THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 1906.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8102, 23 March 1906, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 1906.

The enormous reservoir to hold the New York water supply is one of the greatest modern works of engineering. It was commenced in 1893, and its completion was announced in our cable messages, cn Wednesday. The growth of New York city is illustrated in its water supply. Mains of pine logs carried the water from a small pond to the houses in the time of the Revolution. Abosut 1800, more water was needed, and big wells were bored at Elm and K«ad« Streets. In 1834 the scores

of wells were not famishing water enough, and the oity went to the. Croton watershed. The old, aqueduct was finished in 1842; i and 90,000,000 gallons daily /was tibe supply. Fifteen years ago the new< aqueduct whs completed, and the oity now uses its full daily capacity, 300,000,000 gallons. This made no provision for drought, and the new Croton dam was started in 1893. It is now finished and the reservoir at the back of it will, hold 32,000,000,001) gall&ns, or enough for one hundred days' use. The concrete and stone dam is 2,300 feet lone and 300 feet high. Its bottom width is 216 feet, and the pressure at the bade will be 16 tons io the squaie foot. The foundations are down 162 feet, on solid rook. The water will be backed up the. Croton River for a distance of twenty miles, and the reservoir proper has an area of 3,425 acres. Three villages were destroyed, . and three railways moved to make; room for the new works, and, including the cost of these works and of-the land, the new watei supply has cost New York nearly £3,000,000.. The dam itself has oost £1,360,000. . It contains approximately the same quantity of material as the pyramid of Cheops. On a work of the kind the Egyptians would have used tens of thousands of men. Modern engineers employed 700 men, but they built twenty miles of railway track, and used 100,000 tons of coal, servants of which the ancients knew nothing. The undertaking is one of the most remarkable of modern times. Ten or twenty years henoe steps may be taken to tap new sources of supply, but New York has been relieved from anxiety as to water supply for many years toi. come.

In a return received, yesterday, from the Registrar - General (Mr E., J. von Dadelszen), the movement of population since 1901 is given. On December 31st, 1901, the estimated population of the colony (excluding Maoris), was 787,657, the net increase during the year being 19,379. The centessimal increase on the population of the previous year was 2.52. The estimated population on December 31 .st, 1905 (excluding Maoris) ,was-882 r it32. The inorease during the year by excess of births over deaths was 15,621, and by excess of arrivals over departures 9,302. The net increase was 24,923, and the centessimal increase on the population of the year was 2.91. In the year 1901',the net inorease from abroad, after deducting the number of persons- who left New Zealand, was 6,522; for 1902 it rose to 7,992, and in the following year to over eleven thousand persons; but the excess for 190k was reduced to 10,355 and to 9,302.'in 1905 V In five years New Zealand has gained, according to the returns, 45,446 people from abroad, mostly from Australia and the Home Country, after deducting those who departed outwards. The naturai inorease by excess of births over deaths is also substantial, on account of the low death-rate. The rate for 1905 is 1.82 percent, of the population in 1904.