Papurau Newydd Cymru

Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru

Cuddio Rhestr Erthyglau

7 erthygl ar y dudalen hon

...! IITS MUNICIPAL WORKS…

Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu

I ITS MUNICIPAL WORKS AMD I UNDERTAKINGS, INTERESTING PAPER BY THE BOROUGH I SURVEYOR. At the meeting of the Institution of Municipal I avid County Engineers at Abergavenny, the B-irough Surveyor (Mr. F M..ir.sfield) submitted u interesting paper on Abergavenny: Its I Municipal Works and Undertakings," from 1 "wiiicli roe make the following extracts Geological I The geological formation of the custnct is the old red sandstone." Beds ( i the conglomerate 01 which the town is built attain in this neigh- bourhood a thickness of upwards of two hundred f ct. The surface soil varies, ene portion of the town being a light gravel with stronger gravel subsoil, the other being of a more marly nature. The general elevation of the town is 200 feet ahove Ordnance datum, the temperature in the winter is rather above the avenge of other places .f the- same latitude, the do.se proximity of the sarrosliding Jdlls undoubtedly accounting for tais. The average rainfall is 39 inches. General Statistics. An-a of the borough, 025 acres rateable ?jlue, ?39.l?t: populatioa (ion), 8,511. B-ath rate for year ending December -,ist, 191?, ??.6: birth-rate 20.4 per 1,000, Total indebted- ness of the Council at the present time, 761,163 a penny rate produces £qo. Highways. There are 15 miles of road* repairable by the Council, their construction being as follows :— C,e Hill granite macadam. 4 miles limestone, 0 miles river gravel, 5 miles, the flatter being v-;ed for light traffic road* only.. Previous t. 1911 the Corporation let the tar Si raving by contract. In 191 c, the Corporation purchased one of Week's horse-drawn spraying machines, 230 galls. capac. y, for £ 100, and have since carried out this work departmentally. Street Widening and improvements. In this direction -the generosity of the late .Marquess of Abergavenny should be rrfentioued. With a view to eEecting the widening of Pant- laae and Tudor-street ihis Ix>rdsl;ip gave the aeOESSary land free to tie Corporation. la Merthyr-road lie gave the necessary land for tie raad widening subject to the Corporation building tie boundary wall, the tAL;I,iag materials on the site being available for Mils. With a view to the future widening of High- street, the Corporation in 1913 purchased at public auetioa the premises 26 High-street (on tiie corner of High-street and Cross-street), for the sam of £ 1,210, the rent (less tax) received f -u- these premises being £ 51 os. id. In this case there is au unexpired terai of five years to run on the present tenant's lease. For the same purpose in 1913 the Corporation purchased a strip of land in Monk-street for lIoo, for the purpose of effecting a partial widening of Monk- street, and later on in the same year purchased privately No. 4 Monk-street and 50 Cross-street, with a view to completing the improvement. The price paid for these two properties was £:t,I50, and the rent (less tax) received ^78 is. rod. Both these much-needed improvements have been held up owing to the war. Highway Depot aad Yard. This adjoins the Catue Market, and consists stabling for five horses, aiess room aa.d stores, with loft over. Roller a smith's shop, and cart and implement shed, shops for the mason, carpenter and plumber and painter are adjoin- ing. The stone and tar macadam are situate on tae West side of the Slaughter Houses. Fire Brigade. The Brigade consists at Captain, First and Second Lieutenants au. q. men. The equip- ment consists of a Shand-Xason manual fire eigine, capable of throwing 200 gallons per th the usual com ple- minute, two hose carts, .with the usual comple- ment of hose, etc., and a Simonis Curricle fire escape. This escape is a 4.5ft. escape when fully extended, and was purchased- for ^72 in 1914 to replace one which had become unsafe. The town is amply supplied witk tire hyrants and the pressure of water in the mains is such that the necessity for the use of the manual engine at a town fire is niL but for coAntry fires its utility is beyoud Question. PuMic Abattoirs. In 1881 plans were prepared by the Surveyor tlae late Mr. Jonathan Haigh) for the erection of the present abattoirs to replace 10 private slamghter-houses, and a toaa for £ 2,000 repayable ia thirty years was obtained. The amount out- standing on this loan to date is L37°. The buildings were complete the latter end of the vear 1882. The accomn 1dation provided is as fallows :—t public and 7 private killing halls, x public