THE WAIMAKARIRI WORKS.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20788, 23 February 1933, Page 14

THE WAIMAKARIRI WORKS.

CONTROL OF FLOODS. 'DISCUSSION ' 'BY, ,_ Civil,;; ENGINEERS. A paper dealing with the control of the Waimakariri river, prepared by Mr »■ Wood, chairman of the Waimakariri River Trust, was discussed at the continuation yesterday morning of tho 16th annual conference of the New Zealand Society of Civil Engineers. Mr i*. T. M. Kissel presided. A number of slides were exhibited showing tho progress of the control work in connexion with th© river, and Mr Wood's. paper dealing with this aspect was then discussed. It was generally agreed that the work done had been of benefit and reflected credit ■on those connected with the scheme. Mr Wood stated in his papor that the idea of the trust was to put into effect a system of river control that would at tho same time immediately relieve the district from tho menace of flood damage and enable the river to carry shingle down to the sea. Tho first objective could be attained with a considerable degree o£ certainty, and ft good deal of confidence could be placed on the works provided for this purpose. Tho Becond objective was a much more difficult thing and it was felt that no unalterable system of works flould be devised and carried out, that would permanently reach this end. But it did seem possible to lay out a scheme of regulation upon such lines as would enable it to be improved or enlarged upon to meet future demands without financial loss or without any serious deviation from the scheme.

For this reason great importance; liad ■been attached to the shortening of the river's course. There soeniod little doubt, lie stated, that to shorten the course was proper, and the scheme was one from which full benefit could ho obtained as closer regulation became more necessary in the future. The Importance of Maintenance, •'One very important point that should not be overlooked is the absolute necessity for proper maintenance and administration of the works," concluded Mr Wood, "Ultimate success can bo achieved only if as much care aad attention i* given to this aspoct r»f the matter as "was given to the con- " struction of the works, and neglect of proper maintenance will not only fail to give the results that should bo expected but may do damage greater thail that -which the works wore huilt to prevent. "The river £rust keops a staff well trained to maintenance work, and it is hoped that a fund "will ho established to enable serious damage by floods to be repaired immediately." Support of Local Engineers. Mr A. Wells Newton, speaking after ths exhibition of tho slides had finished, stud thaf he thought that local engineers should be trusted more than thoy were. When the scheme for the works bad been approved by leading engin- ■ <w>» ia Notf Zealand who had had overseas-~ experience, that was , an indication of the value of the \l „ engineers' work. There had »ii bees a considerable amount of , ptTbiie opinion againat the scheme and wW had been caused tlirough thia opposition.' The- opinions of experts in ID j • England had been' obtain, but there fT' •»»&, ho considered, little of value in the s® .reports... What they cfid to a great ex-] i-, test' wus to agree with the local en- \ ' ginoers. There was no need to go ! abroad to got special concurrence when tbi>To ware ! jaea •of such marked ability rathis country. He concluded by pay--1 . iijsj ft tribute to Mr Wood in the work. Jwt bad dolji® in connexion with the Ji trust. Unfortunately, he understood it was a fact that the trust was ffifiinjr to lo#& "hi® Of the work, 4 " of: Mr H. "V?'- Harris, the trust en- !\ muter, be also expressed appreciation, .|. '' • Arthur Dudley; Dobson said that; i'. , Jms waa happy to see that all the ob-. lection* to the scheme had been overtbtJed. It'-iwas 60 years ago, he said,- •! • jtJist bis! lather and ho had made the jfrst iurvcyof ,the 'river, and iwhat had !■, ',fr<ien saggpatea by them at that time j b« thought would agree generally with what *m be tag dome now. . - '• III I Ifili |J ii r" < . - Me Furkert'3 Opinions. Mr; F. W. Parkert said that he was ix extremely pleased to hear a local man «pessf *<? wftH of the stewardship of Mr Wood in the work, and ho considered , . thft Vhafe had been done under Mr 1 Wood'a eoftrol Sad proved that he was ihft right xaan for the position. Tho - *pmk«r expressed himself ..as being in 1 * ■ 'nmoti of the iion-opemng ofi the now . mAt tho present time, but he thought : '' *iS4 4 th® trust would have been wise to more concrete blocks at the mouth U ofl.tho. ; >ivu? ? spading anything from iff' ££9OQ to £3600 in this jyorlc. Prom whair lie had seen of the work the - > publle h 4 no reason to be dissatisfied lii' with the work, and as far as he knew ■«! thj> public, dissatisfied. Several others spoke in similar terms, of-' £he work of the trust, reference atar Njfqjf matfe tp the way in which " ezpcAses of the work had bben ; l r ?" L ENGINEER'S REPORT TO BOARD. if 'l l k | | [ 1 | BJBLFAST RATEPAYERS' MEETING. J I A report by thp engineer o£ the WaiElver Trust (Mr H. W, Harris), ' " presented at the ratcoting of the trust \ dealt, in part with the two raeent floods. The meeting was atteoded by "Messrs J. Wood (chairman), i j. . •*. Oeorgft Gould, W. P. Spencer, 11. E. JjtaUM, Sir Prancis Boys, and Professor B* Speight. ♦lStneo the last meeting," said the ' . iftpoxt of the engineer, "we havu had ' a namb®r of freshes down tho river,, «nd floods on February 2 and February 15. ," In both those fioods the river i ffprtiad to the south side immediately 111 , below the gorge, and hit in very hard - lii Halkett. No danger resulted to any ! '■* est tho gibynes. The cut on Ooutta Island has rapidly developed, and is - mow eftjrrying the bulk of the low flow, f ' woidd recommend that tho spincut be further deto Allow more water to pass; J)rdtaild' b? idane by lowering it some '' and bringing the two channels - t»' to carry a portion of ■lillalK Bow. ■ The water would jbMp3)ib« ground soft and make it more BBMipn^^ibl^' in gloodfrr Both ehan- ■" cat. i* J ? # IV «nt 'would also te»d to act as a drawiAvn*. It? tie Conttii cut, ami ease 3« taking lAwe '* ''itare, Xf autliorificd, thia work., could | .Wit**. wid wnl? ISii#ir^ 1 T l 'i +-1 * ii i *

