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Evening Star, Issue 12881, 2 August 1906, Page 4

The action of the City Council last evening in the matter of a water The TV«t*r supply for tho Hill BorSnpplr- oughs hap left the question ' n a moat unsatisfactory position. .• By ten votes to nine the Council decided to delete from the Waterworks Committee’s report the clause which proposed to take a poll of the ratepayers to borrow £25,000 for the reticulation of Momington and Roslyn. This means that two sources of revenue have* been cut off from Dunedin, and that the ratepayers of the City have to shoulder practically the whole of the interest charges on the cost of construction of the high-level water supply, as well as the melancholy satisfaction of knowing that millions of gallons of surplus water that could be sold will run to waste. It is not possible to regard this either as a satisfactory or a final solution of a serious and expensive problem. Much as some members of the present Council may dislike the outlook, it is imperative that they unite with their fellow-councillors in evolving a more rational and business-like alternative. Dunedin has borrowed £55,000 for water suunly extension, and has, so far, spent some £55,000 of this amount, every penny piece of which is to all intents dead money. The only return tho ratepayers are at present reaping is the knowledge that about a hundred houses on the high levels are being supplied with a greater abundance of water than could be procured from Silverstream, The finanical return is nil. To obtain any revenue wherewith to meet the interest charges it is essential that the water now going to waste be sold to the Hill Boroughs. The position is not a happy one: but for this tho Council are to blame. The high-level water supply was entered upon if not with a light heart at least without due consideration of all the factors involved, and with no definite agreement between the City and the suburbs—occupying in this instance tho relation of seller and buyer—that on the completion of the main scheme the latter should purchase from Dunedin. As the case now stands, it is optional with Roslyn and Momington and the North-east Valley Boroughs whether they buy water from Dunedin or not. Dunedin is bound by the Act to make provision to sell water should one or all of the outlying boroughs wish to buy, but it is at the boroughs’ own choice whether they buy or not. Like other of their great commercial undertakings, the citizens entered upon tho highlevels water supply scheme without full knowledge, and in the absence of binding guarantees from tho parties most interested. The result of the failure of past municipal policy, as far as the Water Department is concerned, has been to add £55,000 to the City’s permanent interestbearing liabilities, with little or no immediate hope of any compensating material or financial benefit. It is obvious, therefore, that the subject cannot rest where it is, and wo suggest that GY Small should reintroduce his motion in an amended form, so that the citizens may leam where they are, to what they are committed, and the probable cost of tho completed scheme.