ONSLOW WATER SCHEME

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2409, 15 March 1915, Page 6

ONSLOW WATER SCHEME

(To the Editor.) Sir,—Another literary. effort on the part of "Ratepayer," and attempts by two of his side, appear in your issue of the 10th, and I must acknowledge that to them and to me in granting us space you are very good. 1 "Pro Bono Publico"'l- am afraid does not write sincerely for the good end claimed. "Ratepayer" tells us that a sanitation scheme must inevitably .follow a water, scheme. There are many boroughs .1 could name in. New Zealand with a, water supply yet no sewerage system. And why should a road-grad-ing scheme be necessary? : Wellington City did not re-grade her streets before putting in her. water pipes. Everyone knows water will run up hill as well as down hill provided the dam be' high enough; and our lower dam would be 500 ft. abovo sea level. These arguments by .."Ratepayer" are merely'his particular brand of "red herring." He says also: Don't trust this water scheme ; to those who bought the catchment area, '.'a few acres of bare goat hills." Yet for those ."few. acres" there is not one that is useless for the purpose for which it was bought. Our present Mayor and councillors are not those who bought the catchment area; but they, and the councils that preceded them, appear to endorse the act of securing that area which now makes the proposed scheme possible. "Ratepayer" is assertive about the law of Riparian rights, and the mariner in which we shall be affected—all it , seems from information trained through one legal opinion, and that opinion given not at the request' of our council nor on details supplied by our council. . ... "Ne Sutro Ultra Crepidan" is obviously a faithful echo of "Ratepayer" and covers much the same ground. And to the fellow who hides behind this other end of Latin,' I might say that,' while admitting that I am not an engineer, I have gained a good deal of knowledge of the scheme simply by : making it my business to do so. .Also I attended both meetings recently held at Ngaio and Khandallah. My own water supply has proved entirely sufficient for tho needs of my household as well as a help to some of my neighbours. "Ratepayer" and the Latin i scholars have had the same opportunities as I to increase their knowledge of the scheme, and. as I am not the Mayor, nor even a councillor, I do not feel it enoumbent. upon me to try to edu- . cate those who plainly do not want to gain information, but only to block ■ progress.—l am, etc., HERBERT KIRKOALDIE. Khandallah, March 12, 1915. ' The Ladies' Nursing Division of St. ' John Ambulance, Brigade Overseas (Lower Hutt branch) is raising a fund ' to provide a bed at the Trentham Base ! Hospital. In this connection the Mayor of Hutt (Mr. H. Baldwin) has made a donation of £1 Is. Under the auspices of the United Christian Association of Petone, the ministers of various churches exchanged • pulpits yesterday morning. The Rev. A. Bruce Todd, of St. David's (Pres--1 byterian) spoke at Wesley Church; the ) Rev. J.' J. Lewis (Wesleyan) at St. . David's; Pastor M. P. Lascelles (Bap- , tist) at the Church of Christ; and Mr. 11. Grinstead (Church of Christ) at the Baptist Church. f On Saturday evening an open-air meeting was held in Sydney Street under the auspiccs of the local branch of the Social Democratic Party. The . speaker was Mr. P. Fraser, national t secretary of' the (organisation. His subject was: "The rise in the cost of _ living: its cause and its cure." The s address, was well'received by & large s&udisnco*