THE ENGINEER'S REPORT.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10618, 25 April 1912, Page 6

THE ENGINEER'S REPORT.

roil TKID MASTERTON BOBOUGH

The following report of Mr Raines Archer, engineer of tlio Masterton Borough, whs presented at the meeting of t!io Borough Council on Tuesday evening :

1 took office on the 13th April, 15)12, at which time there was no clerical assistance in the office, except the act-ing-Town Clerk and" Inspector of -Nuisances; hut with their assistance and that of the Mayor, I had everything placed before me so thoroughly thatl was cognisant with all the working in a .short space of time. Shortly after my taking over my duties came- the appointment of an accountant, in which Mr H. V. Green, late of Messrs Dalgety and Co., was the successful applicant; after his appointment Mr ! Cuirns, the Inspector of Nuisances, took up his new office as an officer under the Hospital Board and Public .Health Department, tho Borough having n part call on his time. Tho raic notices were rather late in getting out, owing to the Valuation Department not having forwarded the amended valuation list. Tho rates for the present year have been paid tip quite equal to the previous years, if not 1 Kit-tor, and the receipts and expenditure for the year on the general account has been normal. In some cases the estimated, expenditure has exceeded the estimated receipts, and j vice versa, showing that the Borough has practically lived within its income, as will he seen by the interim balancesheet, which I have tho honour to lay on the table for your consideration. The estimated receipts for, the year ending March 31st, 1912, oa the general account, were £6445, hut they were actually £7907 Is sd. The estimated expenditure was £6445, but was actually £BG67 Is 7d, leaving a debit balance of £609 Os 2d, which was accounted for by the extra expenditure caused principally by erecting a Coronation memorial, which was not antieij pated when the estimates were framed, } ana also through an oversight in framing the estimate under tho heading of Sanitation. The total of these two iveeount for £593 of the extra expenditure. All the other undertakings of tho Borough, such as gas, waterworks, library, n-bbatoirs, etc., show n credit balance. <The bank overdraft on. the 31st ot March, 1912, was £3124 9s 6d, and on the 31st March, 1911. was £3OBO 12s 9d, being an increase for the year just ended of'£37 16s. 9d.

. .-SEWAGE FARM. I am very pleased to state that during the year there has been no breakdown of the works at the sewage farm,, everything lias .worked satisfactorily, there being no complaints raised against it that have- been officially laid before the Council; and during the' year the farm was visited .by Dr. Chesson, the district Health Officer, who expressed himself as agreeably surprised at finding the septic tank and the whole system working so well after the adverse reports he had heard about it. DRAINAGE. Taking the Borough oh the whole the drainage system has worked satisfactorily, but in some of the streets in which the gradient is small there have been several blockages occur, but, ■nearly all have have been caused by foreign matter getting into the mam from some private connection. After a personal inspection of the main sowers, I found that several of the ilush tanks were not working, and I immediately gave instructions to have the same put in order, and they are now doing good work. In reference to the drainage of Lincoln Road aiftl Cole Street, for which a loan was raised to relay portions of these sewers before I. took over my duties, the work in Colo Street has been completed, and a start made in Lincoln Road, but I had to abandon any further work in I that street on acouut of thee surface water being so. great, 'but .hope to make a start on it again about next November, or sooner, if possible. WATERWORKS.

During the year works in connection with this important department have not been of a, very extensive nature,-no new works of any magnitude have taken place, most of the work consisting of general repairs, hoth in tho reticulation and. at the head-works. I had the misfortune to have the groyne at: the dam washed away twice, the first time in its entirety, aiid the second time during the operations of re-insta-ting; both times the heavy flooding of. the Waingawa river, the sourc? of the supply, being the destroying factor. However, I have now remedied that hy placing a groyne -about foui chains long across the mouth of the creek that allowed the flood water to come with such force and break the

groyne at the dam away, and I have re-built the dam groyne again of greater strength than it was previously. I only had it completed in time, for it to stand the test of the largest flood in the river that has foeen for a number of years, in fact since tho waterworks have been undertaken, I am given to anderstand, and the damago caused hy that flood has been very slight. All other .parts of the head-

