CORRESPONDENCE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 11525, 15 May 1899, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

I We are not responsible for the opinions expressed by eorrcspondents. The writer' 3 name, as a guarantee of good faith, must be enclosed in the letter.]

THE WATERWORKS AGAIN. TO THE EDITOR.

Sir,— l cannot allow your leader of tha 11th and" E.C.s" letter of the same d.lo to pass without common t,asl consider they are casting some reflection upon myself and staff. First, I will deal with "li.C," although I feel very much inclined to take no notice ol a person that Is aihained to sign his namo ; perhaps he is a loser by the improvement made in the pumping. He says, "Councillor Belli inger says the whole pumping arrangement is rotten to the core." Wei:, I am not surprised if ho did, as the whole affair was in a deplorable and dilapidated state, just for thd want of a little attention (wety much as the grounds are at the present time). "E.(J. ' tays that the machinery is so constructed that it will either work well or not at all. Well, sir, any persou with an ordinary handpump will kuow belter than that. 1 am prepared to prove that tho pumps have never worked to their full capaciiy since Mr Wray has had charge of them. He says again that with the mechauical appliances snob as those that exist iv New Plymouth, it is impossible to have so repaired or impraved their working as to make the difference. How does he know ? If "E.C." beiievfcs we cannot do anj thing here, let him [ ut down his money and give us an order and we will make him a complete plant similar to those at the Water* orks ; ilere ia not a single part of the machinery but that can be made with the present appliances acd staff in the Tarapaki Foundry. No doubt there has been waste of the ratepayers' money in connection with the Waterworks, aud I will tell you where some of it has gone. I have just ascertained from the Town Clerk that during the last 10 years there have been t6n new driving belts supplied to the works, at a cost of £114. Now, sir, I have not b"qen at the trade for «ome 23 years, and proprietor of an engineer's shop for 14, without knowing something of the life of a belt, and I .say it is downright shameful 'or the Council to allow the property of the ratepayers to be wasted in this way. I would tuggest that all discarded belis t-hould be put; up by auction, as I am quite sure some of the belting I saw at tho works would be a god-send to some sawmillers, or make a good factory diiving belt for the next 10 years. Now, Mr Editor, you have gone to a good de.l of trouble and quite out of your way, I think, to write w ha.t you appear to know very little about. Are you an engineer, aud do you understand the working of the pumps? Do you know what quantity of water the pumps were lifting before, and have you seen them since theso-caU6d tinkering they have received, and do you believe that the leakage reported to have been stopped has bsen so stopped? Because I don't. Iho difference in the foil of the reservoir now and before Mr Wray tampered' with the leaks 13 not more than half an inch, and that can be made up iv less than half an hour's pumping, and yet you say '.hat the difference between 65 and 100 hours is attributable to stopping the leaks In my opinion the leaks will never be stopped as long as you have a waterworks. There are doubtless some which can and should be stopped, bub the majority will never be. The so-called experiment may have cost the Council | from £10 to £20, but if it had taken place ten years ago they would have been in pocket more than ten times that amount. More might be said on the subject, but I c>o not wish to trespass fuither on your valuable space, but iE you will call at the foundry I think £ can piove to pon without doubt that three-fourths of the improvement is caused by the alterations to the pumps and not by stopping the leaks. — I am, &c , F. W. Okey. Taranaki Foundry. P.S.— To your sub-leader of Friday evening 1 would just like to say, for jour | information, that there was no breakage in connection with the pumps during the trial, tho only breakage that took placo at all was a valve spindle for stopping and starting turbines, and that was repaired at a cost of 15*, and I believe that "breakage took piuce on the first or second day Mr Smith was put iv charge. F.VV.U. YOUNG-STREET AGAIN. TO THE EDITOE. Sib, — " Burgess," justly and with truth, points out that the ratepayers of Young street and the immedi.te neighs bourhood must be an easily satitfiei V>t, but at present they are far from being satisfied with the existing state of things, and in view of the present formation of part of YouDg and Dawson-Btreets, why the very worat part of Young-street shonld be left to its fate is a mystery. Weymouth*street, the whole length of it down to Ihe railway, iB in a bad way, especially in 'winter. It reminds one forcibly of a bush track. Coull we not get the Premier on his prospective visit to inspect the above-mentioned so-called streets; there might then be a possibility of a bridge being thrown across some ot the waterholea — I am, &c, Pko Tempore. HOSPITAL AND CHARITABLE AID BOARD. The Hospital and Chatitable Aid Board met to-day (Monday ). 4 Present: Mts^rH J. Bellringer (chairman), Haworth McDonald, McCullum, TayJer, Corkill, Mackay, Scott, Lepper, and Major. The Chairman was authoiised to affix ' the seal of the Board to the deed making provision for taking charge of the children of J. Rielly, Now Plymouth. Tho House Committee reported that the follow iag fcele.tion for the po-ition of wardsman at the liawera Hospital Lo made:(l) M. G Duffy (Auckland;, and (2) F. P. Thornton (Auckland) that the request for supply of furniture etc , for tho Hospital be referred to tho Committee to deal with ; that in preparing to carry out the instructions re repairs to lha morgue the Committee fi .d the cobt will bd about £'8, aud there is also other sundry repairs that require attention which aro now being attended to. With regard .o the wardtman 'a application for an increase of palary, the Committee finds on etquiry of other Boards elsewhere in the colony that the pay and advantages of the New Plymouth wardsman are in excess of those offered at any of the institutions from which replies bavo been received, and therefore it could not recommend an increase. — The Chairman stated that ihe proceeds from the recent ball would be sufficient to. cover the cost of requisites at tbo Hotpital. — The Board decided to appoint Mr Luffy as wardsman at Hawera' Tho Normanby Town Board again wrote urging Ub claims to have a representative on tho Hospital and Charitable Aid Board.— A reply will bo sont to tho effect that the Hospstal Board has no voice in tho appointment of representatives.

Miss Brown, matron of tho Now Plymouth Uospital, reported that Miss K. Eraser had satisfactorily performed her duties as probationary nurse. — Miss Fraser's appointment to tho staff was confirmed.

Mr S. 'IVcd, secretary of the Hospital Ball Committeo, forwnrdnd tho Fum of J.GG 5s 9d, proceeds from the ball recently held.- On tho motion of tho Chairman, seconded by Mr Major, Iho Board's sincere thauks wore parcel to the committee for tanking tho bulltuch a tucceia. A \oto of thauka was alto teudered to tho .Salvation Army for its donation. Mrs Lysaght, Mokoia, forwarded a sackful of old clothing for dwtribution

among the members of the Refuge. A vo'eof tbafllss wasrasEed to MrsEys-tght Sfcvtral applications fora itcuition i accounts for inaiutfDni.ee wtie deal witH. Accounts were passed, and the Board adjourned.

Total Funds,