AUCKLAND SPECIAL.

Gisborne Times, Volume V, Issue 48, 26 February 1901, Page 2

AUCKLAND SPECIAL.

A LESSON TO GISBORNE,

(times correspondent). Auckland, last night,

“We do not think that any city or township in the world can show so many examples of blunders as our local bodies in Auckland,” says the Auckland Herald in a leader in reference to the serious development that has occurred in connection with a reservoir site for an auxiliary water supply at Titirangi, a distance of 12 miles from the city, It should bo a lesson to the Auckland City Council to"’only employ the best engineers. Thog contractor . for the construction of the reservoir, which is estimated to cost five thousand pounds, has made some progress with his work, but the Council’s Engineer has chosen an unsuitable site, and everything connected therewith appears faulty. Borings have’been made of the site, and at this stage of the business it has been found that it contains a soft bottom, not hard sand-stone, as was at first anticipated. Such eminent engineers as Mr Vickermary and Mr H. H. Metcalfe are to be called to the rescue, and to furnish a report on the whole affair. Had these gentlemen been employed in the first instance, tho Auckland City Council would have saved hundreds of pounds; but no : they preferred a cheap sort of a scheme, and hence tho consequences. This serious blunder (though it is true that all engineers are apt to make mistakes) should be a warning note to the Gisborne City Council not to follow in the Auckland Councillors’ footsteps in this respect in connection with their proposed water and drainage scheme, a work of such a magnitude. In conversing with one of the most able engineers in the colony this afternoon, and in answer to a question, he stated that tho nature of the ground of tho site chosen by the Auckland engineer resembles somewhat the nature of the hills surrounding Poverty Bay. Tho hills therefore surrounding Gisborne, according to this professional advice, have not sufficient stamina to hold a reservoir. Should it ever be contemplated to construct a reservoir on any hill in the vicinity of Gisborne, the people will find themselves in the same awkward predicament as Auckland is in to-day in connection with their unsuitable site. It is a well-known fact that the nature of the ranges extending along the Whataupoko is papa rock. Towards Young Nick’s Head it is constituted of blue marl. The slips on the hills extending miles along the vicinity of Gisborne speak for themselves, and the inadvisability of constructing a tank on those ranges. Gisborne, it is true, is one of the most awkward towns in New Zealand to dram, and supply with an up-to-date scheme. Therefore it behoves the Gisborne City Fathers to make sure they have secured the services of a skilled engineer, an engineer who would be competent to advise them in matters pertaining to one of tho most momentous question concerning Gisborne, a good drainage and water scheme. TlfE GISBORNE TIMES.

Copies of the Gisborne Times reached its Auckland subscribers this morning, and they were very pleased to see that the popular East Coast journal had come out in an enlarged form. Many indeed were the flattering remarks passed upon Gisborne’s morning journal in its enlarged form, especially by Gisborne people in Auckland, who 'are always desirous of being posted up with the latest news from their old home. Through the medium of the Times, a journal that has become quite an institution in that district, they are satisfied that they have all that can be desired. In perusing Saturday morning’s issue of the Times this afternoon, one old literary Gisborne gentleman, residing in Auckland, was highly delighted with its publication, “in the most progressive town in New Zealand,” as he termed it. The proprietors of the Times and Gisborne people generally are to be congratulated on the excellence of the morning journal.