involve the moving of some 12,000 yards of spoil. Tho Coutts Island cut development is being closely watched, and if necessary steps will be taken to stop it. Very slight erosion took place in the lower cut. ' 'The mouth of tho river travelled south some two chains in tho floods and has moved a total of 11 chains in the last 12 months. The last flood was not of sufficient volume to warrant doing anything further to develop the new mouth. Both floods rose very rapidly, the . latter one rising six feet at the gorge in 50 minutes. The automatic register is now working the recording dial in the post offico at Oxford, but was not in use for the flood of February 1." During the discussion of the report, Mr Spencer said that on the previous night there had been a big meeting of Belfast residents, and certain resolutions had been passed. The chairman: Why bring this up at this stage? You are talking of something about which I know nothing. Mr Spencer said he would raise the question later. Coutts Island Out. Mr Gould said that most of the members might not have seen the development of the Coutts Island cut. During tho two latest floods tho river had got on to a very sof£ formation, and it was taking a short cut down to the southern bank and the Coutts Island bridge. If something was not done to stop it, it would be discharging at tho lower end of Wright's cut. The engineer had said steps would be taken to stop it; but ho (the speaker) thought it might be a difficult task, for there was no natural defence at all. Mr Spencer said something should certainly be done about it. The chairman: The engineer has recommended that jsteps be taken to protect it. ' Mr Harris: It can be done all right. Mr Leslie moved that the report bo adopted; but Mr Spencer said he had given notice to move: "That with a view to minimising the danger to Belfast and tho surrounding district, steps be taken immediately to open Wright's cut, to allow the main flow of the stream to go through." The chairman: If we pass the engineer's report, your motion is not required. Mr Spencer: Is the board frightened of its own scheme? As a layman I can see no reason why wo should not go ahead as I have suggested. The chairman: We are not going to jeopardise the scheme for the whole district just because of a few ratepayers at Belfast. Mr Spencer said he thought the two channels, should be brought right up to the river. The engineer's report was adopted.

Mr Spencer's Motion. \ Mr Spencer then moved the motion of which he had given notice. The chairman: It would cost a lot of money to do that—about £20,000, I should say. Mr Manhire asked Mr Spencer if he were going to raise a loan.

"The now danger of the water getting right behind Wright 'a cut is very jvpparent," said Mr Spencer. "The water is rushing on to the Coutts Island hank very rapidly and I can't seo any reason why the main flow of water should not be sent down Wright's cut. The water is piling up round Belfast, and tliat is what the row was about Inst night." The chairman: There should not he any row. It is absurd. /You want to jeopardise the whole thing for a few peoplo round Belfast."

