WATER SUPPLY PROBLEM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19626, 3 May 1927, Page 11

WATER SUPPLY PROBLEM.

SITTINGS OF COMMISSION. ADDRESSES BY COUNSEL. GREATER AUCKLAND AS REMEDY DEMAND FOR WATER BOARD. Greater Auckland and its possibilities bulked large in discussions before the Auckland Water Supply Commission yesterday. One new witness was heard and counsel for the Auckland City Council and the outside bodies addressed the commission at length. The commissioners, Messrs. A. W. Blair, A. Dudley Dobson and A. J. Baker, will spend to-day in visiting the watersheds of the Mangatangi and Mangatawhiri streams, south-east of Auckland. The sittings will be concluded tomorrow. Lewis Alfred Eady, a member of the Auckland City Council, who stated he had made an exhaustive study of municipal administration, said lie was firmly of opinion that all public utility services in Auckland should be brought together under the control of a single municipal body for the whole city. The creation ot' a number of bodies, each carrying out a special service, was undesirable for many reasons. In particular it would lead to the unnecessary multiplication of staffs and plant, and overhead expenses would increase. The scattering of control in Auckland was intolerable now, and it should not be aggravated by setting up new authorities. A targe municipality enjoyed an advantage in raising loans on the London market. Another reason why public utilities should be in the hands of one municipal body was that the surplus revenue from them might properly be used in relief of the rating burden. Administration Costs. To.show the saving in overhead charges ; effected by the Auckland City Council, Mr. Eady quoted the official Local Authorities Handbook for 1926 as stating the cost of the council's administration was 3.33 per cent, of its receipts, loan moneys excluded. For the six suburban boroughs south of the harbour the percentage was 14.7. Mr, Eady cited the city of Glasgow, with a population of 1,300,000, as a good example of a unified municipality. The city, he said, had absorbed 47 other bodies since 1841. Its revenue from rating in 1926 was £3,026,000 and from public utilities £10,821,000. Such a municipality was like the typical modern business concern—a form of organisation which had proved its worth beyond any dispute. The essential features of a modern business were centralised control of policy and finance and departmentalised control of all the various activities. He would most strongly. urge the unification of local government in Auckland. If a water board were set up the progress of unification would be hindered. In reply to Mr, Rogerson, Mr. Eady said the suburban bodies had two remedies. They might join tho city, or they might seek the setting up of a joint water supply, committee, as provided for by tho Municipal Corporations Act. ' He did not say that every outside body would have representation, but it was open to tho bodies jointly to appoint a certain number of, persons to sit with the City Council's Water Supply Committee. Questioned regarding profits on water, Mr. Kariy said the council was justified in making a profit on sales to" other bodies so long as the latter took no share in responsibility for capital expenditure. Mr. Rogerson: They wish now to do so. Mr. Eady said he objected to the water board scheme as unbusinesslike. Figures Disputed. Mr. S. Gray, town clerk of Mount Eden, recalled with reference to Mr. Eady's statements about administrative expenses,, said the comparison did not apply. The council spread its expenses over a number of different departments, and only the non-departmental residue was included in the 3.33 per cent. A small municipality did not make such allocations, and the whole of the expenses were given in the return. The City Council's revenue was swelled by moneys received tramways, water supply, and zoo, etc. The suburban bodies had no such sources of income. The Chairman: At any" rate, a very large number of gentlemen in Auckland are willing to give their time and energies to local government. In that sense the municipal spirit is very strong. Mr. A. 11. .Johnston.'; addressed the commission on behalf of the City Council, and reviewed in detail the evidence in regard to the history, present condition, and future of the council's water supply system. In a discussion of the Taupo scheme, counsel said the estimates put forward by Mr, W. A. Gray had been hopelessly discredited, almost from the beginning, and counsel for the bodies supporting the water board proposal bad adroitly abandoned Lake Taupo. Mr. John Rogers. the other- engineer, bad said in his evidence that ha had never considered the lake a practicable source for a long time to come. Unfortunately for him, no doubts of the kind had been expressed in the report of the two engineers, and the lake had been accepted by the suburban bodien as a source that could be tapped. It was fair to s«v that engineers whose estimates had been proved so ina<carat« were not reliable guides with regard to the supnlv from the Wajtakere Ranges, about which lh*y knew even less than they knew about Taopo, "With Toagce In Cheek." The City Council had taken the Jong and - broad view of municipal progress, It had provided otjtetd* todies .wiib water, and . it stood ready to welcome any and all of them that wished to amalgamate. There he me competent management over the whole Auckland ifthrmis. The upland supplies within 40 m#*% of the city were soflteieiitt for a pffoa* Ist ion of 1,200.990. and for very f,apy years there irw no need • to - go itrven to the Lower Waikste, Messrs. rfogent and Gray appeared to have rqwtfd on Lake Taopo with tongue In chegJc fTftups was now admitted U> be out of tlm tion. hot the scheme fet'ved it* jfurpose. The local bodies who put their »rasl in it to have been trOkdiwith to water board. Mr, Johmtone _ jßtjd there ■was no call for a charge ids admiuls* trstion. The bc»rd_ eosld «J# nothing. Council could not do. 11l rtezUm %s'otj e*l not feoive of the '■ ueerin>r Xt'tit-l'.' m*, connected. v.~ith tW f of farther mepUft. The resilt wo&hl b* ccmfuMon, friction ?,od n.• % . and the desired ttHOpSet« uwfilatloo woald he red.. If toe otlts.• de 3p i,: '■ f^ ■' wej'.e d«-te) ;j.. j. t d ?•> form ft Wstefi d M them do so and leave the C|? CounriFs mpph alone. It would W|i calamity, bat lh* mt&iim wmU not hi %?-- bad as « «M totf (,«58BCi.i w«r* dUsaHved of jf« 0r 11 T CteKw, who •isfte&red to* the Health Tkp»rimmi, took to by Sir. Jd^aAweft&si'fc» h ad chjtsgpd 1 i view <-? tli# j-r, i j ,1 m the ««irsi» of th» m£«. " Dr. Chtqcon ! he s-vM'/i*.-after m interval,. hat had altered its effsei. - The Health #tii! held it was Mndmxrmle the City-O&xusi *fc«jld