pig tilling hall, i public and 7 private cattle and sheep lairs, to public pig pens, x. public oven, i sheep and, calf lairs. The private slaughter halls and lairs are let to the various butchers at a rental of t-q 12s. per annum. ex-< elusive of gas, which is applied through a pre- payment meter. A charge.of 6d. is further made for slaughtering pigs. The administration oosts ror the year ending March 31st, 1917, including lo:.n charges, etc., was £ 272, and the income- 1132. showing a loss on the undertaking of jr4o. This loss, thotxgk undesirable, may be regarded as a prermmm paid for insuring the elimination of unsound and undesirable quality meat being sold in the town. Isolation Hospital. Thm nnudtng was erected in ic?b, and 15 ot tne temporary typo of :onitruction wit1r accom- modation for 20 patients and staff. It was erected for the treatment of smallpox patients, but has 6nly been used fur the treatment of that disease once, viz., in the 1896, and it is now used for the treatment of scarlatina. Sewers and Sewage Disposal. I The original sewerage works were laid down about the year 1867, at a coat of £ 6,000, and con- sisted of brick sewers and settling tanks, the latter being situate in Mill-street. In 1880 the borough was extended, and Messrs. Dudley Le Salis, engineers, Westminster, were appointed to prepare plans of sewerage and sewage disposal. The i he fiie prepared by titein necessitated the scravpiag of the old sewage tanks in Mill-street, and eventually the site of the filter beds was fixed on the sonth western side pf the Llanfoist Farm. The only terms obtainable for the land were that the Council had to take a lease of twenty years on the whole farm and Castle meadows, which they did. This lease was re- cently renewed byj We Marquees of Aber- gavenny for a further period of 20 years, the rent paid by tke Corporation, being £508, and the rent reoaived by them for the Farm aad Castle meadows £ 549-1 Sewage Treat ) Tue sewage is treated esi Broad irrigation liaes, the area of the,fater feeds being 8 acres, utiderdrained at a depth of 6 feet.' The sewage, izg wholly domestic, is a weak sewage," the final effluent being discharged into the river Usk. Water Supply. I The water supply to tiie town previous to the works constructed in z<ji z and 1913 consisted mainly from two springs in the Llwynd* valley, collected end conveyed to an underground tank er reservoir of bo,000 gallons capacity. In addition to the Now of springs the- Corposa- tion also had power under tiie Abergavenny Im provement Act of 1S60 to abstract at the point authorised by the Act a quantity not exceeding one-half of tne flow of the st ream Kibby between tke hoars of sunrise and sunset, and such quan- tities as m^y be required i)etw,-em suw,-t and suarise. At this point a further tank of 60,000 gallons capacity was alaq provided, bringing the storage capacity to 120,000 gallons. W 1910 the writer took contour levels in the Kibby valley with a view to the provision of a stora" reservoir on a site immediately above the I* cige Farm, but having regard to the steep natural gradient of the vaHcj; and the width ot tiie embankment required for the storage of a reset-voir containing 10,000.000 gallons of water, pand thQ unfavourable geological conditions re- vealed by trial holes, the scheme was dropped. la igif Mr, B. W. Dixon, M.I.C.E., It--eds, was *i-Lilled in to advise the Corporation in the matter. The scheme prepared by tiitu consisted of the ejection at their sources of rz springs and con- veying tiiem to a dividing ciiAmber, where the owe-half of the total yield was turned into the I stream in accordance with the require- treats of tiie Act of i860. From this point the water is conveyed to the existing storage tank at Llwyndu, and the combined quantity then conveyed to the new storage reservoir of 7{ million gallons capacity. The collection of the springs is made in brick chambers with concrete floors on the actual site of the springs, C:e -ite being fenced. The flow from the springs < iter collection is conveyed by cast iron pipes-to the dividing ckamber, balancing or break pressure tanks being built on the line pi the main aqueduct. The dividing chamber and recorder house is so arranged as to accurately divide the daily volume discharged from the springs by passing the total volume through two openings of equal size in the dividing chamber situate below the recorder house. The discharge to the stream from this chamber is effected by menus of an automatically timed valve regulating the discharge from one section of the Chamber, which opens and closes every alternate 12 hours. Proni