The Dunedin Water Works were formally opened yesterday.
Some short time must necessarily elapse before a supply can be given to the city, for it is not to be hoped that the Company will be so singularly fortunate as to avoid accidents from the bursting of pipes, such as have invariably followed the turning on of water, even where the pressure is much less than has been secured for Dunedin.
But the works have been formally opened; and although more display might easily have been made on such occasion, if display had been desired, it is not possible that such proceedings as those of yesterday should anywhere be more pleasantly successful.
The weather was not only favorable - it was not alone that Dunedinites had their first sensation of summer, after a period of wet and cold which, for the season has been unprecedented - but the weather was glorious.
A more enjoyable day for a ramble into the country could not be had, anywhere, at any period of the year.
There was a half holiday. Hundreds of visitors, including a large proportion of ladies, made their way up the romantic little gully which leads from "M'Glashan's Valley," to the reservoir; and although the road is rather a rough one, at present, there was a charm in the bright sunshine, the fresh air, the thick bush, and the splashing water, which would have more than compensated any trouble resulting from rough metalling and steep gradients on so moderate a length of road.
The formal proceedings took place on the embankment; and the views thence of Flagstaff Hill, of part of Dunedin, and of the thickly wooded gully in the foreground made a charming panorama.
The ceremony yesterday, in fact, consisted only of lifting the valves so that water was discharged at a short distance below the foot of the embankment.
More was not possible, because, when the water was temporarily turned on during Saturday afternoon, as a test, the pressure being over 80lb to the inch - one length of the 14in. piping, at a point close to the edge of the Water of Leith, at Douglas's bone mill, burst; and all the energies of the engineers, and a strong body of men, had not sufficed to substitute a new length of piping in time.
But enough was done for a formal inauguration; and the inauguration was the cause of hundreds of people spending a delightful afternoon.
The Volunteer Fire Brigade were a little unpleasantly situated at first.
There was a very strong muster of members, with all necessary apparatus, for trying the effect of the pressure from the main in Duke Street.
It being hoped that the faulty pipe would have been replaced by three o'clock, the Brigade were in readiness before that time; but it was not until a quarter to six that it was possible to send water down to Duke Street, and even then it was done only temporarily so that the Brigade might not be disappointed.
The results were more than satisfactory.
- December 10
