I may mention here that these extensions are being carried out at a cost enormously in excess of pre-war figures and we are in the meantime unable to increase the revenue which has to bear the interest on the unproductive capital.
For a long time we have beea cramped in the matter of office accommodation and as there seems little likelihood "of any decline in the cost of building we have decided to build modern offices on the old site and we hope that the next annual meeting may see them ready for occupation.
The question of the purification of the water supplied has occupied the close attention of our technical staff, assisted most efficiently by our' specially qualified chemist. With the increasing demand it is also important to use every means that science can suggest to purify and filter the raw water rapidly. Mr. Pitcairn, during his absence, made a special study of this question in England and America and it is hoped that the valuable experience thus gained will bear fruit in the near future.
The increasing difficulty _in obtaining the necessary land for additional filter beds renders the adoption of mechanical filters a necessary auxiliary to the existing system.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.