THE WATER RACE.

On Saturday, April 10, Mr Oeo. Cliff the Mayor, aud Councillor, Padget, accompanied by Mr J?t aser the contractor, Mr - Williamson the engineer, Mr Lough the Town Clerk, and a representative of the Press inspected the Timaru-Parebra water raoe. The party-r-of whom two were on horseback, and the rest m a two-horse buggy — left town at about noon, and followed the line of the face till reaching Mr D. Fyfo'e on the Otipua Greek. At this point a halt was made m order, to see the extensive iron flume, which is suspended from one side of the creek to the other.' Leaving this place, the journey, was continued across the several farms, .which serpentine-like' the race intersects. Arriving at Briggs' .guny by way . of the .new cutting leading . from ■ the Timaru downs to the Pareora . flat, another stoppage was made for the purpose of examining the : iron flume which spans this gully. Leaving this spot, the i travellera proceeded across the Pareora flat and. the river to Mr Elworthy'a homestead, and along the > gorge on the left bank of ' the rirsr ' to. Mr PraSfe'sL'tne road contractor's camp; 'where tue'n'cfaei "Wmo left and kindly attended to! by the' meri^tieVe The party then proceeded on 'fdjbt, fdrdea"tue Pareora to the north bank about W&ile from the camp, where the gorge ifl'boiitracted lo Tery narrow dimensions, the sidies' tiein* of rock.and m places nearly perpendicular/Md walked on the ledge,formed by.the lower side of the race for about a mile— the,poinfc where the water, enters the jrace. It being i sow nearly six o'clpck,and getting dark, a "abort cut to the camp was taken, the party,'fordin« the river, clamberingup . the steep hill ride and reaching the road- which is being cat through the gorge by Mr Pratt IJwii arriving at the camp, the company 'were hospitably entertained; ■'and "the' itartp-for

