The Franklin Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MONDAY, WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS. FRIDAY, AUGUST 25, 1933. A NEW WATER SCHEME.

Franklin Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 99, 25 August 1933, Page 4

The Franklin Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MONDAY, WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 25, 1933. A NEW WATER SCHEME.

Office and Works: ROULSTON STREET, PUKEKOIIE. ’Phone No. 2. P.O. Box 14. “We nothing extenuate nor aught set down in malice."

THE project of the London company to be called The Waikato Water Supply Company Limited is of more than passing interest to Franklin residents. We understand the works will he situated in the Franklin County, and if the undertaking is carried oul there will he an unlimited water supply for all the towns and farm properties Iliad find ii economic to use if. We iind< rslam!. also, that tile financial capacity of those interested is beyond question and that British capital is largely involved. An application for statutory powers is to be made to Parliament in the coming session, and it is very likely to he granted. All the reports by experts are of a favourable character, and we are informed that samples of water taken from the neighbourhood of the intended intake were of perfect purify and eminently suited for. domestic use. Such a result, we admit, is not. what we should have expected. The Waikato runs for many miles through pasture lands where cattle and sheep are grazing all the, year Found. ■ It also receives the water of countless tributaries all of which bring their share of contaminated surface drainage. A mixture of waters of this duality is not what the layman asks for in selecting domestic supplies. We are told, however, that the Waikato watershed is

much less thickly occupied than the Thames Valley l'rom which much of the London water comes, and that the purity of the Waikato is further explained by the very much greater volume of water it receives than the Upper Thames. We have no reason to place any doubt upon the experiments which have determined thes“ facts, and if the analogy of the Thames is correct there would appear to be no reason to fear for the nature of tinWaikato water in the future. The habitation on its banks is never likely to exceed that on the hanks of the Thames. A water supply which would defy every drought and be obtainable at a compm aiively small cost is a boon to welcome with open arms. Details are few at present, but we are assured that the proposed company is willing to submit to terms which will amply protect the users and is prepared to surrender to a board the whole undertaking free o! cost alter a certain number of years. So long as the public has reasonable protection the scheme is entitled to a hearty welcome. This applies to this district particularly because ttie structuril work will .find immediate employment for largo numbers ot men, and the 6kistence of ttie undertaking in the County will prove a lasting benefit in more ways than one. The new company has our best wishes for its success.