230 Time.kri. 



years later by the two South and North Cumingsburg tires, these three 

 great fires affording opportunity for the widening of Water Street from 

 Newtown to the Railway line and the effecting of other important im- 

 provements in town planning. 



Now again another opportunity presents itself in the recent exten- 

 sive conflagration in Werk-en-Rust, which completely wiped out what 

 came to be known as the Chinese quarters, embracing the oldest, slum- 

 miest and most insanitary and congested portion of the city, dating from 

 1797, all now. it is hoped, to give place to improved conditions of 

 streets, building-construction and sanitation. 



Other stages of improvement, marking the activities of the Munici- 

 pality in the administrative work of the city, may be noted by the fol- 

 lowing dates as fixing certain events : — - 



1866-67.— The establishment of the Georgetown Water Works and the 

 laying down of a pipe service of water supply for the city as a direct 

 outcome of the then recent serious fires. The gradual and continuous 

 development of the water service up to the present day is a history in 

 itself, did space permit of its telling : but I may just say that its be- 

 ginning was a very modest one, embracing but a few miles of street 

 mains and one small beam engine of 25 h.p. By 1885 the working 

 plant had been increased to three of these engines in order to meet 

 enlarged requirements, which, however, still proved inadequate ; and 

 so in 1897 a triple expansion Worthington pumping engine of a capa- 

 city of 3,000,000 gallons was imstalled, followed in the next year by 

 a second Worthington engine of 1 ,'.'")0,000 gallons, designed as an 

 auxiliary pumping plant for night supply mainly. Rapidly increasing 

 requirements, through extended street mains and increased consump- 

 tion of water, made it necessary to augment the pumping plant by the 

 ereetion of a third Worthington engine of 5,000,000 gallons capacity 

 in 1904, when the last of the old beam engines was cleared away. 

 Again at the present time, after the lapse of another ten years, a 

 fouith engine of the latest Worthington type has just been in- 

 stalled, the smallest engine of 1898 being discarded. In the mean- 

 time the street mains have been gradually extended and enlarged, and 

 at the present time have a total length approaching 50 miles. 



The combined pumping power now available has a capacity of 

 18,000,000 gallons in the 24 hours, which should be ample to meet 

 requirements for many years to come. Indeed, in view of the fact 

 that the domestic water supply is mostly derived from the rain water 

 stored in vats and tanks, the present output from the Water Works, 

 which I understand is reckoned at about 5,000,000 gallons per day, 

 equal to 80 gallons per head of the population, seems extravagantly 

 high, and points to serious leakage or waste somewhere. 



In view of the widespread range of street mains, and their increas- 

 ing distance from the distributing centre, there must be increasing 

 difficulty in maintaining adequate pressure in the mains themselves 

 for fire extinguishing purposes, as has been manifest at several recent 

 fires ; and it will therefore become necessary to maintain a service of 

 motor fire engines, always ready and available as a second line of 



