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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]

Dunedin Drainage And Sewerage Board

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Dunedin Drainage And Sewerage Board.

The Dunedin Drainage and Sewerage Board consists of nine members, and was inaugurated in December, 1900, as the controlling body of the Dunedin Drainage and Sewerage District, which was constituted by a special Act, passed in October of the same year. A re-election took place in 1902 when the following members were returned; Mr Robert Glendining (Chairman), Dr Mille Coughtrey (Vice-Chairman), Hon, Hugh Gourley, M.L.C., and Messrs R. M. Clark, J. H. Hancock, J.P., William Burnett, J.P., and James Gore. Mr. J. T. Nobel Anderson is the engineer, and has for his assistants Messrs W. A. Smith, B.Sc., and N. R. Fisher, B.Sc. Up to the years 1900 the sewage from the city of Dunedin had been drained into the Otago Harbour, but in that year the city was merged in the drainage district, which comprises an area of 14,000 acres, and has a population of 55,000; and a short time afterwards it was resolved to construct a thoroughly efficient and up-to-date system of drainage throughout the district. The system, now in course of construction, will convey the debris by means of one main interceping sewer and two storm-water outfalls, to the ocean; the chief ocean outfall will be situated one mile to the east of Lawyer's Head, at the reef, known as Bird Island, which projects about half a mile beyond the beach into deep water. The main intercepting sewer is 5 feet 6 inches in diameter, and will deliver the sewage into a large suction basin, whence it will be pumped to the ocean through two conduits. The pumping station is situated at Musselburgh, and affords 100 horse-power, with a stand-by provision for four times that power. In the construction of larger sized sewers and drains the Monier system of re-enforced concrete has been largely used. Those parts of the distric which cannot be connected by combined drain and sewer with the pumping station, are supplied with large detritus tanks, 25 feet in diameter by 40 feet deep, in which the drainage from the locality is to be clarified. These tanks are the largest yet built of the design, their use being rendered possible only by the adaptation of the method of hydraulie elevation, so much used on the New Zealand goldfields, to sewage purposes; an entirely new departure in sanitary engineering. The cost of the new drainage is estimated at £195,000, and, in addition to this, it is proposed to expend a large sum of public money in advancing loans to householders, with the object of assisting them to establish an efficient system of house connections, the present house-to-house drainage being of a very primitive nature. The main works of the Drainage Board will be completed in the early part of 1906, but the house connections will not reach completion till considerably later. The old drainage system will still be refained, chiefly as an euxiliary in times of extraordinarily heavy rain-falls. The present water supply will be insufficient for the requirements of the Drainage Board, which however, is entitled, by a provision in the Drainage Act, to construct water works. There is, therefore, little doubt that the Board's operations will have to include a large water supply scheme for the benefit of those parts of the district which are not supplied by the present system. The chief engineer. Mr. J. T. Noble Anderson, has already made investigations of the Lee Stream district with a view to obtaining the necessary supply at a high level. This district is a silurian formation similar to the watersheds of Manchester. Liverpool Birmingham, and Dublin, which afford the purest supplies in the world. The Board is making an adventurous departure in adopting the newly invented Diesel engines, in place of the steam engines in common use for pumping sewerage. The Diesel engines, which were first used eight years ago by Messrs F. Krupp, of Essen, are worked by the combustion of gasiflied oil fuel, and are therefore internal combustion heat engines. The engines ordered by the Drainage Board are the first of the kind to be shipped for the Southern Hemisphere. The plant ordered consists of two 200-horse-power Diesel engines driving three 27-inch centrifugal pumps, each capable of raising over 17,000,000 gallons per diem; and the combined capacities of the whole plant for storm water discharge is 50,000,000 gallons per diem.

