THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1897.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10626, 15 December 1897, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1897.

The proposal of which notice has beau given by Mr. Farrell, that the City Counoil should offer a premium for the best soheme for a water supply for the city, is scarcely characterised by the sagacity that generally attaches to that councillor's suggestions, It has, of course, the merit of proposing to shift oil the shoulders of the Council the responsibility of determining on a very knotty question, but it cannot be said, supposing the proposal were carried out, to advance the question in the least towards a satisfactory solution. On this subject it may with safety be said of t|ie people of i Auckland that quot homines tot sentential, and there is nobody in the city or surrounding country of average . intelligence who has not in his mind |pretty fairly worked out the most complete and perfect system of water supply for the city. The question of the best scheme for a water supply is purely an engineering question, and in order to liavo an effective test on tip subject the best engineering talent should be engaged in preparing the competitive plans, while abler and better engineering talent still would be required to determine between the plans, and to award the premium to the most meritorious. In such a contest of .giants the City Council would be nowhere, and it would be absolutely presumptuous for it to affect to be competent to. decide, and yet in the last' resort it would probably eventuate' that it would be the votes of the Council that would determine the award. In order to so determine it would be necessary for the Council to make itself fully cognisant of all the merits ; and demerits* of all the sources of supply, and the engineering ' requirements > involved in them ; severally, and if this course would ,be ; necessary at J the last, it would be quite as well to acquire the information ' at the first, and make | that the ; basis of something • more specific in the conditions submitted for

competitors. If the contest -is to embrace such elements as' the adequacy of the quantity, the purity of the quality, the distance, the location, the engineering facilities, the length of piping, - the cost' of the. whole, aud the rest, the trouble in - assessing the V; relative value of the elements and determining the award will be complicated ,to the last degree, ' In truth the proposal in

the form taken in Councillor Farrell'B notice of motion would present conditions or absence of conditions that' would make a rational decision impossible. v . - ■; ■ -V The intention to enlist the best engineering talent in the service of the Council, and to stimulate it by substantial reward is entirely commendable, but a vast amount of it will be practically thrown away if it is' not bound down to specific conditions as to the sources of supply. The best and most eligible of all the schemes, from an' engineering point of view, might be elaborated for a supply fipm the springs in the Eden district, and yet publio opinion would resist the adoption of such a source, and all the elaboration of plans would be thrown away, On the best and most eligible soheme in view of cheapness of working through gravitation, might be designed for the Nihotupu or Waitakerei streams, and yet it might be all in vain on the grounds of insufficiency of supply. Similarly in relation to the Lake Takapuna source, or that of the Wairoa or the Waiknto, the claims and the objections in each case may be diverse and confusing; and to come to a deoision on the question, on the basis of the most glowing and possibly exaggerated representations and calculations of competing engineers each endeavouring to put his pet scheme in the most attractive light would be absurdity in the last degree. A decision on the source of supply should rest on nothing but the careful observation, examination, and calculations of engineers who have no competitive purposes to serve, and whose only duties should be to submit the barest statement of facts and deductions. On this basis a decision should be formed as to the source from which the supply shall be taken, and thereupon it would be in every way desirable to invite the competition of engineers as to the best, the cheapest, and most effective scheme for conveying the supply to the city.

But to offer a premium for the best scheme of water supply for the city, leaving everyone to fix on the source that best suited his fancy, would bring results about as valuable as offering a premium for tho best answer to the question of whether Charles the First should have been beheaded 1 or whether hanging should be abolished The City Council should at this time of day have a pretty accurate general idea of the merits of the several sources of water supply, their adequacy, and their suitableness to the financial capacity of the city. If it has not, it should procure it, as the indispensable preliminary to any action on the subject, and however obtained, it should be absolutely free from bias or interest, and entirely reliable. To obtain that information by competition for reward would be impossible, if unbiassed truth and accuracy of details are essential, and in order to be able to decido between competitors, the arbiter would himself require an accuracy of knowledge of the whole subject, that, being placed at first at the service of the Council, would have mado the call for competitive schemes unnecessary. If the Council really means business in relation to a permanent water supply it should employ and pay for the engineering talent whether within its own departments or from outside sources, that would make it fully cognizant of the best source of water supply. And having once determined on the source it should call for competitive schemes to find the best means of connecting the supply. To call vaguely for the best scheme of water supply, has not the appearance of intending practical action, and to the general community it will present ithowever unjustly —as merely throwing dust in the eyes of the people, with the intention of shelving the question,