ONSLOW WATER SUPPLY

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1736, 29 April 1913, Page 5

ONSLOW WATER SUPPLY

FURTHER OPINIONS.

THE MAYOR REPLIES TO • CRITICS. IN SUPPORT OF THE SCHEME. (To tho Editor.) Sir,—l shall he obliged if you will allow '';e space to answer part of tho letter signed Otto Jerusalem, which appeared in yours of April 28. . I have notjiing whatever to say to the first part of liis letter as that concerns the ratepayers of Johnsonville, but I certainly object to tho slur he puts upon the ability of the Onslow Borough Council when lie suggested that our water scheme is too expensivo to allow of us providing for drainage in the future. He infers that the Johnsonville Town Board aro wiser.

Tho water portion of the Johnsonville water and drainage schema cost, including reservoir,'pumping plan:,, pipes, laying, and services atKiut „CGtioo. But to this must be added a stun to allow for upkeep and depreciation of pumping plant together with the cost of running the plant, and the labour to look after it. I fancy that =£230 a year would be a low estimate. This capitalized would mean at 5 per cent, .£SOOO, making, for comparison's the cost of the Johnsonville water supply equal to ,£11,600. The proposed Onslow scheme is to cost ,£16,-100, including about .£I4OO allowed for contingencies, or .£IBOO more than the Johnsonville scheme. But the Johnsonville Town' Board have laid down 3J miles of service mains, not counting the mains used to bring tho water to where it is required, whereas we, under our scheme, have to Itiv 161 miles. If Johnsonville, with its capital value (as supplied by Mr. Short for Il'iitt Road purposes) of .£211,000 can afford to pay for a scheme ccsting Ji11,600, is it not reasonable ■ to suppose that.Onslow, with a capital value of .£495,000 caii afford to pay ,£18,000? Our service will be much cheaper than the Johnsonville one because we have the water at liand.

■ Our borough is a scattered one, but settlement is going on rapidly and the longer this water scheme is put off the more, it will eventually cost.

If Mr. Jerusalem's neighbourly interest is sufficiently strong to carry, him beytnd'a suggestion that v.e are proposing to spend, more than we can afford, I shall be-pleased to show him . proof of the figures I have quoted. In the meantime I would remind him of 'those neighbours who, looking pver the fence, declared the linen on the nextdoor clothes-line was a bad colour. Whereas the colour was due partly to the distance and partly to dustv spectacles. —1 am, etc., F. BATES.

Sir,-Permit me to thank Mr. Otto Jerusalem for his letter of explanation m your issue • to-day. I am plfeased to near that the Johnsonville Town Board displayed the very necessary foresight in not having .rushed into the water scheme without - having before it convincing evidence in regard to its success. I trust the Onslow Borough Council will pursue i CoUl ' i3 ot ' wisdom. I must also thank Mr. Jerusalem for his subsequent remarks—l am, etc., 1

■Sir,—l feel bound to reply to vour correspondont, "E.H.," in your 'issue, of Saturday last re above. To his first question, How many of the ratepayers of Onslow who will go to the poll are in full possession of-the iacts of, or any infonnaV°'l about, this water scheme? I would leply that those who take any interest in f,'.' , , > .afiairs of the borough (and I hope E.H. does) should know a good deal about the scheme. It has been discussed in the council fori'sbiiie six months, and there have been two 'public meetings in the borough last week. In connection with, these meetings, I would point out •that they arc not statutory meetings, but the council Unanimously decided that although, it-was not compelled to hold such meetings, yet, in order to give ratepayers an opportunity to hear and obtain information about tho scheme, the two meetings sliouid be held. There arc 065 ratepayers entitled to vote on the scheme, and of my own personal knowledge over 110 people were at the two meetings, and I personally know of many others not at 'J® meetings who had a good knowledge of the scheme, so your correspondent is not very accurate in his statement that mne-tenths of the ratepayers have no information on. tho scheme. His second and third questions liiay be answered by my reply to his' first.. With regai'd to t«ba engineer's estimate your correspondent, if . he was one of tho above 110, would-liaye heard that Mr. Jkstayer, M.I.C.E;, of Wellington, has gone over the schomo and generally speaking ho endorses ' the proposals of the borough engineer, and lis further states that the arrangements of reticulation valves, etc., is quite satisfactory. He also ; states (and "E.H." should note this carefully) that ho has compared the engineer's estimate with actual prices paid quite recently for similar work, and considers they aro if anything rather in exccss of the probable cost. He also fully concurs in metering all domestic supplies. With regard to the volume of water. 1 have stated that at the end of a month's drought there was still running sufficient water to supply the present population with 20 gallons per head per day without any storage. This is from actual gauging, and it must be apparent to everyone that a vc-ry large body'of water percolates below the bed ot the el ream and thus cannot be gauged. In the proposed scheme, however, between 500,000 and (500,000 will. be stored, and this alone without any water running in is.equivalent to. a supply of 20 gallons per head per day for the present population, for 1G days. "With regard to the council adding 25 per cent, to the cost of similar work carried out round the city of Wellington lately, I would point out that our engineer in his report states'that he has allowed for material "from 15 per cent, to 30 per cent, increase. "E.H." is therefore forestalled in this matter. Again, re extras, the report and estimate allows tho sum of ,EI3!IU for contingencies. Here again "E.H." is forestalled. The scheme furthermore provides for tho reticulation of the whole of the district included ill thej'ating area; Your correspondent, if ho' had attended the meetings, would not liavo made such a mistake as he does when he says that the reservoir is to be erected a short distance above the site of the late C. B. Izard's residence. The site chosen is much further up tho stream, viz.—l3B feet above tho level of tho highest house in Khandallah. This comp]f;telv answers his assertion that only, halt' the houses in Khandallah could be supplied. One of the chief points in the present scheme is -that absolutely no pumping will b? required. "E.H.' has also missed another point in the scheme, for tho future requirements of the district have received attention. ,1 stated at the meetings that when the increase of population warranted it a lower dam could be built at a cost of JISIJOO to impound H.(IOO.OOt) gallons. 1 might point out to "E.H." that the city of Wellington did liot provide in its first water scheme for twenty years ahead.

