1894

In 1894 a water supply had been installed in the borough and The mayor E.W.Alison moved to improve the service. At a public meeting ten men volunteered to become brigadesmen. It is of interest to note, that at the celebration of the water supply being turned on it was the Ponsonby brigade that turned on a water display with their pumps and hoses. Devonport had no such equipment.
Rod Cornelius from Rods Rambles in the Flagstaff 20 June 2001

Observer, Volume XV, Issue 816, 18 August 1894, Page 10

Cold Water
DEVONPORT AND ITS LIQUOR

Last Saturday was a proud day for the Mayor and. Councilors of the borough of Devonport. Their waterworks were opened on that day, and the borough felt like a dog with new tin tail in consequence. Devonport spread itself for the occasion, and no ancient Roman who threw out chest as he informed the world that he was a Roman citizen, was more proud than the ratepayer who informed you with a lordly air that he ‘belonged to Devonport'. Mayor and Councilors had certainly worked hard to bring the waterworks scheme to a fitting climax. Triumphal arches, gorgeous flags, brass bands playing, crowds gathering, pretty girls and balmy skies all helped to make a success of the 'opening of our new waterworks.’ There was only one thing wanting: the Reverend Cold Water Isitt should have been there to lend his patronage and his protecting aegis to the function. The opening of a water- works is something which no teetotaller should miss on any account, any more than a brewer should forget to attend the opening of a new grog-mill. Wells Isitt wasn’t there, mores the pity. Devonport revelled in cold water that Saturday. It was the wettest day the North Shore has had since last Takapuna races.

The Council had invited numerous guests for the occasion, and these representative citizens including the inevitable OBSERVER man, were taken for a drive, a la football teams, in brakes, out to view the new pumping station on the shores of Lake Takapuna. Fears had been entertained by the ‘aughty haristocrats who own the Lake, or talk as if they did, that the thirsty Shore people would drain Takapuna Roto dry. The Devonport people, however, though they are well known as very thirsty souls, prefer to adulterate their water with a little of something else; anyhow, it has been shown that the water which North Shore would take a year to drink would be covered twenty times over by the annual rainfall on the surface of the Lake alone. So the potentates who go down to measure the Lake level with a foot-rule, may rest assured that the little pond won’t run dry just yet. The visitors duly inspected the pumping station, and after explaining nonchalantly to each other the intricacies of the machinery—of which they knew about as much as Oliver Mays does of Sanscrit— they were again packed into their brakes and driven to Devonport where they were received by a huzzaing crowd—they, the crowd, didn’t huzza, it only laughed and asked if the procession was drunk yet.

The Mayor, Alison, ye ken, now lifted up his voice and spoke unto the people. He made some sage remarks about the value of water to wash in, to flush drains with and other things—not to drink, fortunately—and then, amidst the braying band and the squeals of approbation from the small boys, he turned on the water. Devonport at last had a real water supply of its very own! Happy Devonport! Then some fire-brigade men, borrowed for the occasion from a suburban borough, [Ponsonby] came along in their coal-scuttle helmets, and began to squirt water with their hose promiscuously over a considerable portion of the borough. A photo-fiend was cold bloodedly taking snap-shots of the function from the top of a shop verandah. The fire brigade simply turned the hose on the verandah, and the unfortunate photographer disappeared. He is now offering a reward for his camera, lost in a flood at the North Shore.

The Mayor had announced ‘that there would be jets afterwards’. There ‘were jets’ with a vengeance, but not the sort of jets Alison expected. Without a word of warning or so much as saying by your leave, ladies and gentlemen, a regular geyser burst under the feet of the assembled multitude, and rose higher and higher in the air until it was as high as Rangitoto, or the Council Chambers, or thereabouts. A water-pipe had busted, probably owing to the extra potency of the Takapuna water (they say there’s whisky in it), and the result was that a small lake had gone into the air before the spectators recovered from their surprise. Oo-o-h! yelled the small boys. How pretty! screamed the girls. Turncock said several words, but we will let them be missing. Oliver Mays—our friend Oliver—rubbed his hands with glee. He’d always opposed that waterworks scheme; - he always prophesied no good would come of it; dirty rain-water was good enough for North Shore; it was tempting Providence and King William the Third to go in for too much cold water, specially from Takapuna, and there now, see what came of it. I told you so, said he, as be surveyed the geyser and the hole in the road. Oliver’s triumph was short-lived, however. The water was turned off by the time main street – was a small lake of Takapuna water, and Councilors and guests went into Council Chambers to feed and speechify.

The spread was a splendid one, and so were the pleasing fables the feasters told about each other when they came to toasts. They toasted pretty well everyone under the sun, themselves included, and all agreed that the waterworks opening had gone off without a hitch. Then they made speeches at each other and everyone told everyone else what a splendid fellow he was and how the credit of the waterworks - rested on him alone. When they praised up the water—just as if they were as good judges of water as they were of - whisky and of racehorses; and they drank to each other’s health—not in water— and they sang ‘He’s a Jolly Good Fellow’ until Gerald Peacock got up to make a speech—and then they all thought it was time to go home. So they dispersed, sober but happy.

The OBSERVER hopes that now Devonport has its waterworks it will become an eminently sober community, and that its newly-made acquaintance with cold water will be a red letter day in its progress towards temperance. At the same time Takapuna water should be taken with just a little microbe killer in it—for the stomachs sake.



Papers Past, Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 7155, 12 December 1894
Devonport Water Supply
In this time of drought, when the need of a water supply is being so severely felt, it is interesting to note what has been done in the little Borough of Devonport near Auckland. A well-informed correspondent writes to a contemporary stating: “Devonport was very dull for several years but since the water supply, is going ahead fast. Houses are going up all round an property generally has considerably increased in value.” He goes on to say that the waterworks have brought down the fire insurance premiums by nearly one half. The water is supplied from a lake three and three-quarter miles in distance from the borough, and the scheme is a pumping one.
The Devonport water works loan is £15,000 at 5 per cent., with ¼ per cent. sinking fund, which is estimated to extinguish the debt in fifty years. The ratepayers pay a special rate of 9d in the L which is expected to be reduced within five years to 4½d. The works now constructed have cost about £15,000, and from start to finish have been completed by Mr Metcalf the engineer, without delay, slip or mistake. There was not a shilling of extras in any contract made for the work. After the works were finished the Mayor publicly stated that there had not been a single blunder from beginning to end. Respecting the cost of the works the following details may be of interest; Contract No 1, pipes and material, £5,810; contract No. 2, pumps, boilers and machinery, £1,485; contract No. :3, construction, £4,138 5s 6d. The other main items of expenditure were interest and sinking fund for first year, £900; Engineer, £600; land and buildings, £686; and Inspector, £200. At the opening ceremony in August last a local fire brigade threw five jets of water over the highest buildings in the place.
The charges to householders for the use of water are as follow :—Ten shillings per annum on properties not exceeding £12 10s on the valuation roll, five per cent. on higher valuations up to £100, and four per cent. above that limit. One half of these rates is charged to non-consumers situate within 100 yards from the mains; manufacturers and others by meter, 1s per 1000 gallons; gardens, 20s per annum. But these rates are in the main based on the limits prescribed in the Municipal Act, and are common to all towns enjoying a water supply.


100 feet of hose, 2 1/2 inch size, 22 pairs of couplings and one 3 way piece were ordered.
In December 1894 the Mayor (Mr Alison) bought forward the matter of forming a fire brigade and volunteer corps. Were the Hook and Ladder brigade paid?