PLAINS WATER SUPPLY.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4466, 13 September 1922, Page 2

PLAINS WATER SUPPLY.

PUBLIC WORKS SCHEME. REDUCTION OF COST. ESTIMATE NOW £400,000. In connection with fresh water proposals for the Hauraki Plains the scheme recently outlined in a report by the Public Works Department is again brought into prominence by a further communication from the Public Works Department. < At the Hauraki Plains County Council meeting on Mpnday a letter from Mr F. W. Furkert (engineer-in-chief and under-secretary af the Public Works Department), stated that a report of a recent council meeting had been brought under his notice. “It would appear from this report,” the letter stated, “that the proposals made by the Public Works Department were to be turned down without further consideration and that certain propasals made by a private engineer were having the serious con- 1 sideration of your Council. I have looked further into this matter and find that over a year has passed since the original report was made, during wiiich time a fall in the pries of pipes delivered in. Auckland has taken place, and of such magnitude that on this item! alone the .work would cost £186,000 less than the previous estimate. As you are well aware, several other portions of the work would also now be cheaper.

“With regard to the proposals to use streams on the western side, I would draw your attention to a report made by the late Mr Metcalf in 1915. Mr M'etcalf made a thorough examination of all possible sources and reported ‘that all the streams on the western side of the swamp were too small and without the elevation necessary to carry the water across the plains, besides which their entire flow is wanted for the sections through which they run.' This Department’s engineers in 1920 saw no reason to question the correctness of Mr Metcalf’s deductions.

“I think your Council would be well advised to take the same course as this Department did in the investigations, that is to say, wait until the season of the year when the streams are at their lowest flow and have them gauged then, and before deciding to turn down the scheme outlined by this Department that you should make close and full investigations of the problem from all sides. It is not claimed that the Depart-* ment’s report is infallible, but it was not drawn up without a great deal of care and consideration, and I would be glad to feel that the same amount of care and consideration is given to the problem before the scheme is definitely condemned. “Your report spea&s of the scheme as costing £BlO,OOO, but as a matter of fact the portion included in the first instalment, which is all that Tvould be considered at the present time, was fifteen months ago £610,000, and at present-flay prices would probably be not more than £400,000, is as much, as it is not essential that even all this amount should be done until actual requirements render it necessaryj” Cr. Chatfield : Those streams on the western side would never supply the Plains. Consideration was deferred till the next meeting.