Mr. Robert Glendining , Chairman of the Dunedin Drainage and Sewerage Board, is well known throughout the colony as one of the founders of the extensive firm of Messrs Ross and Glendining. He was born in Dumfries, Scotland, in 1842. After completing a public school education in his native place, he served an apprenticeship to the drapery trade, and in 1862 Sailed in the ship “Evening Star” for Dunedin. In August of the same year he and his present partner. Mr. John Ross, established a drapery business, which was sold four years later to Messrs Brown, Ewing and Company. Mr. Glendining then in conjunction with Mr. Ross founded the present business of Messrs Ross and Glendining which now has branches in all parts of the colony. Mr. Glendining is one of the Commissioners of the Dunedin City Sinking Fund, a member of the Otago Patriotic Fund Committee, a director of the National Insurance Company Local Director for the Mutual Life Association of Australia, and a director of the Pertion of Australia, and a director of the Perpetual Trustees Estate and Agency Company of New Zealand, Limited, and of various mining companies. He is an elder of Knox Presbyterian Church, and a member of the Church Board of Property. Mr. Glendining was married, in Melbourne, in 1867, to Miss Mary Cassels, of Dunedin, and has two sons and two daughther. One of the sons is the manager of the Roslyn Worsted and Woollen Mills, and the other is employed in the head office of the firm of Messrs Ross and Glendining. “Nithvale.” Mr. Glendining's private residence, is prettily situated in the North-East Valley, and has beautiful sylvan surroundings.

Dr Millen Coughtrey , Deputy-Chairman of the Dunedin Drainage and Sewerage Board, is further referred to in the medical section of this volume.

Mr. William Burnett , one of the members of the Drainage and Sewerage Board, was born in New South Wales on the 14th of November, 1843, is father being a cadet of the ancient
Mr. W. Burnett.

Mr. W. Burnett.

Scottish family of Burnett of Barns, in Peebleshire. He was educated in England at Blackheath school, and was captain of the famous Blackheath Football Club for the first two sessions of its existence. Mr. Burnett was brough up to mercantile life in the office of Messrs Dalget and Co., London. In 1863 he came out to Melbourne, by the ship “Suffolk”, and was on the Lima station for two years. when he page 124 came to Otago. Shortly after his arrival Mr. Burnett bought an interest in the Waikaka and Wendon stations, and sixteen months later went to visit an uncle on the Peak Downs station in Queensland. He returned to New Zealand in 1868 and sold his interest in the Otago stations, and bought the freehold of the Poraiti station in Hawke's Bay where he resided for three years. Mr. Burnett served as ensign in the New Zealand militia and as lieutenant of the Hawke's Bay Yeomanry during the native war. Having disposed of his Poraiti property to great advantage, Mr. Burnett went to England, but returned to the colony in 1873. Five years later he was appointed manager of the Hawkdun station. At that time he was in a very delicate state of health, but the change to the dry and bracing climate of Central Otago which he considers the best in the world worked wonders, and probably added twenty years to his life. Mr. Burnett has held the appointment of Justice of the Peace since 1866, He became a member of the Maniototo County Council in 1887, and was twice elected to the position of chairman, While in the St. Bathans district, he generally took a great interest in local affairs, and served in connection with several societies and clubs. Mr. Burnett was married in December, 1870, to the only child of the late Mr. Alexander Alexander, the first European settler in Hawke's Bay and has four sons and five daughters. He now resides at 58 Royal Terrace, Dunedin.

Mr. Richard Maris Clark , a member of the Drainage and Sewerage Board, is further referred to in this volume as manager of the south British Insurance Company.

Mr. James Gore , a member of the Drainage and Sewerage Board, is referred of elsewhere as one of the Dunedin City Councillors, and as a former member of Parliament.

The Hon. Hugh Gourley, M.L.C. , one of the members of the Drainage and Sewerage Board, is further referred to as chairman of the Otago Harbour Board.

Mr. John Henry Hancock , J.P., one of the original members of the Dunedin Drainage and Sewerage Board, was re-elected in 1893. He was born in Cornwall, England, in 1851, and educated at the national school in the village of Menheniot, near Liskeard. In 1879 he came out to the Sydney Exhibition, and soon afterwards continued his voyage to Dunedin, where for the following two years he was travelling agent for the National Mutural and Australian Mutual Provident Insurance Societies. Mr. Hancock bought his present business at Kensington, Dunedin, in 1881 and has since been successfully engaged as a general grocer, coal and wood merchant, and oatmeal miller. Mr Hancock has figured in all public matter connected with Caversham. For thirteen years he was a member of the Caversham Borough Council, and twice occupied the Mayoral chair, and for six years he has represented the three boroughs of Caversham, South Dunedin and St. Kilda on the Ocean Beach Domain Board, of which he is now chairman. He was also chairman of the St. Clair public school committee for two years, and secretary for three years. As a Freemason he is connected with Lodge No. 844, English constitution; he is District Grand Treasurer, and Past District Grand Senior Master, and has been twice Master of his Lodge. Mr. Hancock was married to a Devonshire lady, in 1879, and has eight children. He is an enthusiastic bowler, and resides at St. Clair.