Timaru was mado at half-past a«-von. Thr moon hoviug gono down, tho ni|»hfc was so dark that tho track, which m somo place* mis oxtremoly rough wne invisible m many plm.-eB, and if the reins had been m any other hands than Mr Frnscr's tho party m the buggy would probably Imvo felt particularly uncomfortable. • As it was, the buggy was two or throo times rather too far out of the horizontal to be pleasant ; but Timaru was reached without mißadvontu.ro by a little after 10 o'olook. The particulars supplied by Mr Franer with reference to the race weto minute and interesting, and as they have, not been previously furnished to the public, wo purposo giving th^m iv this article. The total length of the race from tho head to Timaru is thirtysix miles, tho average width and depth beiug two feet by two feet six iuchos. At tho point where the raco starts from tho river, injury to the cutting as regards its being washed away by floods is impossible, as it is blasted out of the solid rock. The bottom <■! the race here ie below the bed of tho river, and as there is always water m tho Pareora a perpetual supply 'is secured. The first milo and a quarter of the race, which runs along close to the river, and very little above tho level of the stream, is Masted out; of the solid 1 rock. For the next three quarters of a mile the race turns off a little distance from the river through some moderately level ground which was pretty easy to cut. Leaving this length the race is carried across Tikb's flat m a wooden flume sevon chains long, supported by tressds of five by (ive inch timber, twelve m number, each tresule. being about twelve fue.fc hi^h. From the south end of the Hume; (.he raco is cut rouud mount Horrible for about four miles, principally through a liinestouo rock formation which required blasting. From the place where the river is tapped to the end of the four mile length lost alluded to, the race is situated on the Levels run. From the edge of the run toßriggs' gully tho raco runs m a tortuous ourse on tho plain tho property of tho New Zea]nnd Meat Preserving Company, The gully is spanned by a llunio eight chains m length, which is ono of the most interesting points of tho race. ■ The flume, which is m tho form of a circular pipe ' one foot 'm diameter, is of galvauised iron, the joints being soldered, - and riveted. In the construction of this flume totara posts wore sunk fourteen feet m the ground on the west and oast banks of -the 'Kully-i* Between these posts are ton wooden supports, the stums of large trees, the butts, of each being firmly fixed m tho bottom of the gully. The longest of these supports is 62 foot, four of them are 57 f«efc, and the rest between the last figuro and 30 feet 4 On the top of each po3t is a large iron ring, through which the flume passes. Froui the two end-supports of tho 11 nine extending nor oss the gully and fixed to the top of the iron rings aforementioned, is stretched a three-inch galvanised wire rope, and tho flume hangs on this rope suspended m hoops of band iron. . On the western bank the wire rope is permanently fastuncd, but ou tho eastern^ bank it is hooked iuto two large screw bolts for tho purpose of tightening the rope when necessary. From the gully the the race extends along the sidling through the Otipua station- property, a length m which the cutting was pretty fair, the blue stone rock been only occasionally met with.: At the end of this section the contractor bad a difficulty} to (surmount. To carry the 'race along the natural fall of the ground would haye 1 entailed very great labor and expense, owing to the rocky sidling, and to carry it m any other : way could only bo ■ accomplished by means of a tunnel. As the tunnel would be the cheapest . and easiest, if the rock could bo avoided, tho contractor decided on undertaking tho work. Owing to the. knowledge he had. obtained of the conformation of the country, he believed that he could tunnel underneath the rock layer, and m this bolief it turned out that he was right. He commenced work at each aide of the hill, making the excavation four feet six inches hisjh, and two feet six inches wide. The character of the ground was gravelly, and to carry the stuff out as the workmen proceeded, trollies were used, which were made for tho purpose. JS'o rock was met with m the construction of the tunnel, and 80 truly was the excavation carried out that m looking from one end to the other daylight may bo aeon. The tunnel is very substantial, the bottom and sides being composed of a solid gravel, and the roof formed by the rock layer. The length of tho tunnel is 670 feeb. From the tunnel the race continues on the Otipua Station for three miles,- and then 'passes through the farms of Messrs White, Tregeriza, Boucher, Graham' (the educational reserve), and Johnson. It. afterwards passes through another portion of the educational reserve m the occupation of Mr Graham, and across Mr Lnudshorough's farm to the Otipua Creek.. Here. the race is carried over, the dcop gully by means of a illume, similar to the oue at Brigg's gully, ■-with the exceptions' that it is but six inches m diameter, 1 and' has no intermediate supports,'' being suspended from a wire rope: fixed to immense posts on either bank. ' Thia flume is 600 feet long. ' From' the flume the race extends through Mr D. Fyfe's and Mr T: W. Fyfe'e farms, and along the southern ■side of the road leading from the Otipua Creek to the. Rev Mr Foster's farm. At this farm it branches off and is carried down the. road extending to the western end of North-street. From the race at this point three branches are cut leading, through dift'eient parts' of tho town. One branch passes throMgh .Mr Wilson's land, to Bank gully, ■whiohjleads to the Bank of New Zealamf, add finds ail outlet to the sea through ,tho culvert near the George-street Lauding Service. . A second branch is taken through land m tho occupation of Mr J. Wild and Mr Scarf; to 1 'North-street, extends -along this street for .'spine distance, and is then taken acrisa Mr Cain's and Mr 'Buchanan's land to Brown-street • gully, tho wator gaining the sea near the ' Commercial Hotel. The other branch runs -across the western end 'of ■North-BtreoVand into the gully which intorsecte Mr Archer-s'andMr Cain's properties, And finally the Domain, emptying into tho sea at the north side I ' of Peeress Town. Bete and therealong'theraco, where gullies %rore -unavoidable, wooden flumings have been erected, and at various points by-washes bare been made to prevent the water rising higher than a certain levol. The race has an average fall of about 6ft a mile for tho whole distance.' • The work.has been- completed for above six monthß, and as showing tho smallness of the cost of keeping the raco m repair, we are informed that m the. rocky portion between the head and Briggs' gully, down which the* water hai been running for twelve months, the coat of maintenance has aot' v exceeded £20. Tho reservoir is situated on Mr Landsborough's land, on the western bank of the Otipua Creek, at the point of the race about one mile to the 'southward of of where the' iron fluming which we have alluded to crosses the gully. The distance from the reservoir to the town is abut two miles. The reservoir, which will be finished as regards the excavation m about ten days, is 437 ft long on the top and 130 ft wide) 21ft 6in deep,' and 370 ft long on bottom the and 86ft wide. Its holding capacity is 5,000,000 gallons, sufficient to supply a town contain-ing-ten times the population of ' Timaru. The site of the reservoir is two hundred feet above the sea level,- or' to put it m & manner' easier, to - comprehend,' abont twenty ! feet '; above the Windmill fans. Mr Fraser's contract torminntes with the excavation of the reservoir, and another contract for which money is not yet available, will be 'Called for tho remainder of the work. The remainder' will consist of lining the reservoir tad 'oonveying the water m pipes from, it to th'a : town boundary. The lining istobo eighteen inohos m thickness, the lower nine inches -to bo of blue stone metal, and the upper nine to be pitchers. The' iron p'ippß leading to the town from thn reservoir will not be suspended across the Otipua creek, as is the' flume for the waste, water' higher up thegully 1 ; but embedded m the ground of the ereek.Aud earned m <ho samo 'mnnnor through •Mr Hugh Fruser'B and Mr 'Double's 'knii/und a]ong' North •street to the town boundary. In Order to distribute the water' about the town, pipes will eventually bo extended iromtho

r-own boinidnry to tho enstorn end of North■treot nnd along thr main-road, and branch pipes run out from tho main one. The contract-, for tho construction of the race was £3010, and £150 was uiven to the contractor for keeping it ii repair for twelve months after completion. Tho contract for excavation of tho reservoir wna £2550, making a total cost of thn work as far as it is at prenent finished of £5716. This money was voted by the Provincial Council, and expended under the direction of the Timaru Borough Council. Mr W. Williamson wbb tho engineer for the work, and as wo have boforo intimated, Mr James Fraser was tho contractor. The whole of the work is pronounced to be substantial m appearance by those who have inspected it, and the contractor who. has had long experience m works of the sort is conGd«nt that it will stand and require but litllo oxponse for rnainlonnnco. As the race has proved a success so far, it is to bo hoped that the Government will apt.-edily take Bteps to finish other portions of the work, for which they aro responsible for the funds, and so enable the IJorough Council to carry out the_ distributive works, m order that the inhabitants may bo supplied as"" soon as possible with that great desideratum — good water.