OPENING OF WATERWORKS EXTENSION

Te Puke Times, 21 February 1930, Page 3

OPENING OF WATERWORKS EXTENSION

At the invitation of the Town Board about fifty local residents made the trip to the Keri Keri on Wednesday afternoon, when the formal opening of the extension to the waterworks that supply Te Puke with such an abundant supply of the purest of water, took place. The day was gloriously fine and the function was held under the happiest of circumstances, To those who had not made a previous visit to the locality the beautiful bush that surrounds the waterworks was a source of the greatest admiration, albeit the track to be traversed is not such as to be freely undertaken by any but experienced motor drivers. Since the last visit by members of the Board considerable additional work had been carried out by the staff, this consisting of an extension of the gabion wall built to prevent the dam from being filled in time of flood by stones and debris, the construction of a concrete wall between the sediment dam and the main dam, the building of stone walls on either side of the latter in order to prevent erosion, and the deepening of this receptacle to provide for a greatly increased volume of water, the spoil from this work being de posited by means of a tramway and truck between the dam and the channel provided for the overflow. This last mentioned work was a most laborious task, the floor of the dam being covered with boulders, many of them of immense size. After inspecting with the greatest interest the work that had been carried out, the visitors were addressed by the Chairman of the Town Board (Mr H. 0.. Cooney), who paid a tribute to the foresigbt.of members who occupied seats on the Town Board some years ago in initiating the movement to provide the town with a water supply. Sufte then the town had grown considerably, and it was realised that the supply was inadequate, more particularly in case of fire, and that a scheme for the conservation of additional water was imperative. The Board had therefore entrusted Mr Bostock to carry out a plan of operations devised by himself, and he bad brought these to a successful issue. The result was that they now had an unfailing sup* ply of water for all purposes. The thanks of the community were due to Mr Bostock for the unself* ish manner in whioh he had de* voted so much time to supervising the work, which would remain a monument to his ability and energy for all time. Mr v/ooney also alluded to the manner in which Mr McKenzie, the foreman, had carried out his duties. He then called for three cheers for Mr Bostock, a hearty response being made. v . Mr Sweetrban also referred in eulogistic terms to the great service that Mr Bostock had rendered townspeople. % - At the request of Mr Cooney, Mrs Bostock then unfastened the sluice gate in order to show the onlookers the celerity with Which the dam could be emptied and refilled, the latter operation only taking about twenty minutes. Mr Bostock was then called upon to speak, and he explained details of the work that had been carried opt, modestly seating that •whilst the idea was his the actual practical work had been parried out by Messrs McKeizh and C. Perrin? Wth the befp of the s'aff. The scheme had cost £640, as affairst an amount of £4OOO that an alternative proposal of obtaining water No. 2 Road would have cost.Fße also pointed out that whereas the depth of water in the original dam was not more than nine inches the present one had a depth of from 4ft to sft and held 60,000 gallons. At the conclusion of his remarks Mr was loudly applauded. During the afternoon several photographs- of the scene were taken'hy Mr Hemphifl. • At about $ o ! clock a start wag r< ude for Home, the visitors being unanimously of opinion that they had spent a most Interesting and instructive time*