control tho water supplies and that the other bodies should have no say in their management. Mr. F. E. Powell, for tho North Shoro Boroughs Water Board, said it was desirable that Lake Takttpuna bo retained as ati emergency supply, whatever otliet; source was tapped. If this were done, a single pipe-line should be sufficient for the needs of North Shoro for a considerable time. Mr. H. M. Rogerson, ior tho bodies advocating a water boarJ, said that thoso now buying water from the Citv Council looked to tho commission as their on:y hope of escape from tho present system. There was no intention of jettisoning the supplies from the Waitakere Ranges, lie declared. An attack had been made c« Mr. Gray's report upon the Lake Taupo proposals, but- it should lie pointed out in fairness to him that the figures given were only estimates, and Mr. Gray did not attempt to justify vhem in detail. He, ilr. Rogerson, had.stated at the veryoutset that the bodies ho represented regarded Lake Taupo as a source for the future only. The crux: of the matter was not the source of the supplies, hut their control. Tho City Council's own evidence, if taken entirely by itself, was sufficient- to show the present system of control ought to be changed. Mr. Rogerson went on to deal with tho outside bodies' complaints under the headings of price, quality and quantity. ■- The exact figures were hard to obtain, but it was not disputed that tho City Council was making a profit of 100 per cent, on sales of water to other bodies. It was reasonable that the latter, which paid .E27.OC€ a year 'or water, should have a measure of control over the supply and its future development. As for quantity, tho council had failed to anticipate the ordinary growth of demands for water, and had sacrificed the interests of its consumers in order to keep down the capital cost. Tho progress of its works had been a record of sudden decisions and emergency measures. With reference to Greater Auckland counsel said that, in tho first- place, the City Council did not encourage it; secbncllv, the outside bodies needed considerablv more than encouragement to bring them in. In the third plaoo, it was at best only a partial solution, because any adequate water scheme would cover a much larger supply area than a Greater Auckland. Unless the outer districts, including North Shore, were given representation, further disputes were * likely to arise. The sitting was adjourned until to-mor-row morning.