Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, MONDAY, AUGUST 29, 1904 WATER SUPPLY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 10140, 29 August 1904, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, MONDAY, AUGUST 29, 1904 WATER SUPPLY

It is high time that the Gisborne Borough Council again t turned: its attention to the matter of water supply. Householders who during the past few weeks, m conformity with borough regulations have had their tanks emptied of the polluting debris which dtespite the most careful precautions collects therein, have, nauseated at the present defective system of water supply, been ciying out against the apparent apathetic .inactivity of the corporation, and are beginning to wonder whether Gisborne will ever have the progressive, public spirit, to equip itself with a decent, healthful, and up-to-date method' of supply. Another summer is approaching and it is impossible to foretell whether we shall not have to endure the inconvenience and discomforts of short supplies of water m our tanks, but certain it is that during the hot months of the year the water which we do possess is bound more or less to deteriorate, and must be used only after tholrough sterilisation oil filtration, if various summer complaints* which annually afflict the community are to be avoided. People who have lived m towns which possess an abundance of fresh, pure water, which am be enjoyed without stint m the hot weather, who liave not been used to measure the quantity requisite for their baths or their gardens, must marvel that a prosperous conimunitsuch as we have here should continue to plod along under the present unsatisfactory and unhealthy conditions, and tliat days and weeks 'should be allowed to slip by after the matter has once been .taken m hand passes their comprehension. The excuse of the Borough authorities, no dioubt, will be that they are awaiting the consummation of amalgamation. For some inexplicable reason the Government have been dilatory m proclaiming the authority necessary for the preparation of valuation rolls for the extended borough, and until that is done no estimate can be formed of the Value of the. Kiting area of the. I own. upon which to 'base proposals to submit to the ratepayers. It is promised, however, that the proclamation will issue, fixing the date for the completion of the rolls about the middle of October. Meantime theCouncil is obtaining data, with reference to the Te Arai river, which has been •suggested as an alternative source of supply to the streams, tributaries of it. previously reported on by Messrs Hay and Reynold's. Government officers are engaged at the present time, we believe, m talcing levels. These ascertained, it will then probalxtly be necessary to obtain some engineering estimate as to the cost, of bringing m the water from the Te Arai. This should be an easy matter for calculation' as the distance is very little greater than from the creeks previously reported oil, and the character of the country is presumably the same. According to- the report of Major Winter there can be no question about the superiority of the Te Avai river so far as quantity of water is concerned, and' there is every reason to hope that it will prove a highly satisfactory, source of supply which will be accepted : "'by all sections m the community.' As it is desirable that unanimity should prevail m this matter, if progress is to be made, the Council would probably^ be acting m the best interests of the public if they called 1 m an engineer of standing, independent of Messrs Hay and Reynolds, who would check the estimates of those gentlemen, and report how far they could bo adapted, and at what cost, to the Te Arai rivet scheme. That seems to us the best means of getting over the difficulties which presented themselves when a, controversy was raging over the technical details of the rival reports, upon which most laymen felt themselves quite incompetent to decidte. We would urge that as soon as the Council receives the d>ata from the Survey Office they should proceed forthwith to call m an engineer. By the time his estimate was prepared,, the valuation roll 1 would be ready, and there is no reason why loan proposals should not be submitted to the rater payers by the end of October. It would perhaps be advisable, m order that the public should! receive fuller information as to the new locality that is under investigation, to organise another municipal picnic to the proposed source, and seeing that the weather noAv appears to be setfine, we w6uld suggest that the Council should lake a day m the couutry at an early date. /