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The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1926. MORE ABOUT PUMPS

Matters in connection with the plant at the waterworks seem to be so complicated that the Town Council is unable to consider any proposal related to the water supply without getting at cross purposes. On Tuesday night the Works Committee recommended the purchase of a new pump and motor to cost £849 and to be landed in Invercargill about five months hence, and as this type of pump is advocated by Mr James Stewart the proposal on the face of it would appear to warrant the Council’s endorsement; but the Works Committee in this matter was acting with the knowledge that the whole /question of the water supply at the waterworks is being investigated by a Special Committee, ebnsisting qf the Works Committee with Councillor Cooper added. To insist that the Works Committee was wrong in anticipating the report of the Special Committee may appear, in the circumstances, like a slavish adherence to forms and ceremonies, but the position is not quite so simple, because the members of the Works Committee knew that certain questions, some of them touching the use of this pump, had been addressed to Mr Stewart, whose replies could not reach the council for its meeting on Tuesday owing to the holidays. The request of the opponents of the clause committing the council to the purchase of this pump was for delay so that these answers could be considered. Five months must elapse before this pump can be installed so that it cannot be considered as a stand-by for the season of heavy demand—the summer—and a fortnight’s delay cannot be regarded as a serious matter in view of the important issues involved. Having decided to take this pump recommended by Mr Stewart, is the Council determined to adopt the whole of Mr Stewart’s proposals without having considered them? Yet the installation of this pump must be viewed as an integral part of his proposals now before the Special Committee. It may be found that Mr Stewart’s proposals are acceptable in their entirety, but that does not alter the fact that the council, on the recommendation of the Works Committee, and with a very hazy idea of the whole business, brushes aside a proposal to wait a fortnight in order to obtain information bearing on this point. After months, after yehrs of neglect, during which the waterworks plant suffered, the Council now seems to be in such a hurry to do something that it cannot distinguish the cart from the horse.

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ST19261028.2.29

Bibliographic details

Southland Times, Issue 20012, 28 October 1926, Page 6

Word Count
430

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1926. MORE ABOUT PUMPS Southland Times, Issue 20012, 28 October 1926, Page 6

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1926. MORE ABOUT PUMPS Southland Times, Issue 20012, 28 October 1926, Page 6