several wells not being utilized(sic)
as they might have been, and at a comparatively small expense.] - The Chairman (Coun. Ginner) disputed some of Mr. Putland's figures, and said that a majority of the townspeople were in favour of the new scheme. - The Committee's recommendation was carried by a considerable majority, several of the members contrariwise to what they did at the preceding meeting. Perhaps the Local Press was to some extent responsible for the change of voting. The Hastings News, to wit, after the previous meeting under the heading of "The Economy of the Economizers" had the following remarks:-To give the town a good supply of water was one of the two purposes for which the Local Board was formed. Drainage was the other. They have done neither. Such was the substance of a speech made last Friday by one of our Councillors; and it strikes us as being rather a terse and faithful synopsis of the feeling of the majority of the ratepayers of Hastings. Let the council and the Local Board have their due. They have done a little to improve our fieldpaths and byways; they have given us a few neat box-gates in the neighborhood(sic) instead of the troublesome old stiles; they have widened our pavements and improved some of our road thoroughfares. Beyond this, they have not done much besides talking, quarrelling, and passing resolutions at one meeting to be rescinded at the next. They have had little confidence in their surveyor, and (if possible) still less in themselves. At one moment they have resolved on great things. The mountain has almost brought forth its mouse. But sudden fear has palsied the labouring functions of the mighty body, and even the mouse has failed to come! They have been nervelessly afraid of "expense", and have therefore spent fruitlessly most of what they have expended. They have been slow in learning that the truest economy is always associated with doing things properly. A niggardly outlay at starting is pretty sure in matters of public business to entail the loss of even that niggardly little. And amongst other costly things to be reckoned on as the companions of a false economy, is that miserable loss of time which is sometimes, and in some things more than money.
Still the Water Contention. At a special meeting on the 22nd of April, in a long discussion over the constantly agitated water question, Coun. Ginner moved the reception of the committee's recommendation to arrange with the Gas Company for carrying out Mr. Pennt's plan to pump water from the spring near their works to the West Hill. He at the same time was sorry that Coun. Putland's hostility to the scheme still continued. - Coun. Putlnd, then, in a long speech, also expressed his sorrow that they could not enter upon business without being personal. He stood there to protect the ratepayers. Their present was as good as any in the county; and he opposed the expenditure of perhaps £5,000, because he believed that there was plenty of water, and that all that was necessary was a better system of securing the mains and a means of filtering the water, which would not cost more than £10 a year. Coun. Ginner's motion was carried by 6 to 3. What were the other members doing?
