ILLEGAL USE OF HOSES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 50, 8 March 1946, Page 5

ILLEGAL USE OF HOSES

TWO LOCAL PROSECUTIONS

IGNORANCE PLEA FAILS Pleading ignorance of the recently instituted local regulations regarding the using of hoses within restricted periods Frederick G. M. Sutcliffe, was fined 20/- with costs 32/- in the Whakatane 'Court before Mr E.

L. Walton, S.M., last Tuesday. The offence which was one of two brought by the Borough Inspector (Mr M. Penny) represented the firm attempt made by the Borough Council to conserve water during the period of serious drought, said Mr L. Buddie who appeared for the Council. Inspector said that when he had visited defendant’s property in Victoria Avenue he had seen the hose propped up against a tree and playing on to the ground. Defendant said that he knew of no regulations forbidding the use of hoses within restricted periods, but blamed the Borough Council for its lack of initiative in not providing a better water system than that which was designed 25 years ago to serve a population of a thousand people. It had not catered for the present population which had trebled that figure, although there was ample water in the river from whence the existing supply -was drawn. In a town like this on the banks of a substantial river there should be no shortage of water. The second offender, N. A. W. Carter also pleaded not guilty to a similar charge, and declared that the trickle the inspector had seen coming from the ten-foot hose-line was due to a leak from the tap it was fixed to, though it was alleged that the tap was at half turn. A similar penalty was inflicted in this case.