Mr Gould seconded the motion pro foriiia. Ha thought Wright's bank shculd he lowered to its full width; but he did not think tho pilot ohurmele should ho brought right up to the river, for, as the engineer had said, they would fill with shingle. The chairman said he did not think there was any objection to. taking the bank down to its full width. Mr Wpencer then withdrew his motion, stating thati the- engineer's plan went pari; of the way he had suggested and was on tho right lines' Belfast Ratepayers. Mr William Price, chairman, of tlie mooting of Belfast ratepayers held on Tuesday evening, advised that tho following resolutions had been carried: — "(I) That the trust proceed immediately to carry out tho protection in the gap betweon McLean's Island and Coutts Inland.

"(2) That the trustf be requested to open the cut known as Wright's cut to take tlio full flow of, the river.'' Mr Spencer , said the desire of the ratepayers was, if possible, to speed ;up tho work. They wanted more men put on. Tho chairman said that if the financed were satisfactory the board would make every effort to speed up tho work. WORK OP THE GANGS. The engineer reported that gangs wore at present disposed of as follows: (a) D. Bruce's gang was engaged clearing the North branch upstream from, the Girder bridge j progress is fairly slow, as the work was impeded by' stoppages to remove willow trees which were either growing in or had J fallen into the bed; the worst of these i had- now been shifted, ■ and progress was speeding up accordingly. | (b) C. Yfilliams's gang was still working at McLean's and was at present erecting a. bank across tho old channel .at the bapk of McLean's Island. With the long period of hot nor'-west weather-experienced during the past mouth the work was very arduous, and considering the conditions, the men were malting a very good showing. (c) A. Wilson's gang had almost completed the willow cloaning in tho old Mouth branch at the back of Belfast. On its completion this gang would be moved over to the north channel above the cutting to clear the bed of willows and other growth' near the intake of the Coutts Island cut. The work in the south channel had been delayed owing to tho number of small floods sitating moving the men away to other work for a few days after each fresh. During these periods opportunity had been taken to clear portions of the embankments of Californian thistle and rank growth oflupins, etc. It. Gibson had completed repairs to tho old stopbank at Wolffs on the Eyre river, and had put in a small holster for protection of same. He had also erected about a chain of bank at a low place on the opposite side to prevent overflow. He is now engaged doing repairs to two of the groynes on" the north bank, where the protected ends fyave subsided. On January 21 a clearing sale of timber, iron, sundry plant, etc., from McLean's and Coutts Islands camps was held, and resulted in a net Teturn of £253 14s 3d.

Kainga Well. This was a deep well supplying the settlement wjth water, reported the engineer, and, due to erosion of the banlc had been for a number of years now ia the riverbed, in some seven feet of water. It was a continual source of trouble. A new deep well would cost some £75, and the cheapest method of obtaining some permanency with tho pros'oat well would bo to drive two or three pilea to it and tha con-

necting pipes; this could be done at an approximate cost'of £2O. It was decided to approve the . £2O plan; Farnham's Brain Floodgate. The engineer reported that Parnham's drain discharged into the old North branch Upstream from Kaiapoi and was provided with.a 36-inch floodgate. The gato was inspected once, every fortnight, and also during floods, and at each inspection it was found that tho gate had been purposely blocked open he presumed, to allow the free flow, of tidal Wjaters up the drain to keep it clean. * "Following a complaint from the Eyre County Council that flood waters have been going up, I have informed them of the position. If people persist in blocking the gate, it is only a waste of money maintaining it," said Mr Harris.

Expenditure on Construction. Tlie expenditure for the 19 weeks from September 29 (when tlie expenditure for the remaining half-year was reviewed) to February & has been kept within the £IOO a week alloted, reported the engineer. The net expenditure for this period on construction ha'd been ©1795, with some accounts still to be • paid, and including £l2l for workers' compensation not taken into account in tlie estimated expenditure. Receipts had exceeded the estimate, the proceeds" of the second clearing sale being £ 253, as against the estimated return of £75, more sundries and excess plant haying been disposed of than was primarily intended,

The fiftieth anniversary of the institution of the telephone system in Wellington fell on Tuesday. The first telephone exchange was in the old Post and Telegraph building? . m Peatherston street; and it cariie into operation with about 36 subscribers. Subterranean cables had not then been developed; and even the small. list of subscribers necessitated a network of overhead wires which converged on Featherston street and met at the exchange in an impressive tangle. The "New Zealand Times" of February 23, 1883, suggested to subscribers that they should confine their use of the telephone to strict business for the first week in order to enable the operators at the Wd-'to thfl innovation.