THE COST OF SEWERAGE CONNECTIONS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2689, 20 December 1909, Page 5

THE COST OF SEWERAGE CONNECTIONS.

[To The Editob.]

Sir, —As a practical plumber and student of sanitary engineering kindly allow' me to most 'emphatically protest agianst the statement made by Mr. J. Arundel that the necessary sanitary appliances can be put into houses for <s£3, and iproper drain pipes put in for Is .per foot. I have the by-laws of the City of London .before me, and when I mention that it is compulsory for all drain pipes to be of the best non-porous drain pipes and to be 4in in diameter, . and the joints all made with cement, the pipes themselves embedded on concerte to .prevent any possibility _ or the joints leaking, and an intercepting trap or gully trap to be fixed to prevent the deadly sewer gas from coming back from the main sewer, and the fall of the drain pipe to be 1 in 40, it shows how far the estimate of Is per foot labor and material will go in. New Zealand. But it may be said, you cannot compare Gisborne with London. True, but it’s a poor law that won’t work both ways, and I contend that what has been found to be absolutely necessary in London is also necessary - in Gisborne, especially regarding drain pipes, especially as New Zealand is so liable to earthquake shocks and tremors. Of course, if Mr. J. Arundel’s Is per* foot means inferior, cheap and shoddy drain pipes, just laid on the soil, with clay joints, without any intercepting traps or gullies, then he may be able to do it, but let me very kindly inform him that he would soon lose his license as a plumber, leave alone as sanitary plumber, and there is a wonderful difference between the two. An an example of faulty, shoddy, cheap and nasty laying of dram pipes an example nearer home may explain. I have 'the report of the Health Department upon Nelson’s sewerage r scheme and its failure, and as far as I have read it was caused absolutely by. leakages in the drain pipes through, faulty pipes and laying, and the same ; condition of things, I maintain, would, come about here in Gisborne if the Is per foot contract was taken, and 1 challenge Mr. Arundel to publish in .• the press W’hat his Is per foot dram pipes and labor mean. Regarding ms price of £3 for sanitary aflpliances. AVliy, it will cost nearly that amount | to lav the water and connections for'flushing the closet pan, without the ne- va cessary alterations that avill have to bo made to every closet house before the ; closet even is fixed, and then what about the slops, which are not allowed ?| to he thrown down the closets, from kitchen, scullery, etc? Are they to be thrown out on the ground, as usua«, || or down sinks and traps or gullies, with their necessary ventilating pipes above the eaves of the houses. Mmd|| you, Sir, I am not opposed to £ theg| sewerage and drainage scheme;m fact*:;.’.; lam in favor-of it, apart from the - other schemes, but I absolutely protest against these statements to cost, and affirm again that the half has not been told the people of Gisborne,; and ,; when I hear His - Mayor upholding these prices, well, all I can. say 1S “ “CUM GRANO SALIS.”