this chamber the regulated flow of water is conveyed by means of cast iron pipes to the Llwynda tank. c. The Corporation paid to the -Marques/ of Abergavenny the sum of £ 1,087 for the necessary easements, lands, and water-riglits in connection with the lines of pipes and works situate upon his estate in the Cibi watershed, and further agreed to pay tenants' compensation for surface damage, to lay on a supply of water (in place of that disturbed) to the Lodge Farm buildings for domestic purposes, and for cattle to provide watering troughs at eight convenient places to be agreed upon. For the purpose of constructing the service reservoir the Corporation, whilst only requiring some four acres of land, could only acquire the site required by purchasing the whole holding, some ill- acres. The total cost of the scheme was as follows Land (it! acres), £ 1,800 con- struction of reservoir, collection of springs, pipe line, cost of acquiring water rights, tenants' compensation, etc., £ 16,626 total, /i8,426.j I Public cemeteries. I The first public cemetery was laid out in 1854, and has an area of 3 J- acres. About 1889 the provision of a new cemetery was decided upon. The total area of the site is 132- acres, but up to the present only 5 V acres are laid out for burial purposes. The accommodation provided is as follows :—Church 1st class 709, 211fl class 365, 3rd class 386 Nonconformist It class 659, 2nd class 332, 3rd class 2to Iipmati Catholic 1St class 202, 2nd class 127, 3rd class 19. Making a total of 3,193 grave spaces. The site of the New Cemetery was undoubtedly one of the most charming in the neighbourhood previous to its being used for its present purpose, and those interested in cemetery layouts" will be amply repaid by visiting this cemetery and will also be afforded an opportunity of ad- miring the beautiful seeaery surrounding the site. The total cost, including land, cottage5 on site, erection of chapel, boundary walls, roads, and lay out of grave spaces was £ 6,900. I Town Hall Buildings, &r- The Town Hall buddings, shops, Corn Ex- change and General Market were built in 1870, at a cost of /13,40c. 'In April, 1909, the L.G.B. issued their sanction for £ 1,777 for the purpose of the extension and improvement of the assembly room and £250 for heating apparatus, and the work was subsequently carried out. Shortly after commencing the alteration the Council were compelled to adopt alternative plans to avoid an action for iaterference with ancient lights. These alterations together with extras ordered: from time to time, including the provision of a stage and scenery, furnishing, etc., brought the total expenditure up to £ 3,633 16s., or an excess of £ 1,606 16s. over the amount sanctioned. This necessitated a further applica- tion to the L.G.B. for power to borrow this balance, and as the Council had been compelled in 1911 to re-cover the tower roof with copper, in lieu of the perished slating, it wait decided to include this cost, viz., £ 206, in their application. The General Market Is a large market, and at the time of its erection was undoubtedly the finest of any in the neighbourhocd, every ac- commodation for both buyer and seller being provided. I The Bailey Park. The BaMey Park has an area of about 17i acres, and was acquired by the Council in 1894, when a loan of it,Soo was sanctioned for the purchase and one of £1.500 for the improvement and lay out up to the present euly £597 has been borrowed tmder -the latter sanction. In reference to the purchase of the Park it should be stated that the relatives of the late Mr. Crawshay Sailey materially assisted ifnancially in the purchase. I Mousing and Town Planning. b regard to this matter the Council have, secured an option of purchase of 28 acres of land for the sum of £ 4,200, the option to be exercised by 25th December, 1920. The land is situate practically in the heart of the town and is -capable of excellent" lay out," the general contour of the ground being all that could be desired. At the present moment, with the ex- ception of about 5^ acres. it is absorbed by allot- ments and land cultivated under orders issued bv the War Agricultural Committee. I Gas Works. The Gas Works were purchased by the Cor- poration in 1864 for [6,500, the total expenditure to date being £ 37,000* and the total outstanding loans to be repaid amount to £ 11,365. Towards the repayments it should be stated that the sum of £ 11,700 has been contributed out of revenue

- y K.A.O.B.I

WRISTLET WATCHES. I

Rambles Ground Abergavenny:…

I CRICKHOWELL TRIBUNAL.1

LLANELLEN. I -I

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