AS OTHERS SEE US.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 6517, 31 July 1884, Page 2

AS OTHERS SEE US.

A visitor from Wangaaui who passed through New Plymouth to go on board a steamer, on his way to Auckland, thus describes this place in the Wanganui Herald: Any fears I may have had as to tho steamer riot beingable to pick up passengers hero to-day, wero set at rest when I looked from ' my bedroom window at 7 o'clock this morning and saw the sea quite smooth, and tho Hawea riding peacefully at anchor in tho roadstead. A walk to the flagstaff hill before breakfast enabled me to get tho most magnificent view of Mount Egmont that I have ever had. Snow-clad from bush-line to summit, the grand old mountain stood in dignified solitude amid the general level of the surrounding country. Not a cloud was to be seen, and his clearly cut outline and sharp pinnacles stood out in strong relief against tho azure blue of the morning sky. THE WATER WORKS. Breakfast over, R , who happened to be staying there, und myself chartered a buggy and pair r.nd drove to tho water work'j, which are situated some three miles from town in a direction inland from the sea, and which' have been constructed with considerable ingenuity from designs by Messrs. Barr and Oliver of Dunedin. The drive took us through a pretty, though somewhat uncultivated country, and the warm sunny day, and cool south-east breeze made it one of the plousantest outings imaginable. . • The reservoir is situated on tho summit of a flat-topped hill some 300 feet above sea level, and is constructed entirely of concrete. Only a few feet from tho reservoir is a deep gully, at the foot of which runs tho Waiwakaiho stream, tho source of the water supply. Across a slurb bend in the stream a race has been formed of concrete with flood gates at the upper end, through which the water from the stream is allowed to flow in any desired quantity. At the the lower end of the race is fixed a pumping apparatus consisting" of two pumps worked by v. pair o£ turbine wheels^ by means of which the water is forced into tho reservoir above. Wo happened to arrive there just as the pumping was about to bogin, and so hud the opportunities of seeing tho machinery working from the turning on of the water until it waa in full swing. By the way, the pump-house and reservoir are connected by tho tallest staircase built up against tho cliff that I have over seen ; Jacob's ladder, us depicted in the Bcriptural pictu-e books of my juvenilo days, was short in comparison. Wo were told that, on tho avc-ago, fivo hours' pumping per day is sufficient to supply tho present demnnds on tho reservoir. It is clear from this, that when the demand becomes four times greater than now, as it surely will in tho not far distant future, the works will { have to be enlarged or Now Plymouth will go Bhort of water. Indeed tho mains HCPinc'l to me to bu 100 small to carry a muoh larger quantity of water than is now consumed. <