A SAPIENT MAYOR.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9035, 28 February 1908, Page 4

A SAPIENT MAYOR.

Wellington is, upon the verge of the direst water-famine it has ever been in danger of, and if the drought continues a few days longer the business of the city must be "slowed down" to a disastrous extent. The water in the reserv.oiir is> alireaJy 40) inches below the leveL of the bye-wash, and is steadily sinking. A resolution to entirely suspend the use of water for lifts and commercial purposes has been passed, but is held in suspension in the hope o£ rain, and because of a reluctance to throw the business of the city out of gear. Watering by hose is specially prohibited, whether through meter cr otherwise. Nevertheless the Mayor defends the use of hoses in the Botanical Gardens on the ground that "csrtain plants must be watered to keep them alive." His Worship must be "a terror for finding out things." Who would have suspected that the Mayor of Wellington would have made so remarkable a discovery! Under the circumstances, however, one would have thought that a Metropolitan Mayor would not have found the fact an excuse for a lavish waste of water, even to save plant life. It might come upon him as a surprise that human beings sometimes languish and even die for want of water. Perhaps, however, there is sufficient liquid of a more stimulating character available for the citizens of Wellington in the last extremity, '

though it might be difficult to work lifts with it. A lady was once recounting to her little daughter how during a famine the poor people could not get bread to eat. "Well, Ma," exclaimed the little girl, "couldn't they have had cake?" The Mayor may be relying upon the brewers' stocks if the water gives out.