works are in a good state of repair, such as the upper and lower intakes, pipe lino and reservoir. While on the question of waterworks, 1 must draw the attention of \ tho Council to thes necessity of dupiica- I ting the main from the reservoir to the I reticulation part of tho town, and J recommend it for their consideration j during the year. STREETS AND FOOTPATHS. In regard to tho streets and footpaths of the Borougk, 1 based my estimated expenditure on the previous year's work, being the only guide I had a« to what had been done in, tiie past, but I must say that it is hardly enough to do both maintenance and new works, although this year the Borough adopted a policy of placing upon tho estimates a certain amount for absolutely new work, which was | expended in kerbing and channelling [ and the footpath formation of the j Xort-.lt side of Victoria Street, portion of a footpath in Cornwall Street, and the balance was placed to the maintenance account to assist it in the tarring and sanding of footpaths and 'roadivays, the latter a new policy laid down by the Mayor and which may bo rather expensive in, tho first place, j but will eventually be the saving of ' many pounds in the future. Another new policy is the placing on the estimates a certain sum to do .permanent works such as the kerbing and_ channelling and permanent formation of footpaths and. roadways. This, I consider, is essential as if no such sum is placed on the estimates, the cost of those works are taken from the maintenance account, and that causes the , roads, etc., to go back in condition or else the estimate is greatly over spent. Following on the lines of the policy of tarring and sanding streets and footpaths 1 found it was utterly impossible to cope with tho work that I was in the hope of doing with the plant that, was then installed, and on my recommendation tho Council bought a new boiler, holding about 900"gallons, and placed that in a position.' 1 also had a- 400 gallon tank placed on wheels, so as to do away with all the handling of barrels, both at the gasworks and also in filling the boiler, which I had fixed in such a position as to allow the cart to run by gravitation from, the tar cart into tiie boiler and so doing away with two extra men. During the year Pine Street, from Timothy Street to the Station gates, was scarified end retopped, with liinch metal, also Church Street, from Queen Street to Dixon Street, was brought up to permanent level. Tho following are the main streets .and footpaths that have been coated with tar and shingle during the last twelve months: —

Roadways.- Perry Street, from Queen Street to Chapel Street; Hall Street,'from Queen Street to front of Town Hall; Chapel Sreet, from Cole Street to north side of Perry Street. Each of t!ie above, roads have received two coats of tar and shingle, a total of about 0000 square yards. Footpaths—King Street, Victoria Street, Chapel Street, from Kin:; Street to Perry Street, and R-er.all Street to Essok Street; Dixon Street, from Makora Creek to Worksop Road, Queen Street South, from Makora Creek "to Kuripuni Triangle, and Worksop road, from Queen Street to Oolumba Road, -a total of 8400 square., yards. It is my intention during tJio j coming winter to make up as many ; footpaths that have concrete kerbs to permanent levels so as to bo in condition to tar and sand next summer, when,l,hope to do all those that have this year been done over again and if possiblo twice as irmch new work as I have done this year. M this policy of tarring and sanding is continued year by vear the streets of the Bor- | ough will be second to none in the Do- j minion. , \ During the year the Public Park lias received the attention worthy ot it | jy the building of a caretaker's resi- I lence, also by the addition of a tea | desk'erected'to commemorate the Coronation of George V., which was .übsidised bv the Government, .and the evel portion of the grounds near the Coronation Hall lends itself to ,b P laid mfc with grounds for croquet lawn iennis and bowling greens, which Irust at a date not far distant the 'Jouncil will see its way dear to carry There have been incidental works lone of a small nature which are too mmefoiis to mention in'detail, but ,vhich collectively go to show that :he money placed-at my disposal for .he past year has been spent to the : lest advantage for the inhabitants of ,- ;he Borough. The following is a list of« lie number of square yards of ma-: :erials placed on the streets and footbaths of the Borough during the year: -Tar, 10,000 gallons; asphalt. 20 f _ :nbic yards; material, roads and foot, laths 2930 cubic yards. In conclusion, I. desire to thank the.

Major and Councillors for the assistance they have given- and- for the courteous way they have considered any proposal that I have had the honour to lav before them. To the whole of the officials of tho Borough for the great assistance they have given me in carrying out my duties? and also to the outside -staff of the Borough for tho manner in which' they have carried out all my instructions given through tho head of each department, and I trust that the next twelve montfts will fie carried •ut in the same manner as the last has been. —I have the honour to he. gentlemen, your obedient servant.

JAMIiS ARCHER, Town Clerk and Borough Engineer Mastcrton, April '23 rd, 1912.