WATER DIFFICULTY. DROUGHT IN THE SUBURBS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 25, 30 January 1908, Page 8

WATER DIFFICULTY. DROUGHT IN THE SUBURBS.

CITY DWELLERS CAREFUL. THE SOLOMON'S KNOB SCHEME. A shower of rain early this morning put hope in the hearts of suburban dwellers, who are not connected with the city water supply, but tho fall was scarcely sufficient to put an inch of water in the tanks. To-day the sky continues overcast, and there -is prospect of further rain, but meantime the position of the suburban dweller is droughty, and many are reduced to buying water required for household use. At South Kilbirnie-, the residents have tho blessing of an excellent well of pure water, and in tho vicinity of the Queen's Drive there is a spring welling through the hill, which provides water suitable for watering gardens. In the evening there is quite a string of bucket bearers carrying water Irom it to their thirsty plants. The point at which the water is drawn is not the first place at which it appears; between its source in the higher hills, and the point on the Queen's Drive, it runs in the open, and unfortunately it has been used as a drain to receive house sewago, which makes it unfit for human consumption. At Crofton, some residents are dependent wholly upon carted supplies. Karori residents also are in droughty state, and their case has become so bad that the local council has mounted tanks on drays, and is carting water from the South Karori stream, which is sold to residents of the borough at five shillings per load. So far as Wellington city is concerned, the position is becoming a little more satisfactory. The city engineer states that the care exercised" in recent days by the citizens has had an appreciable effect in. husbanding supplies, and as a result the water at Wainui reservojr has remained at the same level for a week or so. It only needs that householders will continue their careful use of the water to obviate any serious trouble through the prolonged drought. The retaining walls at Karori reservoir, on which work has been progressing for some months, will probably be completed to their -full height in a, week from present date, and only one good downpour of rain will then be required to considerably improve the prospects of users of the city water supply to the high levels. When this work is out of hand, the work at Solomon's Knob, Wainuiomata, will be taken in hand, and tenders for carrying it out will be called for as promptly as possible. That contract, and the meditated one for the erection of city abattoirs are regarded by the city engineer as the two works to which earliest attention should be given.