WATER SUPPLY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume X, Issue 2910, 27 May 1873, Page 3

WATER SUPPLY.

To the Editor of the Herald. Sib, —I aee by your issue of yesterday, that the committee appointed by the City Council to obtain information as to the best source for the water supply of Auckland, and which reported about three weeks ago (without having held any regular meeting) in favor of the Nihotopu gravitation scheme, has issued a lengthy advertisement calling for tenders for works, and this has been done, as I am credibly informed, without the sanction of the City Couneil, and is the joint production of tho three members of the Water Supply Committee, the late chairman of which appears to be utterly ignorant of the well-known fact that when a committee is appointed for any purpose, and that committee has made its report (which in this case was to be a final one), the committee by that act ceaßes to exist. Yet, in the face of this fact, the defunct committee arrogates to itself all tho powers of the City Council, and calls for tenders for works, to be accompanied by ail tho requisite plans, specifications, and estimates for the supply of Auckland witfc water. I am at a loss, 6ir, which part to admire most in this choice production, but I will point out one or two little features in it that deserve especial notice. The defunct committee offers a sum of £400 for such scheme and tender for gravitation works from the Nihotopu at, if not carried out, shall be in the opinidu of the Council the most favorable, or in other words, tho lowest, and the tenderer is not bound to keep tie works in repair for any term of years ; while for the pumping scheme, tho tenderer is to include the working and maintenance in good repair of the works for the period of ten years, and is to receive nothing for his plans and specifications, &c., if the works are not carried out, or his tender is not accepted, however favorable it may be ! This shows the exquisite impartiality of the three gentlemen who issued the advertisement, which, I perceive, is withdrawn in this dey's papers. And supposing that; it had received the Banction of the City Couneil, and that it had been inserted in the Dunediu, the Melbourne, the Sydney, as well as in tile Auckland newspapers, the ratepayers of this city would have had a very nice little sum to have paid for this purpose for the term of six months, or up to the Ist of December ; and it is very doubtful whether any reliable or bona fide tenders would then have been 6ent in. This, in the present unsatisfactory state of the city funds, would not have been a very wise expenditure, and this is, I believe, the view that any sensible person (not being one of the defunct committee) would take of this matter. —I am, die., Citizen. May 22, 1873.