BOROUGH WATER SUPPLY.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 254, 25 September 1929, Page 6

BOROUGH WATER SUPPLY.

Councillor Eliott is to be congratulated upon the excellent case he made against the adoption of the artesian water loan proposal by the Borough Council. His failure to carry his amendment that the Loans Board be asked to sanction the submission of the gravitation proposal to the ratepayers —was due mostly to the fact that other councillors have not given the matter such deep consideration as Councillor Eliott and are prepared to adopt the line of least resistance consequent upon the decision of the Loans Board. That the latter should have deprived the supporters of the gravitation scheme of their right to vote upon its extension, by laying the onus upon the council as to which one should be placed before the ratepayers, is greatly deplored. A very strong point was made by Councillor Eliott when he said that _ the artesian scheme could only be a temporary expedient and that sooner or later the gravitation supply would have to .be enlarged. Under such circumstances they were not justified in’ spending money on the former proposal.

Marshalling his facts and figures most concisely, Councillor Eliott was able to show that the cost of artesian water at the pump house would be one-third more per 1000 gallons than water from the Tiritea Stream at the Fitzherbert Street bridge. Another strong point was that the Borough Council could spend £15,000 on improving the supply from the Tiritea Stream, the same cost as to install the" artesian scheme. Such facts so clearly presented should have warned the council that the matter needed further consideration.