WATER SUPPLY.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXIV, Issue 12751, 23 April 1909, Page 11

WATER SUPPLY.

When opposing Mr Bignell, the Mayor 1 said the Okehu' water shonld be purified at once, and now, after three years, he was still calling it an urgent work. As a matter of fact the water was no worse and no better than it was then. The Mayor uiged a settling tank at W T estmere, while ,Mr Muir advocated diverting a small stream at Okehu. It was absurd to think that a stream draining steep country could, in rainy weather, be free from silt. Mr Battle strongly advocated filtration at the head works, a work that could be carried out gradually. As to the proposed settling tank at Virginia, once they got silt in there it would be very difficult to get rid of it, and it would be better to filter the water at the head works, and prevent silt getting into the pipes at all. It had been said that the Okehu supply -.was inadequate* but if they- consitleTed the many hundred hoses and leaky taps they would sej&. there was enough water for a tojvnVtw%p the size of Wanganui. He Woulfl-alVays .oppose turning our auxiliary supply, Lake a reserve, as J^iMguld meab polluti^Ttlte waters He «oul^ claim tfiat he haft 1 - Been one of those '^ho &ad fought for" a higher pressure for fire extinction, as when he joined the Council, six years ago, there' was then a movement for making Virginia Late a receiving reservoir, Which" would have reduced the pressure in the mains by 80lbs, and that would Ti'ave been serious in' case of fire. The result of the opposition was the break pressure tank' at Westmere instead of Virginia-, giving a bigger pressure.

On 21st January, 1908, there was a committee report, recommending that the bylaws be altered so as to make it legal for cab proprietors to charge double fares on Sundays. The report was adopted on the motion of the Mayor, seconded by C'r P'oynter. Some time after, the caT> proprietors again asi^d the Council to complete the by-laws, "but the Mayor informed

tbcm that the cost of altcritig^the by-laws would be too great. This wa& not lair to the proprietors, and the by-law fe should be altered at once, as they now ran the risk of prosecution.