CORRESPONDENCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10627, 16 December 1897, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

CHURCH MISSION TO THE STREETS AND LANES. . . : M TO THE EDITOR. tlijjP Sir,—Will you allow me a small space in your paper so as to draw the attention of the public, and that they may know that there is workiug in their midst a small community of women, known as "The Church Mission to the Streets and Lanes," whose mission is to teach the young, to raise the ■ fallen, and to visit the .sick and suffering, and ', which is all done, not in a noisy, but humble % aud quiet ' way. These ladies live in community, and give up their entire time to this work. Now we do earnestly beg the kind sympathy and help of those • around us, even a share of that help and . sympathy which they extend to others, and to those who do not belong to the Church. ; : And at this time, when all are hoping to be v;, joyful, and are looking forward to happy re- -vj unions, let us— such a time especially, when all earth should rejoice—think of our ; ' poor and our sick, and let us add to our own happiness by making, if we can, other lives . • brighter. Donations and gifts of any' kind will be thankfully received at the. Church Mission Cottage in Grey-street.—l am, etc., Frances E. Williams, Head Missiouer. ' . AUCKLAND'S WATER SUPPLY. • TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—Will you kindly let me mention a few facts of value perhaps to Auckland, and. to show the best way of competing with ■■ Wellington in the struggle for supremecy in • ' this colony. Perhaps first and foremost comes . the > water supply of this city, hitherto derived from the Westorn Springs. That, until the large increase of population, was ; enough, and pnro enough, for all our wants, but houses are being built all over the watershed, the ground is all volcanic, and eaoh year the sewage is going further and further into the earth until it will reach the water you now drink. Take say ten miles round Auckland what amount of water falls on that space, and calculate the quantity of that water - that runs into the sea, an I think ib will be fouud . that nearly all sinks into the ground, through graveyards, and every kind of : deleterious matter you can think of. Is it not reasonable to suppose then, that in time, as was the case at Devonport, it will defile the watersupply. And could .we do better than adopt the same plan, and get the water from the same place that has proved such a success at Devonport. In no place in the world have I seen so beautiful a supply of fresh water within four miles of a city as you have there. Then it is supplied from below, and all impurities are prevented from sinking, and by taking water from some twenty feet' below the surfaco you will always get it pure, and always clear summer and winter. And as the greatest geologist who has visited this island, Hochstetter, says, the Lake gets its water supply from the lava fields of Rangitoto, so long as Rangitoto is not inhabited the water will be pure. If Hochstetter is not right, I would ask, what becomes of , the great rainfall on that island-the largest rainfall around Auckland,—as there is not one little stream going into the sea from ' that island ? Now there is a road to the top of the island, would it not be well to measure the annual rainfall on that island, and see if the rise and fall of the water in the Lake agrees with the rainfall there ? Also, may it not be worth while to bore down and find out if there is a lake under the lava, and its level in regard to- high-water?— am, etc., " 1 Edwin Haerow. December 14, 1897. \