The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 1889. The Water Supply Question.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3193, 1 May 1889, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 1889. The Water Supply Question.

The question of obtaining a water supply for the town of Maoterton on the lines proposed by Mr A. W. Renal! was' put to a thoroughly practical issue at the meeting of the Borough Council last night. It is worth while, in a preliminary way, to note that the Mayor ventured to show his hand by arguing that the works which were recently constructed were, in reality, only a continuation of something which the Oounoil had undertaken years ago, and which, on that account, it was bound to carry out. Unfortunately for himself, however, not one of the Councillors had sufficient effrontery to get up and support the statement, which consequently fell very flat. The question was therefore left in a much .more simple position, although the Mayor still argued that any works that were necessitated by the fact that a stream of water was running through the town should be carried out by the

Borough Council/ There iB no'doubt that the whole subject now hinges' ■uponthis question; but whon.it is inquired into it will certainly be found that the Council has -the mastery, and that it has the power to stop the -present supply\at any moment it pleases. Mr Kenalfmay; try to laugh at this; but he knows, as well as anybody that we are right, and that, if he tries, in" his capacity as Mayor, to carry his own point, he is pretty certain to have a mandamus taken ont in the Supreme Court, which will not only compel him to allow tho majority in the Borough Council to prevail, but will also mulct him in pretty heavy, costs. The matter discussed in the Council arose in a very, simple way. Some time ago Mr Eenall became anxious, because certain landowners did not seem inclined to allow a quantity of water to flow through.their'properties from the Waipoua river to Mr Kenall'B mill, and in order to avoid

the risk of having his source of a Bummer Bupply closed, he hit upon the idea of leading a stream from his race where it orofisee Lincoln Eoad down that thoroughfare, Hall-street and Queen-street, into his mill pond. The stream which he ; could thus offer to the townspeople would, he thought, provo very acceptable in many ways, and he therefore asked the Borough Council to see him through his difficulty without any expense to himself; but when the Council went so far as.to agreo to his proposals, provided that he gave it absolute and permanent control over the works, he refused to do anything of the kind, hiding himself under the very absurd plea that ho cauld not bind his heirs. This, of itself, was sufficient to show that Mr Eenall had only a selfish object to servo. The business people were, however, very anxious to secure the water supply, on account of certain pressure put upon them by tho Insurance Companies, and they therefore put their hands in their pockets, gave the Council a bond of indemnity for any damage that might accrue, and then had the water led through a portion of Queen street, As was pointed put in pur columns at the time,, this bond \s not worth the paper on whiph it was written, for the simple reason that the Council cannot relegate the control of any portion of a street, no matter how small it may be, to any other party. At the last meeting of the Council Mrs E. McEwentook occasion 16 complain that the water which had been brought down caused a nuisance on her premises, and the niajorifcy'of the Council very reasonably decided that those who had caused the nuisance should remove it, and that, if they did not do so, the Council would do it by shutting off the supply altogether.. Mr Eenall argued his best to show that it wag the duty of the Counoil to attend to the matter; bufc-unfor-tuhately for him-the Council saw its responsibility, and found that the best way to get' out of the difficulty wasito inform Mr Eenall and the water, supply .commjttee that if the nuisance is not removed within a week the source of supply will be shut off, The Committee has no res'ponsjbihty' in the matter; but if it elects'to remain passive, all its actions in the paifc will'Jje rleseFflij useless. The same question-was tuohed upon in the Utter of Mr W,

Q^Beard;solicitorfor'Mi'.W. Perry; : who ;cpmplainod :; .tliat : the 1 ; water ffbichljad: been bvoughVdowri\ the I street was serious nuisance in; front of ■:'hiß '.client's premises. | Tho ; . Mayor, tried' to laugh off the jpsiion, and said that Mr Perry was |mind to provide a culvert w'hioh would allow the. water to flow under it, He knows, however, that the culvert in question haß been,approved by the officer's of the Council, that it has been down for sorne years without overflowing the footpath, and that, as a matter of fact, there never was any overflow near it until Mr Mali's extra supply of wator was brought down. There are two ways of overcoming thedifficulties which have arisen. The first is that Mr Eenall hand over the absolute control of the scheme to the Borough • Council, without any reservation as to what his heirs may desire, and the second,' that the Council follow thosuggistion made by Or Hessey a/id seize the few chains of drain at the head of the supply under tho Public Works Act. Mr Eenall-professes to think that this would cost a lotot money; but unless he can show that he has an indefeasible right to the whole of the water-course iftm the Waipoua to his mill he will find that ho cannot by any means claim a Bum that would deter the Council from having its way. In case Mr Eenall should manage to prevent the Council from taking tho property alluded to, there is nothing to be done except to cut off-the supply.