SAFETY OF ARAPUNI.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 247, 18 October 1929, Page 5

SAFETY OF ARAPUNI.

MINISTER CONFIDENT.

MANY GROUNDLESS TEARS

POSITION WELL IN HAND,

(By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.)

WELLINGTON, Thursday.

The safety of Arapuni dam was again discussed in the House of Representatives to-day as a result of a question by Mr. Clinkard, Rotorua, which the Minister of Public Works answered. The Hon. E. A. Ransom replied that provision for safeguarding the position has been made, and work is well advanced on the penstock tunnels to reduce the quantity of water passing over the spillway. Cabinet, he added, has authorised the obtaining of outside engineering advice. Mr. Clinkard, commenting on this answer, declared that the position was one which justified anxiety. He likened it to a man giving his children a tin of blasting powder and some matches with which to play. "The hon. gentleman still believes it is not safe?" asked the Right Hon. J.-G. Coates, Leader of the Opposition. "Yes," said Mr. Clinkard. Whole Scheme Examined. Mr. Coates retorted, "There it begins and ends." It had been suggested that it was a mistake that outside engineers had not been called in. As a matter of fact they had been secured to examine the whole scheme before a yard of

excavation had been undertaken. They were men in whom the country would place the utmost confidence. Nobody could doubt the capacity of Mr. Marchbanks, engineer of the Wellington Harbour Board, Mr. W. Ferguson and a leading Tasmanian engineer. They carried out a minute examination. Mr. O'Brien: Did they examine the foundations? Mr. Coates: Yes. Mr. O'Brien: They ought to get another job. Mr. Coates: That is a matter on which the hon. gentleman knows nothing, and on which he has the most to say. Mr. O'Brien: The engineers admit they had no foundation. Mr. Coates: Nothing of the sort. He added that as a result of investigations the proposed arch dam was changed to the gravity type, and it was always felt that it might be necessary to spend £1;")0,000 to £200,000 on the spillway. Mr. Howard: You still think'it is sound ?

"Of course," replied Mr. C'oates, who declared that he could not understand the doubts excepting that a certain alarmist engineer in New Zealand circulated reports just before the general election. r Mr. Parry: I think it is all right. Mr. C'oates: I am sure it is! Sixty Gallons Every Minute. Mr. O'Brien said that there was a leak amounting to 60 gallons a minute which could be stopped now, but because of certain, criticism which had been levelled against the Public Works Department, no attempt was being made to stop the leak. He had made certain investigations into the matter, and had found that when the spillway was being dug no attempt was made to get down to the formation. The country was coming back at the rate of Bft per year, and at the last flood the rate at which it was coming back was 13ft per year. \ Faith in the Officers. The Minister of Public Works (the Hon. E. A. Ransom) said there seemed to be some miscon-

ception in the minds of the public in regard to Arapuni. It had been said that the dam was unfaced, and that the people of the Waikato were liable to be flooded out. That story had died out, and now it was said that the spillway was the trouble. Notwith-

standing that erosion at the spillway was a serious matter, it was not serious in the sense that the foundations of the spillwaymight be affected if the erosion reached its foot. It was quite possible that, by means of a by-pass tunnel at the dam, the water might be diverted to enable the foundations of the spillway to be concreted, but it was not desirable to do that because two units of supply to Auckland would be thrown out of action immediately, and that would mean that there would be a loss of revenue amounting to £500 a year. It was necessary to divert the water from the spillway, and that could be done at any moment. Extra penstock tunnels were being driven at the powerhouse through which to pass the waters of the Waikato, and four of them would be in operation by February.

People Needlessly Alarmed,

It was expected that by the end of February the six penstock tunnels would be carrying the water into the old course of the Waikato River, and that the spillway would be dry so as to be able to put in the concrete, continued the Minister. It was not desired to de-water the lake unless that was deemed to be necessary. It had been suggested that they should obtain the opinion of an outside engineer to see whether the practice of the Department's engineers had been satisfactory. He thought it desirable that that opinion should be obtained, although he was confident that the work of the Department's engineers was quite correct. The Department's engineers were in perfect agreement on the matter. The suggestions that had been made about the spillway were only alarming the people. It was only a question whether the revenue now being derived from Arapuni should be sacrificed so as to appease some peoples' susceptibilities, or whether they should carry on the work that was now in hand to deal with the trouble that had arisen.