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weather a portion of the sewage is treated in the ordinary
way, and the remainder by broad irrigation. The subsoil
of the farm is clay, and there is only a shallow surface soil
over most of the area, so that considerably more land has
to be utilised than would be required with more suitable
soil.
The total area of the farm comprises close upon 80 acres
belonging to the Council, and 33 acres rented from the Burial
Board.
The filter beds on the old portion of the works number
16, and cover a total area of about 27,000 square yards
(about 5½ acres). Many of the beds are in a far from satisfactory
condition, and require thorough reconstruction before
efficient work can be expected from them. In their present
state they are incapable of sufficiently purifying the sewage,
consequently the effluent from them has to be treated by
surface irrigation over a large area of land, with a view of
further purification, before being discharged into the brook.
Having regard to the rapid growth of the District, and
the condition of the existing works, it has been evident for
some time past that further expenditure would be necessary.
Various schemes have been considered by the Public Health
Committee, and on November 12th, 1905, the Council resolved
to proceed with the extension of the low level sewer
and the construction of storm water filters, for which a loan
had been sanctioned as far back as February, 1903. In addition,
the Council decided to construct works capable of dealing
with a portion of the low level sewage, and thus greatly
relieve the present filter beds and heavy daily pumping.
The extension of the low level, or tunnel, sewer was
carried out by direct labour, and completed in March, 1906.
The remainder of the work has been executed by contract,
according to the plans and under the superintendence of the