ARTESIAN WATER

Evening Post, Issue 52, 2 March 1935, Page 10

ARTESIAN WATER

BORES BEING SUNK

AGREEMENT REACHED

Though the agreement with H,utt Valley local bodies has not been signed, the City Council last night agreed to the amendment of the only clause remaining in dispute, as sought by the Hutt River Board, and finality in the negotiations may be said to have been reached.

The matter was discussed in committee by the council last night, and this morning the Mayor. (Mr. T. C. A. Hislop) said that the Hutt River Board had signed the consent to enter on their land at Gear Island and the City Engineer was now putting down the additional bores. The board had returned the proposed deed of agreement and suggested an amendment to clause 8. That clause embodied the agreement reached by all the local bodies in May, 1934, with an added proviso inserted by the Wellington City Council at a later date. The original agreement confined the Wellington City Council to Gear Island and adjacent strips; the proviso removed all limitations as to area if 5,000,000 gallons were not obtained on the areas specified. The Hutt Valley authorities objected to the proviso, and the Petone Borough Council recently passed three resolutions, one of which meant the perpetual limitation of the Wellington City Council to the area specified, even after the first ten years' period had expired.

The amended clause 8 now submitted by the Hutt River Board, said the Mayor, had ' the endorsement of the Lower Hutt and Petone Councils. It allowed the Wellington City Council to extend its areas of operations if it was unable to obtain 5,000,000 gallons from the specified areas, but the new areas must be agreed to by the Lower Hutt, Petone, and Hutt County Councils.

It is essential that the council should complete the agreement and get it validated during the present session of Parliament or the pumping plant now being ordered may not be able to operate.