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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Wellington Provincial District]

Drainage

page 275

Drainage.

The matter of improved drainage has agitated the publie mind in Wellington for many years past. One system after another has been recommended and discussed, and yet the system of no system has been systematically adhered to for a generation. The election, however, of Mr. H. D. Bell, M.H.R., to the civic chair in 1891 practically settled the question. Two years previously Mr. H. P. Higginson, M. Inst. C.E., had read a paper before the Wellington Philosophical Society setting forth the advantages of the Schone system. A commission set up by the Council consisting of Mr. Ferguson (Engineer of the Wellington Harbour Board) and Mr. Cuthbert (Engineer Christchurch Drainage Board), had warmly recommended the same system; and it was well known that Mr. Bell was determined to have all difficulties surmounted, and Wellington cleared for all time from the stigma of being the worst drained city in the Colony. There were, of course, some ratepayers who seemed to be more concerned in the reduction of the municipal rates than the death rates, but Mr. Bell was triumphantly returned, and he unsparingly devoted time, money, and much ability, general and professional, to the furtherance of the drainage scheme. To carry it out in a satisfactory manner a loan of £165,000 was needed, and the first step to obtain it was necessarily the authority of the ratepayers. In favour of the loan 2290 votes were polled, against 347 recorded in favour of filth; but this small number, aided by those who refrained from voting, or were through absence unable to vote, carried the day; and the authority to raise the loan was denied, by virtue of a clause in the “Municipal Corporations Act” which declares that an absolute majority of ratepayers whose names are on the roll must record their votes in favour of a loan before it can be legally raised. This stupidly cautions condition was the means of considerable delay; but Mr. Bell is not the man to be easily turned aside from a definite purpose. With all possible speed he led the Council in the promotion of a special Act entitled the “City of Wellington Sanitation Act,” which became law in 1892. This empowered the ratepayers to authorise a loan for the special purpose of drainage by a bare majority of the votes actually recorded, and the poll under the new Act resulted in 2355 votes being recorded in favour of the loan, and 660 against it. The loan was promptly raised and on the following terms and conditions:—Interest four and a half per cent. per annum, payable half-yearly; currency of loan, forty years; Sinking Fund, one per cent. per annum (£1650).

The next question of importance was to secure the services of a thoroughly capable engineer, so that the best possible use might be made of the money to be spent. The choice fell upon Mr. R. L. Mestayer, whose application was backed by credentials of the highest order, and a practical knowledge of the particular system from many years of experience in England and in the neighbouring colonies.

The old drains are being retained to convey the surface and flood water to the harbour, which has hitherto been the receptacle for the whole, and special sets of pipes and drains are being constructed for the conduct of sewage proper. These are being arranged in compact districts, each with its separate discharging station, the discharge converging into a common main leading to the general outfall. Wherever possible the sewage will be intercepted at levels sufficiently high to admit of its being conducted by gravitation, but where necessary pumping stations will be provided, and in such manner as to minimise the pumping operations. The greatest care is being taken to have the new work so thoroughly done as to preclude all danger to health, and the arrangement will admit of the drainage from any possibly infected part being out off from connection with other districts. The discharge culvert will run through a tunnel nearly a mile long, piercing the hill on the east of the town and thence by way of Kilbirnie to Cook Strait, at a point known as Fishermen's Bay, immediately to the east of Lyell Bay, and about five miles from the centre of the City, and in this bay the final discharge of the sewage is to be made. It is confidently expected that this important work will, when completed, place Wellington in the very fore rank of healthy cities. Already it is well advanced. At the time of writing (October, 1895) the expenditure already incurred amounts to £50,000, and it is expected that the amount borrowed will be sufficient to carry out all the purposes for which it was raised.