"E.H." again is incorrect and misleading nb-aut.-the Johnsonville supply. I quote from a letter in your i.-suc of to-day written by "Otto Jerusalem":— "The Town Board did not rush into this undertaking without being absolutely convinced that this necessary quantity of water could be obtained. Results -have justified all expectations, and the supply will no doubt suffice for double the present population." Here again "E.H." is wide of the mark. "E.H." again .talks of forcing tho ratepayers into an enormous expenditure. He must surely know that thcro.is lio forcing about the matter. Tho ratepayers are at perfect liberty to vote as tliey plcaso on the matter.

"vVitli regard to my proposal' mentioned about a year ago of obtaining water from tlio City Council. That scheme has also been considered and rejected on account of its prohibitive co.-l, one important factor oeing the actual cost of pumping, maintenance repairs, and the building of a reservoir ou the top of Tb Kaianga and co-'t. of buying water even if available. "E. 11." tall;* glibly about expending a sum of ctaOO on expert opinions, but if he over had to do with the working of a small borough he would find that he hail to be careful of the single, pound without mentioning such .sums as ,£3OO. I would like to point out to that the. rate proposed—l ">-32r1. in the .£ on llie .unimproved value—is only a

matter of Us. 7d. on ,£IOO, or 19s. 3d. on JSOO, and as the average section does not exceed ,£2OO unimproved value, the averago rate will not exceed .£l. With regard to 'water meters, "E. 11." was cither not present at the meetings or if present must bo very dense. He must admit- that the city of Wellington has an abundant water supply, and yet llr. s[prlon, tho City Engineer, in tho course of a conversation with tho writer stated that if he had his way he would meter all supplies in the city of Wellington. On the contention of "E.H." tho fact of Mr. Morton wishing to. meter all supplies indicates that there is not sufficient water fur tho city.

.Now, sir, in order to show "E. 11." that tho council have c:\rofully considered the above scheme, I now write him to make his identity known, and meet the writer at any time it suits him on Tuesday, April 29, at the Borough Offices, BullaJicei Street, ami I will willingly go into (lie whole matter with \ liiin. If he refuses thirf invitation your readers will know that he is not concerned ivitll the "progress of the borough, but is thinking solely of tho- way 110 himself wilj feel the small increase in rates.—l am, etc., F. HOLDSWOHTH, Mayor.of Onslow.

Sir,—lt is refreshing to see by your issuo of Saturday that at least one ratepayer realises the burden the adoption of the water supply scheme will impose on the Khandallah and Ngaio districts. Would you kindly let me supplement his letter by pointing out the following? Tho population of these two wards is 1700—vide statements officially put forward at the Khandnlluh meeting. According to the published accounts for the year ended March 31, 1912, the general | rates produced about JJI9OO, and as there are three wards (Khandallah, Ngaio, and ICaiwarra) it may bo taken for granted that two-thirds of the general rates are collected from tho two wards under consideration. This amounts to .£1266, or 15s. per annum for each man, woman, and child. If the water scheiqc is adopted, and ,£18,0130 borrowed at 6 per cent. (5 per cent, interest and 1 per cent, sinking fund, the rates the council proposes), the annual amount required to be raised will be ,£IOBO, or, including i!2OU for upkeep, supervision, etc., the total charges will be XI2SO, or an additional 15s. per annum for each man, woman, and child. If drainage is adopted, a further .£25,000 at least will be required. Interest and sinking fund, on the terms now proposed by . the council, would amount to i.'lso'J, or, including =£200 for supervision, ,£I7OO, which is equivalent to a further 20s per head per annum for each. man, woman, and child in the' district. Adding together the present general rates paid by the two wards, the annual charge for water and the annual charge for drainage, the total annual charge would be .£4210, or about three and one-third times the present general rates. Adding together the.cost per head, the total would be £2 10s. each per annum. It is, therefore, perfectly clear tlujt from whatever point of view the matter is regarded the general rates would be more than trebled. The amount required for the Hutt IJoad is not in eluded, and a special ::ate for this will, of course, have to bo provided. It is freely rumoured that this will ba a good deal more than is anticipated, and that the special rate necessary may bo large.—l am, etc.,

RATEPAYER, Khandallah, April 23, 191!).

Sir, —Your correspondent in Saturday's issue has. very forcibly put the overwhelming objections there are to tho adoption of the proposed scheme. There cannot be .the slightest doubt that the taxation will be crushing, and instead of being the least heavily taxed borough in the district, Onslow will become one of the most oppressed. Your correspondent raises doubts as to the efficiency of tho source of the proposed water supply. .Last spring and summer, when the stream was measured were not by any means dry ones, and even according to that basis the supply would be barely sufficient for the' present population in a dry season. What will be the position ill a really dry season such as we now and then experience, when the stream practically dries riband like Goldsmith's .brook ''choked "«<vith.'sedges';'works its weedy way"? lii such circumstances the full water will still have to be available for the business firms who now use it at the foot of tho stream. They cannot' be. deprived of. their rights which the local body cannot take away. . A conspicuous instance, not so long since, arose when the Petone Borough Council had to put in a special dam at large cost for the use of the Woollen Company, or face a claim for heavy compensation. Finally, let me ask what is the good of an elaborate and expensive dam and reticulation scheme if there is reasonable doubt regarding the volume of tho water?—l am, etc., LOCHIEL.