GRADING A FOOTPATH

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10471, 8 November 1911, Page 5

GRADING A FOOTPATH

FOR SCHOOL CHILDREN'S

BENEFIT.

A REQUEST SHELVED

A deputation from the Master toil District Fr/ri]i School Go mimjttee, consisting ( . ACesisrs R'. Brown, C. Perry, and J'. L. Hiuyjhesi, and the Headmaster (Mr W. H. Jackson) waited on the Borkmgh Oounc.il lasit thie purpose of urging tile neceisisity of grading •he watertable in, Riii/ssell Street outside the school.

iMir Brown said that un'ii tlio water table was graded the water from tflne school could not be disposed of. Seven years* agio the Committee was given permission to dram the water into - the wlater table, but :t would not runl awlay..

Mil - Jackson said the matter was a mo sit important one for :he seven hundred children atteiirlin r the school. The L:;mmittce could not put in any dra ; rr»ge iin il ihe grading was oar red out. W Ik-u<n-er there was a heavy ra' ifi ! a in.-'n;a-tnre lake, was formed • just outside the- sehfool gate. There were many easels of 'Ahildrent coming to grief. The schoolgj'-'vndisi or, i 1 not be drained until the work was •I'me. because the el might noc agrn" n itli tihe Jevel ruhfceueaitlv put in by the Council, '"'"o channel l; : i-i deepened by Vep.nirg. The i •-v 1 mi: of the new bc.ik'-jiig would add to the water from tlr 3 school.

Iflie Mayjr: "H.mv jo.• n has the water table been like tlvis ?" Mr Jfrixfj i : "'Fcr years. I knov , Mir Mayor, t!: -t }'<>.• tlpnk nc lia-t been, slow, but it :s our m.;.lcsty."

Or Hoar: ' 'lt i>s a vary modest request., in any case." The Mlayor said tliat m-igSit be so. The Coumeiil wiouid he only too witEing to do tflue nwl; if its fondis permitted. A promise limdi been. given tliat- it would be doaie before the wieit weather set in. i'he Council might aJteir its opinion, and d.o tJie •work immediately, but he- did n.ot see any great urgency at present. The c,lianndl bad been ini the present condition for a long timle, and theire lilad been nothing to aggravate tine nuisance. Or Elliott said 'at> seemed peculiar) tihat tOie urgency should come all at once. TBiei table ihiadi beein in thie present fijtlafte' for iiie> last ten or tweilivie years. If the request ,Lad been, made before the estimates we framed, hi© would Have supported a graiut for tlhe work. He knew of a oase of a little girl flailing dowm in tlhe sahlool ground, and judgiaig from tlhe mess .shie was in tJi© ground was in as bad a state as the culvert.

Ma 1 Jackson explained to Or Elliott that notflning could be done in tilie schoolground until tire culvert was properly graded. Wfliat hadl ligjhitened .tihe position for many years w,ais the putting in of pits at a hj<si price by the School Qommittee. lOr Hoar said lie did not see wby the Council sihould perpetuate the affajr., ... It, wagjpne of .thie miost im<poirtan/t tiliings in the Borough, and lie tlhpugfht it should be done. He could ,n!ot see wliy the Oounaillor'S quibiblied over the matter. It had been a source of nuisance for 10 or 12 yearns, and) he did not think it bad been sprung thie Council. Hie would snpoort 'tlliie gilding being done in pj-eferen.de to other less imrpontant work®.

The Engineer reported on the matter 1 as fcMiowte:—"lUie footpath is in a fair st<a/te of repair, but tli-e ahaainel is very low,, and tihie water floods hack in the street, caused/ partly through, a culvert at the entrance to the sdiioofl yand 'being 'high and too narrow, also by the continual chipping (tlhjatthias. goaie on in the sltreeb. Each time. it Jta® been chipped a little mm - © of thie ground bias been taken out, aaid now the water lie® in pools about it. It is ifiot mpcdi use fiiHing up the' channel to a grade, a!s wfh«re tiler© are so many children playing about, it will only be pudjdflied up and mad© ais bad a 9 ever in a few weeks' time. TSite cause of bringing it before ttihie QounoiJ was the surface floater d/rainage of tlie scthlool requiring to come out into thai sjtreet, but seeing tttna.t thev h .M:e, going to erect a mew building whicli miay necessitate the alteration of their surface Water scheme, I do nlot 'think the Council should take that into donisideration, but mnisu'der whleitlier tilie street itself waamans the money being spent, or if tflwire is some' other streelt in wiKiioh it is more rirgenitly required. T?ie cost wil be about £35." Hhie Mayor stated thlat after hearing iMjr Jackson, he was strongly of the opinion that thie work should be delayed., because thie new building, might alter the level a. Oh 1 Temple: "Ik not 'the matter aggravated, bv the constant running of waiter ini the school?" Tine Mayor: "Yejs." Cr Temple : "Weill, is that not their own look-out?" Cr o'Tiea.ry said the wntw must always be running. Cr Hioar: "Lsin r it it a fact that some of till© Oouaiciilbrs present, having put a sum on th© eistimlates for permanent improvemtemts, are determined to have it alii speant in' tanring and sanding ?" He tliioughit the latter should be left and; tihie work in question carried out. Hie moved that the grading be put in hand at once.

Or O'"Lea.ty branded. tihe motion

Cr Donald moved as an amendment that tlie matter he hielld over until tlve hepriiniintr o;f tlie next firituicial war.

Or EMiott .seconded the amendment.

Tfhe nmltMidmrmt mvis carried