185
The cost of the entire scheme was estimated to be $780,000.
It was referred to the Secretary of State for the Colonies at the end of Octo- ber and had not been definitely sanctioned by the close of the year, but the necessary drawings, &c., to enable a contract to be let were proceeded with and were in a forward state.
65. Re-construction of Gullies.-The gullies orginally constructed for inter- cepting foul or storm-water and conveying it into the sewers or drains as the case might be were found to be unsatisfactory in several respects. They consisted of earthenware sumps connected either with the sewers or the drains and covered with removable iron gratings, the bars of which were wide apart. Many of them were untrapped and, in the case of those which were trapped, the sump was frequently full of foul liquid. There was generally one gully to intercept such liquids and convey them into the sewer through a small pipe, whilst another gully beyond it, having a large pipe connected with the storm-water drain, came into action during rainstorms. It frequently happened however that foul liquids were thrown or found their way into the latter and through it to the storm-water drain. The gratings having widely-spaced bars, afforded ready ingress and egress to rats and also admitted comparatively large refuse to the sewers and drains. Being of cast iron and very heavy, they were frequently broken, doubtless through the rough usage they received at the bands of the scavenging coolies who had to remove them in order to clean out the sumps.
The new type of gully was designed to overcome these objections. The grating is closely barred and is fixed and no large refuse can therefore be swept into it, nor can rats pass through it. A trap is provided in every case between the grating and a chamber which is connected with both the sewer and the storm- water drain. The connection with the former is of small size and is at a lower level than that with the latter, which is of large diameter, so that the ordinary dry-weather flow is carried off into the sewer whilst, in the case of rain-storms, the water overflows into the storm-water drain. To enable silt to be removed from the chamber or from the trap, the former is provided with a close manhole cover, which has a locking arrangement requiring a key to open it. The cover is lifted off by means of the key, which can only be withdrawn when it has been re-locked. In many cases, where the fall of the surface-channel admits of it, one chamber serves for two gratings. The total number of gullies constructed was 454, the number of gratings fixed amounting to 717, thus giving 263 gullies with double inlets and 191 with single inlets.
66. Cattle Depôt Extension.-A contract for a new shed, capable of contain- ing 240 head of cattle was let in April. The shed was completed and handed over to the Sanitary Board in October. It has been erected on a piece of vacant Crown land adjoining and to the north of the Cattle Depôt with which it has been incorporated by enclosing it with a boundary wall and establishing com- munication between the two. The shed measures 142 feet by 102 feet and is divided into four bays in each of which two rows of cattle are accommodated, a passage being provided down the middle. The walls are of red brick, plastered ex- ternally, large openings being left all round for purposes of ventilation. The roof is tiled and has a large overhang to give shade and afford protection from' rain. The floor is of lime concrete rendered over with cement and feeding troughs con- structed of brick and lime concrete rendered with cement are provided along the walls. Rings are let into the walls for tying up the cattle to.
In consequence of the great increase in the import of cattle, due largely to the demand from the Philippines, it was decided to proceed with the erection of further sbeds, and a new contract was entered into in August for the erection of one of the same capacity as that just described, besides numerous lean-to sheds, the latter totalling in all a length of 1,126 feet and being capable of accommodating 281 head of cattle. With the completion of these, there will be room in the Depôt for 1,241 head of cattle as compared with 480 in the old Depôt. The lean-to sheds have been constructed by raising the boundary walls and projecting roofs over the adjacent strips of compound. The roofs, where not resting on the walls, are supported on timber posts let into cast-iron sockets. Good progress has been made with the work, about half of the additional sheds being roofed in at the close of the year.