WATER METERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 234, 3 October 1932, Page 6

WATER METERS.

By the newspaper report it appears there is a panic at the Mount Roskill Road Board over the loss Of water revenue owing to defective meters, and "it was decided that all meters requiring testing should be called ill and put in order; that the cost should be P*'** by the consumer, in conformity with the board's by-laws governing the matter; aiid •that where repairs to a. faulty meter could not be satisfactorily effected the consumer should be required to provide a new meter. Before the ratepayers assume this liability pay, there are some pertinent questions relative to the matter which require an answer. (1) Who supplied these defective meters-was it the Mount Roskill Road Board? (2) If so, having supplied faulty measuring instruments, does this board seriously contend that tlifl innocent ratepayer, who lias he en compelled to pay the board for an imperfect appliance, should now be further penalised because this instrument has failed in its purpose? If? 0 w l9 board's action infringes the bounds of equity> and calls for immediate rectification, for tne following reasons: (a) The ratepayer has been compelled willy-nilly to purchase from tne board an inaccurate or ineffective meter; ( the ratepayer has no control over this mstiumeirt, and presumably he may not remote ° interfere with it, and therefore any inaccuracy or adjustment is the board's responsibility an not the ratepayer's; (c) in any business it i the responsibility of the seller to keep _ maintain accurate scales or other measuring instruments, which, incidentally, must »® inspected and stamped at the seller's expen by a Government official, and in the case inaccurate measures the seller is Hable*° ... prosecuted. What would the Mount Road Board do should the Gas Company require the board to pay for repairs to i gas meters, or perhaps the cost of a on Or if it wore required to pay for repairs the petrol pump which measures out ffj®' its trucks? OBSERVER