Mr. James Hazlett , a member of the Dunedin Drainage and Sewarage Board, is referred to in another section of this Volume.

Mr. Thomas Scott was elected a member of the Dunedin Drainage and Sewerage Board, on the 20th of January, 1904. He is referred to in another article as Mayor of Dunedin.

Mr. Joshua Thomas Noble Anderson , Engineer to the Dunedin Drainage and Sewerage Board, is a son of the late Rev. Samuel Anderson. Vicar of Upper Fals, Belfast. Ireland. His mother was a daughter of Mr Nelson Foley, of Ballygally, High Sheriff of County Waterford, and was descended from the founder of the steel industry of England, Richard Foley, of Stourbridgeseveral of whose descendants have gained distinction in the Old World in the science of engineering. The Anderson family were noted Jacobites, but, through the changes of time, have become strong supporters of Conservative party. Mr. Anderson's brother, Professor Cliffe Anderson of Sheffield and Burghfield, in Berkshire, is well known as a platform orator in connection with politics in England. Mr. Anderson was born near Belfast, and educated, primarily, at the Royal Academical Institution, and Queen's College and subsequently at the Royal University, Dublin; at college he was a senior scholar of his year, and graduated in arts and engineering. He was afterwards engaged in the Belfast Main Drainage Works, the Belfast Water Works, and the Manchester Water Works, and later on commenced a private practice in Belfast, which he conducted till his departure for Victoria, Australia, in 1889. In 1890 he returned to the Old Country, and during his brief sojourn there he obtained several engineering commissions in connection with sewerage and water supply in Holland. Mr. Anderson returned to Victoria in 1891 [gap — reason: illegible] take up an appointment as professor of Mechanical Engineering in the University of Melbourne, and retained that post till the abolition of the chair, owing to financial collapse, in 1896. He afterwards continued to practice privately as hydraulic engineer in Victoria and New South Wales, and acted as mechanical engineering expert adviser to the Victorian Water Supply Department, until 1902, when he was nominated by the Crown for the position of deputy chief engineer for that Department, and, almost at the same time, was offered the appointed to his present post. This he accepted as under the Victorian appointment he would have had to forego the private practice, which he is not hindered from following in connection with his present official position. Mr. Anderson, accordingly, carries on a private practice.

Mr. Norman Richard Fisher , B.S.c., M.E., A.O.U.S.M., Assistant Engineer and Surveyor to the Dunedin Drainage and Sewerage Board, is the sixth son of Mr. Thomas R. Fisher, General Manager of the Standard Insurance Company of New Zealand. He was born in Christchurch, Canterbury, in May, 1878, and at an early age, accompanied his parents to Dunedin, where he was educated at primary schools, the Otago Boys' High School, and, finally, at the Otago University, where at the School of Mines, he made a special study of mining engineering, under the late Professor Ulrich, and in 1900 gained diplomas of Associate in Mining, and Metallurgical Chemist and Assayer. Two years later he graduated B.Sc., M.E., being the first in the colony to obtain that degree. Mr. Fisher spent a considerable time at the various centres of the mining industry throughout the colony, gaining practical experience in his profession, and was also engaged for some time on civil engineering work. He became assistant engineer to the Dunedin Drainage and Sewerage Board in June, 1902, and seven months later was promoted to the position of assistant engineer and surveyor. Mr. Fisher is well known in athletic circles. He captained both the cricket and football clubs at the Otago High School, and was subsequently a prominent member of the Otago University Football and Carisbrook Cricket Clubs.