SHOCK FOR GORE

NZ Truth, Issue 1214, 7 March 1929, Page 6

SHOCK FOR GORE

Water Supply Not Up To Standard WHAT TESTS SHOW

(From "N.Z. Truth's" Gore Representative.) ' For soma time past the Health Department has been /keeping" a watchful eye on the Gore water supply, Simultaneously, 'by viewing the situation through the dangerous spectacles of complacency, Mr. McDougall, the mayor, and' his associates seem to have failed to comprehend an official warning. The whilej ratepayers—kept m the dark—have gone .on drinking water containing they know not what.

TT came as somewhat of a bombshell ■*• to Gore residents when, a few weeks- ago, the local paper announced that the Health pepartment tests, extending over a period of eight months, showed the borough water supply to be gradually deteriorating from a fit state for drinking. Both the Health^ Department and the Gore Borough Council are deeply reticent about the matter, and residents are beginning to wonder whether Health Officer, Dr. F. S. Maclean, has been blowing an official bubble or If their next glass of Adam's Ale WiU be a lethal draught. : ' But why all this secrecy? Surely, by now, Gore ratepayers are entitled to full enlightenment. . It is not m the public interest that a protracted silence and uncertainty about such a vital commodity as .the j household water supply should be permitted. - » - From what "N.Z. Truth" has gleaned about, the. matter,, periodical teats of the water supply show the presence and gradual increase of "animal pollution," and the Council cannot apparently, see that. behind the Health Department's reports stalks the ghoulish figure of Epidemic. If this is true about the Council, it is only m conformity with ,the shortsighted policy of certain councillors who were recently responsible for a splendid proposition for a new. tepidbaths being swept from the Council's civic programme. A certain firm offered the Council an adequate and ever-fresh supply of clean, heated water. *■ - Next to the firm's factory, which is right m the tj°wn, is a section, owned by the Council. The cost of constructing the baths was estimated at £1500. By a form of gift which was estimated to be equal to £300, another generous firm offered to set rolling a local effort to raise funds. Yet the proposal was turned down; fiat. Not once, but twice! ° At present, >the only public baths Gore can claim are situated m a.

crude, broken-down and out-of-town establishment which is stagnant and officially closed! . i - Adults who know the healthgiving propensities of a swim, and " children who are just children, y have to make use of the often S dirty, and always .dangerous ... Mataura River, which, like most ;: New Zealand rivers, has helped to swell the distressing records of y : drowning fatalities for which- the, YY Dominion is fast becoming noted.. In knocking on the head thif very feasible scheme, the Gore Council has offended, against the ethics ot-pro-gress,, has offended _the enterprising? spirit of generous ratepayers and un-, graciously deprived its charge of a municipal utility which, m one, make*, for. social, recreational and athletiov uplift. .;■'• -. ;■ ' • ..,..,;.:.' But the question of the- Gore water; _.- •.. supply is- a far more serious . prol>*y lem, and if council* lors can see sufflf clently to read be*^ tween the lines ot. -. the Health Depart* - ment's correspondence, they must grasp the ominous message. "N.Z. Truth" has 'it on good auth*. ority" that very soon the Gore author* itles" wilf have to apply scientific -fll* tration to the present, well -water sup* ply, ,or go elsewhere -for the liquid of life. ■ • y •:",-■- .•'..'.■ If the .Council ■, is too. old-fashioned to turn an ear to; the guiding and guarding voice of science, ' it is tim©for the Health Department to come out \ openly -and : tell the public- tho y exact truth of the position. ' .--V i As the matter stands at present, it:: seems that before the Council can be r made * to move, the . Health Department must wait until the water analy- : ses show something equivalent toirat-y poison. >< .' .■'■:••:-' : ' : • '.': •y , ' :! ." And the r -local councillors seem: tobef quite satisfied to wait until :the offiiy, cial axe falls,^ which is • tantamount to saying "Wait until somebody 'dies front ; an overdose of Gore water."';:. v--y.-^ '•-■?.■-■ This paper's = advice to the: Gore Council is old advice, but sound, arid it is "Prevention is better than Cure."

Serious Problem