NOLANTOWN MERGER.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 5 December 1924, Page 4

NOLANTOWN MERGER.

PETITIONERS’ CASE CONTINUED. WATER SUPPLY QUESTION. Before the commissioners, Messrs J. S. Barton, S.M., O. Gardner and J. Cook, the enquiry into the circumstances surrounding the petition and counter-petition in connection with the Nolantown merger proposal was continued this morning. The chairman (Mr Barton) said that no new developments had arisen in the case that the commissioners had. not had experience of in other commissions. In their opinion two days more should be ample in which to conclude the matter, and they would be obliged if counsel would avoid repetition and expedite matters as much as possible. Mr Spratt, for the petitioners, said he was anxious that 'certain impressions made by the other side should be dissipated. Mr Barton said that the commissioners were not likely to form impressions; their conclusions were based on proved evidence, and not on impressions. John Sturroek, borough engineer of Hawera, and a member of the New Zealand Society of Civil Engineers, stated in his evidence that the estimate of £50,000 for the duplication of the main was a calculated one, and included the cost of filtration works. In connection with the drainage of the Nolantown area, witness had taken no levels, and until he had done that he could not say whether one or two pumping stations would be necessary. To Mr O’Dea witness said that the estimate of £50,000 for the water duplication works was for a 12-inch main. The present main was a 10-inch one. As far as the. low water pressure in the summer time was concerned, witness said that Hawera must have the record for lowness. The pressure had been as low as slb. In reply to further questions by Mr O’Dea, witness said that at the present time it was not possible to tap the borough water supply at night * and store the water in . a reservoir for Nolantown’s consumption. They had to reckon on the drought seasons, when the night pressure was lo\y. If Nolantown came into the borough it was for the council to say whether the supplies between the intake and the borough should be cut out and ! the extra supply given to Nolantown. j Asked whether the sewerage system of Hawera* was not down to bedrock, witness said that such a statement would be too general. Certain portioris of • the water system and certain portions of the sewerage system were more than ample, but both had their weak points. In the water system the main was the weak point, and in the sewerage system the Collins street connection was the only one that was seriously bad at present.