THE WATER INQUIRY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 53, 4 March 1926, Page 6

THE WATER INQUIRY.

When it was announced recently that the Health Department had decided to hold an inquiry into the water position in Greater Auckland "vve urged that there should be a wide order of reference, and that the body appointed should include at least one eminent engineer. We welcome, therefore, the decision of the Board of Health to recommend the Government to set up a special commission, rather than entrust the inquiry to a committee of its own. members. T1& statement by the Minister of Health also indicates that the order of reference will be wide. In his fairly framed review of the problem Mr. Young says he considers it will not be outside the province of the Commission to consider the establishment of a metropolitan water board for Greater Auckland. If this question is excluded the inquiry will be truncated. There are really two questions to be considered—what is the best source of supply for Greater Auckland, and should control be taken out of the City Council's hands and given to a body representing all the consumers? Drainage is also mentioned, but this is not so difficult a question as the other. There is already

a Drainage Board with city and suburban authority, and it should be easy to extend its jurisdiction to meet the needs of suburban extension. The Government, wo hope, will appoint the Commission as soon as possible, and will include in it the best water engineer available. So much ig at stake that the expenditure of a few thousand pounds on a really exhaustive inquiry i≤ thoroughly justified.