The Telephone. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY AND SATURDAY MORNINGS. GISBORNE: THURSDAY, 8. NOVEMBER

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 6, 8 November 1883, Page 2

The Telephone. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY AND SATURDAY MORNINGS. GISBORNE: THURSDAY, 8. NOVEMBER

At the meeting of the Borough Council on Tuesday evening, a letter was read from Wi Pure offering to lease the Waihiriri Block, which contains the source from whence it is proposed to obtain our water supply for the town, to the Council for a term of 21 years. The terms upon which the lease is offered are not quite what might be termed ‘modest,’ and Mr Wk Pere, with his characteristic shrewdness, apparently intend*, if possible, to make a good thiftg out of our necessities, At the <tae time he appears to have entirely overlooked the fact that the Council can, either by the powers in them vested, cr with the concurrence of the Government, appropriate the water to their use upon their own terms, notwithstanding any opposition to the reverse. The following are the proffered terms of lease: Five years at £l5O per annum, five at £2OO, five at £250, and the remaining six years at £3OO per annum, making a total of £4,800 for the 21 years. It is also stated that the land is well nigh valuless for any other purpose. Of course the Council refused to entertain the matter upon those terms. This gave rise to the question of obtaining water through the agency of artesian wells, the subject being introduced by Councillor Smith, We certainly must agree with that gentleman in the opinion that a practical solution to the water supply difficulty is to be found in sinking artesian wells. The abandoning of the driving, which was begun at the crossing of Bright Street and Gladstone Hoad, and which was only carried to the depth of 288 feet, certainly showed great lack of enterprise on the part of its promoters. The depth attained Was comparatively small when we look at the great depths which it has been found necessary to go to in several instances, in order to obtain the requisite flow of spring water. Take the beautiful fountains in Trafalar Square which are supplied by two of these wells. The sinking was completed in 1844, when a depth of 393 feet had been obtained. Then again, the Grenelle well, in Paris, completed in 1841, took eight years’ laborious work and had to be sunk to a depth of 1798 feet, at a cost of £12,000. The well at Passey, completed in 18G9, supplies sufficient water for 500,000 persons. The flue artesian well, sunk m the Horticultural Society’s Gardens, London, by Messrs Amos & Baton, and which was completed in 1850, yields the enormous amount of 880,000 gallons of water, at a temperature of 81’ fahr., in twenty-four hours. Looking at these results, we can see no grounds for supposing that the boring, which had been abandoned at a depth of 288 feet, will not prove successful if continued to a reasonable depth. Indeed everything tends to favor the supposition that abundance of good water can be obtained by this means, inasmuch as we are surrounded by a range of high hills, upon which enormous quantities of rain are constantly being precipitated, and which, according to all laws of gravity, is bound to percolate through the suitable stratification down to the lower level. Considering the great importance of the subject, we trust that our Town Councillors will give the matter that further attention and consideration, which it undoubtedly deserves.