WATER FOR STOCK

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 21986, 9 January 1937, Page 12

WATER FOR STOCK

♦ SUPPLY WANTED AT OXFORD GOVERNMENT SUBSIDY SOUGHT COUNTY COUNCIL’S NEW SCHEME About 60 years ago a dam was constructed near the head of the Eyre river to provide water for stock and domestic purposes for the few settlers in the district. A year ago the dam was wrecked by a major flood.' Now the Oxford County Council Has a comprehensive scheme for .the supply of stock water to holdings throughout the district, and yesterday this composite scheme was explained to the Rt. Hon, G. W. Forbes, member for Hurunui, and Mr C. Morgan Williams, member for Kaiapoi. The council told the two members of Parliament that it wanted to construct two new headworks and several new races to supply the largely increased number of holdings, and for that purpose it was seeking a Government subsidy of £1 for £1 on the construction, the estimated total cost of which was £ 18,292. To pay its part of the cost the council proposes to raise a loan, for the repayment of which a rate of 11. Id an acre will be levied. The main argument for Government assistance was that very big Crown holdings in the district had been subdivided and that the demand by farmers for water for their stock had far outgrown the capacity of the Eyre scheme. It is now proposed to confine the water from that scheme to approximately the area originally served, and to draw from the Waimakariri river sufficient water to maintain a flow through the remaining races and the new ones which it is proposed _to construct. The scheme for which the subsidy is sought will serve efficiently 28,000 acres, and the area which the existing system served inefficiently, as it is alleged, was 21,000 acres. Inspections Made After hearing an, outline of the proposals , yesterday, Messrs Forbes and Williams were taken about the parts of the county which will be affected by the scheme,, inspected the land and met the settlers. They also inspected the site of the headworks on the banks of the Waimakariri river. The explanation of the proposals was made by Mr F. J. Gorton, a member of the council, who was introduced by the chairman. Mr P. Fisher. The lack of water during dry seasons had been a cause of serious loss to ratepayers between the Waimakariri and Eyre rivers, he said. Complete surveys had been made by officers of the Public Works Department, and on these the present proposals were based. He thanked the present and the past Governments for allowing their officers to make the surveys. “It is now a matter of finance,’.’ he said. When the Eyre scheme was created, he said, much of the, land in the district was in a Government run. but this had since been subdivided and water was not' available for all the holdings. The Government was an interested party through its lending departments. but the responsibility for the supply of water had now been put on the county council. Because the land was on an old shingle fan of the Waimakariri river boring was out of the question, he said. One settler had bored to bevond 200 feet without reasonable success. An Assured Supply The scheme now suggested would give an improved supply for the large area only partly served previously; it would give a good supply to land otherwise without water; and it would give an assured all-the-year-round sunply to all. The Minister for Public Works, the Hon. R. Semple, had offered a subsidy of 45s a married man for the construction of the Waimakariri river scheme, but since then the engineer had estimated that the original cost would be increased through the recent labour laws. The State would benefit through the increased value of the land in which its departments were interested, and it would also benefit from the generally improved production which must. result. The council, therefore, did not hesitate in asking the Government to'change its type of subsidy. Under the offer the total contribution by the Government would have been £6500, and the council now asked for £9OOO on the basis of £1 for £l.- ’ , : At the old Eyre dam, the greater part of which was washed away in February last, Mr Gorton explained that another dam could be built there only on floating shingle. Fifty ‘chains higher up the river it was proposed to drive steel sheeting into rock formation. thus preventing any seepage. Furthermore, by taking the water from higher up the river a terrace could be used to give a greater fall, and consequently service to a greater area. It was here that it was proposed to build new races to carry the extra flow which would be available. The cost of the new dam and races was estimated by the Public Works Department engineer at £2196. The completely new scheme proposed for the Waimakariri river was also explained to Messrs Forbes and Williams at the site of the intake. Turbine-driven Pump It is proposed to bore a tunnel six feet wide and four feet deep through the Eagle Hill, on the bank of the river and some distance above the gorge bridge. From the end of the tunnel the water would be led through a big race for about a mile downstream. At that point it will be some feet above the level of the river, and it .will run over a spillway .to drive a turbine housed on the river bank. This turbine will generate the power to drive a pump which will deliver the water on to a terrace 975 feet above. From there it will be led into the existing races and new ones to be constructed, giving a good flow of water over the eptire area; The cost, of the Waimakariri river section of the' composite scheme is estimated at £15,096, making the total for the entire scheme £18,292. The maintenance' cost of the turbine and pump is estimated at £2OO a year, and an allowance of £915 is made for sinking fund and interest. Under those figures the rate ,over ; the 28,000 acres to be served would be Is 3d. If the desired subsidy was Secured, however, the rate would be reduced to ll.ld an acre. ‘ Messrs Forbes and Williams met many of the settlers, all of whom expressed whole-hearted support for the scheme. They wefp already paying a rate of 5.5 d an acre for a scheme which

gave them water only in the winter when they did not want it, they said, and they were quite willing to pay an increased rate for the improved scheme. At present in a dry season they were faced with the necessity of driving their stock to water. The council*, was assured that the members of Parliament would take the matter up and would endeavour to secure support for the scheme, which seemed in every way a very good one.