The Wainui-o-mata Waterworks – To the Editor
Sir – I think that a little application of the experience of diggers on the West Coast would suffice to save the city from the serious consequences which must result from a deficient water supply. The basin which the works at Wainui-o-mata are intended to form is not intended to be a “reservoir,” the object being merely to raise the level of the water to the height necessary for filling the pipes which are to supply the city, an object which could, unquestionably, have been attained in a much more simple manner. Pending the completion of the contract let to Mr Saunders, however, I would suggest that an ordinary digger’s race should be carried from the mouth of the pipe-line to a point in the river above, from which its waters could be led into the pipes. A comparatively small amount of earthwork in the making of a trench, where the soil is suitable, and a few thousand feet of timber to be used where unsuitable, would be all that is requisite for the above purpose. Half the crushing machinery, and a large proportion of the alluvial operations on the West Coast, are supplied by races of this
kind, and there seems to be no reason why a similar work should not effect the object in view, pending the completion of the more elaborate scheme about to be carried out by Mr Saunders. I am, &c., Wm. Thos. Locke Travers. 1st March, 1884.
