Page 113 - KBHA Bulletin 11

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had been completed, including additional work which he had been asked verbally to
undertake such as making side drains, importing a sluice gate from England for the vlei

at the request of Mayor Scowen, and levelling sand dunes near the vlei, none of which
were in the contract. After a two-day trial he lost the case. Not having any means to pay

costs, he declared for bankruptcy.

The Colonial Government set up a commission of inquiry into this scandalous state of

affairs under the PWD engineer Thomas Stainthorpe, and the evidence which came out
was simply astounding. The Kalk Bay Town Council blamed Bennett and demanded his

resignation. He left at the end of July 1906. In the well-known picture of St James,
weeds and shrubs can clearly be seen growing between the stacks of unused sewerage

pipes. (Fig. 2.17). By this time the Municipality had run out of funds, owing to their

legal costs and cost over-runs on the works, and construction work was suspended for
15 months. And, interestingly, the Commission of Inquiry exposed the fact that the cost

of portraits of the Mayors, which had been painted in England, had been charged to the

drainage loan.

The basic infrastructure was only completed departmentally just ahead of the 1907
municipal elections. The final misfortune was that Collie had completed all the difficult

work, and only the easy parts remained unfinished. Because the Municipality were now
doing the work themselves, they compromised on the syphon at the vlei mouth (which

had been washed away) and took the pipeline straight across on a trestle bridge. Collie

also had to use dynamite for excavations, and owners of adjacent premises put in
enormous claims for consequential damage such as shattered windows, and even for

entirely repainting houses when only a small piece of paint was dislodged! The
inventory of Collie’s equipment lists stocks of ‘blasting powder’ and coils of fuse, as

well as dynamite and detonators.]

Concurrently, the Municipality had laid out a cemetery, but the promoters of the

Foreshore Scheme objected to its position right where they wanted to build an hotel. So
the Municipality - ever willing to accommodate the demands of the Syndicate -