Oamaru thespian Richard Bowering portrayed the engineer to give his approval to a part of the bylaw that would remove something that made the Oamaru water scheme unique in New Zealand and rare in the world.
Scripted by industrial and engineering heritage enthusiast Bruce Comfort, the performance told the council the scheme was designed to provide water for drinking, fire-fighting and sufficient hydraulic force to provide 300 spare horsepower to power water machines.
The spare horsepower was used for water motors, water engines and turbines and Oamaru was substantially hydraulically powered for decades. They were used by flour mills, grain stores, wool stores and other industries.
In 1916, the Oamaru Borough Council installed a Pelton wheel-driven alternating current generating plant with a feed off the mains, making it the fourth town in New Zealand to have reticulated electricity and possibly the first town in the world to have it derived from its drinking water supply.
The new water bylaw proposes to ban machines being powered by the Oamaru water supply which, Mr Comfort said, was a ''watershed provision'' to make it a ''quite normal water scheme''.
''Mr McLeod'', who would now be 179 years old, said hydraulic power in Oamaru was no longer required, due to modern technologies such as electricity.
''You have my permission, dare I suggest my blessing, to insert whatever bylaws you may think necessary,'' he said.
That included prohibiting the attachment of any device using hydraulic power to the water scheme.
The council approved the draft bylaw, which will now go out for public consultation.
