ASHBURTON BOROUGH.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 136099, 25 April 1908, Page 6

ASHBURTON BOROUGH.

I ° HIGH-PRESSURE WATER SUPPLY

At v spociai mee-Dittg of the Afiii- [ button Burouyh Councii on Ihursday mglit, aWendvU by tihe Mayor (Mr H. ; iMvis) and <Jrs. J. Da.viaan, T. i? , . ' Gibson, H. Friediauder, U. Clark, V. .SUiwart, C. W. lN'Looii ami D. Wood, the report of the \V_t-©r Supply Coiuai whose instance the meeting had been oallod, was read as fbllows: —"Your committee 'hair© tihe honour to recomnieaid "tlio Oouauoil tJiat the site for the well in. the high-preasurw water supply scheme, now before tiko ratepayers, bo changed fix>m reserve 300, nWr t.he Traffic bridge, to reeerTO 772, a-t tho corner of Rermodo and Park streets." Cr. Niooll moved, and Or. Gibson seconded, the adoption of tiho report, which, after being adversely criticised by Cr. Friedkuiider and defended by Crs. Wood and Clark, with, the movers, was carried. Or. ■ Fiiedlander's being tlio orJy dassejri>Lenit vomoe. A letter was read from. Mr F. Ferriman, addressed to the Mayor, inwthioh, ho suggested tha>t an engineer's owrn- ! ion should l>e obtained on a tion scheme-, and in t4i<e evemt of tiboit sucgestion being adopted and .the taking of tho poll on the £15,000 ioan. proposal being postponed ftxr, Bay, tlvreo moniths, he offered to give £25 to\sTaxds the onginecr's expenses in cpti- j nectbion wistih the estimates for a gnayi- 1 tation soliemo amd to pay the wJwJo cost of advertising to da*o. | Or. Frie»dlander said they had gone too far •with the present Bohomo to ; draw back, and that a gravitation scheme might cost up to £40,000. ■Or. Nicoll drew attention to the fact thait both Mr Cyrus Williams and Mr James Crawford had gono into the matter, and neither had recommended a gravitation scheme, which, would cost twice as much as a pumping scheme. The Mayor stated that he had always been in favour of a gravitation scheme, and was so still. . It. was decided, on tho motion of Crs. FripdJandor and Stewart, to thank Mr Ferriman for his generous offer. RESIGNATION OF CR. FRIEDLANI>ER,. Or. Hugo Friedlander, in a lengthy letter, which he read himself, teiidered his resignation \os a councillor on account of the attitude of all the other councillors on the highpreesure water supply scheme, the poll on which is to be taken on May Ist, and which-Mr Friedlandor is opposing, mainly on th« ground that the £15,000 proposed to bo borrowed is not sufficient for the work." In has let/ter. Mr Friedlandor refers at leroprtih to his 36 years' association' wfch pirWic bodies in A«hburton, implying tiliat Cr. Niooll, chairman of tho Council , Water Supply Committee, w])o is championing the scheme, and who has spoken strongly tijrninst tho' statements that Jlr FricdJander and othere havo rondo about the scihome. is not yet ' "yr>eriencod v ajjd that the Council in siding with Cr. Nicoll aro sliphtinp; him Otr Fi'iedla.nder), with his ripe experience, Cr. Xicoll having been on tho Council for only twelve months. Tho resignation, which was received "i'h some consternation, was deaft with' , in committee. On resuming , Mi open Conner!, rt was decided to «.p- ---!' "oint a deputation, rorgofrtinor of the Maj T or and Crs. Gibson, I>avisori, Stewart and Nicoll, to wait on Air Friedlander and ask him to reconsider i his resignation. On returning to the previous qu«e----1 turn. Cr. Nicoll said that Mr Fri-d----t lander had road a long letter, in whjch he liad attempted to dishonour him fCr. N-icoll). Ho would tako a Icier oppori tunity of replying to the charges. , I Mr Friedlander, on being interviewed 'by "Lbe~deputatfon yesterday, said that he would take time to consider tho r*- ,- ---j quest that he should withdraw his I resignation.