WATER SUPPLY IN CASE OF FIRE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 105, 11 March 1879, Page 2

WATER SUPPLY IN CASE OF FIRE.

To th Editor of the Wairabaw Dailt,

Sir—ln watching and pumping at the fire-engine during the late conflagration, I could not help noticing the continual suction of the pump, thereby causing very little water to flow out of the nozzle of the hose, and had there been moro water available 110 doubt a portion of the property burnt would have been saved, To remedy this in future I would suggest that a drain be made from Renall's dam to the Waipoua River, to consist of two feet diameter earthen pipes, with flood gates at distances of not less than four chains/' apart, with strong head flood-gate screen at the head of drain. By doing • this, in case of fire the flood-gate nearest to the conflagration could bo shut, tlio different hoses put into plug-holes left for the purpose, and a stream of water could be kept up sufficient to supply three or four engines. The above drain w«uld also bo serviceable in watering the streets, itc.

So far as I can loarn, tho distance from Renall's dam to the Waipoua River is about forty chains, or 380 yards. Tho cost of construction would he about as follows Say 2,640 feet drain pipes, at 3s per foot, ffiGO; 11 flood-gates, at 30s each, £l6lO a; 880 lineal yards of ditching and laying of pipes at 3s por lineal yard, £132; incidental expenses, repitching tabling over drain, Ac., Ac., £7O; total, £B7B 10s. The fall from Renall's dam to the Waipoua river is some sixteen feet, which gives a grade of five inches to the chain, this being quite sufficient fall to keep the drain clear of all sediment. Trusting the above suggestion will be received favorably— I am., &c,, Practical.