SHANNON NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1711, 31 March 1913, Page 3

SHANNON NOTES.

WATER SUPPLY LOAN. There was a somewhat disappointing attendance at the public meeting in the Diuids' Hall on Friday night, called by the Horowheuua County Council in re* sponsß to a petition asking the council to raise a loan tor water supply and lighting. The chairman of the council, Mr. G. N. Stephenson, who presided,', stated that the area" to be rated was about 801) acres and tlio valuation about ,£80,01)0. The council had not the power to raise such a loan except to the limited extent of ten shillings per acre or about ,M) 0 altogether. In'.his opinion the only way to'get over the difficulty was for'the residents to form a local'body. At. last census thero' were 750 resident?, and according to a rccent count, 224 houses in Shannon.

After a good deal of desultory .discussion Mr. Chennery Suggate, engineer, Auckland, Who has instalfed'water supnly, lighting, and drainage systems in numerous towns in tile worth Island, gave abrief address: He had visited the Otaura Cicek and there were several places at an altitudo of about 250 feet suitable for a high-pressure supply. Contrasting the high and low-pressure supply system?, ho instanced one town where the high-pres-sure system was in vogue where tiro insurance wero 55.; at another town where the loiv r pressure method was installed the rate was .£2 ss. The cost of installing a high-pressure system would not exceed JJIO,OOO. With a valuation of .£90,000, five per cent interest and one per cent sinking fund would represent 17s. Sd. rate. The present fire insurance rates would bo decreased and the value of land would be increased. At Frankton and other towns values had gone up 100 per cent. The pressure to the square inch at 250 feet above the railway line would be about 1001b. or 701b. sustained ipressuro to one inch. There would be about five miles of trunk main, running into about .£•1500.

In answer to a question Mr. Suggate recommended the natural supply by gravitation!) to an artesian system. In the latter scheme the tower would cost'.£'3ooo to <£3SOO, and the pumping plant with tho tower would equal tile cost of the trunk main. It would also he necessary to. employ labour in connection with tho pumping plant; It was decided to get a preliminary' survey made by Mr. Suggate. and a committee, consisting of Councillors F. W. Venn and G. N. Stephenson.. Messrs. T. Liud, AV. H. Gunning, and I). M. O'Connor. was appointed. Mr. T. liind brought up the question of the -disposal of the band instruments and it was decided to sell them, the business being delegated Messrs. .I. ,M'Pherson. Gunning, and Lind. The chairman read a letter ho had received in connection with the proposed stock route from Shannon to Pahiatua. There are only four miles of road to be completed, and tho cost could be defrayed by cutting up somo thousands of acres of. land through which the road would pass. It was resolved: "That tho council bo asked In cc-operalo with the Pahiatua people with referenco to the proposed road."

.An ex-resident of this district, writing from' Antrim, County Antrim, Ireland, says that every day- one hears of somo farmer selling out and making for Canada or Australia and every other person one talks to has the same idea of getting clear of the Old Country and in Ireland apparently there will soon ba nobody but tho very old folks left.