WE WANT WATER ! Has the Council Forgotten?

Free Lance, Volume V, Issue 232, 10 December 1904, Page 6

WE WANT WATER ! Has the Council Forgotten?

THE still, small voice of the suburban citizen, who is dependent on a couple of tanks, hasn't been heard much since last year's drought But a whisper is at last heard from the man who at that time had to come down to town for a bath, and to whom the possession of a bucket of water was a matter for self-congratulation So f jtr this year there has been, no drought. Hundreds of houses have been built m Kelburne and Kilbirnie, and, in fact, m all the siiburbs which suffered by the water famine last year. * *■ * The City Council began to stir when the citizens wei-e on their last bucket, and it was even believed, that such important works as the Town Hall and the wood-blocking might have to wait while the Council worked day and night to give the suburbanites water. And then, it rained It has been raining ever since, off and on, and the Council rested, thankful to Providence for the city's dampness. If dry weather overtakes us now, the needs of lasw year would be much intensified, new residences having sprung up in an alarming fashion * • * Then, again, some of the suburbs, notably Kilbirnie, would undoubtedly be gripped with pestilence in dry weather, for there is the crudest form of drainage there, and a sanitaiy inspector could spend a real smeilful week there if he were so disposed. Houses are huddled togetiher — two or three houses on a piece of ground big enough for a small cabbage patch Johnny knocks over a lamp, and a street or two is swept by fire. Whose fault? The Council's, undoubtedly, for still depending, after the experiences of the past, on the rain * * * And, while the ratepayers are showing some revival of interest in the question of an adequate water supply which shall insfure reasonable safety from fire, sanitation, and convenience, the Coimcil has absolutely not mentioned the matter since the end of the last drought. Wellington is growing out of all knowledge, and mostly it is perching itself on hills, having nowhere else to roost. While the municipal body is on the job, it might take things "m a face," and clear off the aspersion that Wellington is behind every other colonial city in conveniences. But, perhaps, the Council is leaving the water question to its successors.