The Hutt News THURSDAY, JULY 17, 1930. THE WATER BOARD.

Hutt News, Volume 3, Issue 8, 17 July 1930, Page 7

The Hutt News THURSDAY, JULY 17, 1930. THE WATER BOARD.

It is with considerable satisfaction that we have to cfirect the attention of our readers to the report of the proceedings at the ejecting of the Lower IJutt Borough Council on Monday night last, which appears in another yaolumn. It will ha remembered recently it .was decided to a"ccept the invitation of the Petone Borough Council, and reprpsentatives of the. two bodies recently met in conference witli regard to the action which the Petorie Council had determined to take in withdrawing from participating in the proposed activities and ppera-

tio.ns of the '"\ftater , Ij^ard. Upon this, pjtiint the reso r lutipn of the sifter Borough was clear and decided. But as a' matter of policy and. also of cpurte'sy that t>ody had considered it-ad-visabLe> Bcfojfe taking active steps to, giveelfiee^tippits ifejsid^Winl? vJLte' our o-\vft ppuncif to a qan|e% enee at whicS the Reasons that had iedi|bp''-sujehV4e6Jsipn-:.beyig..iaid her foye tie Hutt representatives,, ppssibiy \yith a view to combine^ a^cijbri tieing taken ■ Exactly wljiat t^fc^n^piced at that conference was! 4ot r^p^rted at the open meeting, q^ ilie.'!pKrtt Borough, but ajs stated else^n^re tjte ISJayor /'('Sir.. Alex^ moved:" That the. |lutt; Borpugji Council agrees to join witniPeioneln asking to be relieved from obligations with the Water Board.' *• and without discussion the motion was unanimously adopted. We A-enture to say that this: decision of the Council will be Received with uixqaulified satisf action by every resident who has the good and welfare of the district at heart. And the members of the Council are entitled to the thanks of their constituents for having given, * pei'haps a shade tardily, the very careful consideration it undoubtedly deserves to the full, comprehensive, and altogether practical report upon the future water supply, from artesian sources, for this already large and rapidly growing district. The £ajets set out with such- admirably emrity in the report of the Borough Engineer (Mr. A. G. Bush), are amply sufficient to demonstrate to even the much quoted man in tne street that there was not the slightest need to go miles away fpr a catchment area, and incur the enormous cost of piping the water thence, when we have beneath our feet what we arc as sure i$ a practically unlimited supply from subterranean sources, of artesian water, the purity of which is vouched by expert evide nee. While it nmst be regretted that his decision was not arrived a,t in sufficient time to enable tje enormous commercial possibilities of the scheme to be developed to their fullest extent, possibly4here is yet' time to give consideration to the possibilities that naturally occur to any careful reader of the Engineer's report as published in our issue of June 26th,- As was pointed out recently in this column, it is impossible to say how far the adjacent Borough was influenced in arriving at their present commori sense decision by the facts se,t forth in Mr. Bush's report, tUe conclusions so far as J*etone is concerned have no doubt Deen eonntfmed by further expert % advice, but it must be a satisf acf> tion to the expert wnp submittes the original report to find that his conclusions have been readily.l accepted by the neighbouring local authority. We heartily congratulate the Mayor and Councillors upon the decision they haye arrived at in this matter, ■ and are well assured that the residents will unanimously endors their action in thus saying much unnecesj sary expense, while at the same time amply safe-guarding the interests of present and future residents in the matter of an ample and pure supply of water for all

purposes. It is also with extreme pleasure that we have tqsioffer to Mr. Bush our hearty congratulations upon the reception his con-, vineing and thorough practical report has met with at the hands of the local authorities, and we have no hesitation in saying that the district is fortunate in having so skilful and expert an officer to advise them.