Engineer, who?e work he had wat<hed, to think that the schema would I e carried to a successful issue. (Applause). He hoped that ratepayers would not rienl with this question from :* r arrow-minted point of view. (Applause). T. e Mavnr stated that it was pmposs'd to : raise the whole loan in ot fum. It was intended to rsir,e only £IO.OOO in the first year. The Council ha 1 eyerv in its Engineer, and they felt sure he woul I carry tie bciitme tnrnugn to a

sue>-K»s«,ftjl isgut'. Even surjposin? that the poll was not carried, the ratepayers would not be oat of the wood, fur they would have to expend, a considerable sum in taking up tnJ relaying the j ipes in Cda Street and Lincoln Road. He moved. ' : That thiß meeting of ratepayers approves the proposal of tne Masterton Bcruugh Council to borrow, by way of special loan, the sum of £31,000 for the purpose of the good and efficient drainage of the Borough." in seconding the resolution, Councillor Pauling stated that, although the scheme would involve an increased rate upon his firm, he considered that those ratepayers who wcra without the drainage should be treated fairly. More than half the ratepayers were not served by the present system. He had every confidence in the ability of their engineer to carry through the scheme. (Applause). , The proposed route to the sewerage outfall would obviate all difficulties. His company was paying about £IOO in rates, and he had authority for saying that they were favourable to the scheme. He pointed out that nearly the whole of the money, expended on the scheme would be retained in the town.

The resolution was then put and carried on the voices, there being three or four dissentients. The meeting terminated with a vote of thanks to the chairman and confidence in the engineer, which was proposed by Mr Edwards.