DRY SUMMER IN GISBORNE

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVI, Issue 14618, 11 March 1948, Page 6

DRY SUMMER IN GISBORNE

PROHIBITION ON ' USE OF

HOSES EAST COAST TOWNSHIPS ALSO SUFFERING * . (P.A.) Gisborne, March 10. Gisborne is have one of the driest summers for 70 years. Parched flat and hill pasture tell the tale of five months’ _ dry spell, during which only 5.36 in of rain has fallen. Few gardens have survived. and farmers have long been forced to rely on auxiliary water supplies. - , . *• The Borough Council, has placed a total prohibition on the use of hoses. Unless rain falls in the Waingake catchment area before the end of the week, water will have to be pumped from the Waipaoa River into the borough mains. Dry conditions are also being experienced in East Coast townships, where tank water has long been exhausted and springs and creeks are relied on where available. Most residents are being supplied from tanks transported by lorries, but it is still difficult to meet the most ecrnomic domestic needs. The lake water supply on which the Te Puia Hospital depends has become so short in recent weeks that private institutions drawing off/ the same source.have,been cut off to conserve water for the hospital. Unless 'copious rain falls in the next few weeks, the hospital may also have to rely cn lorry-borne water. The Te Puia hotel, which also draws supplies from the lake area, will remain onen while water can be secured by lorry to replace the normal supply.