LAKE HAWEA CONTROL

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29004, 19 September 1959, Page 3

LAKE HAWEA CONTROL

“Deserted Village” "The Press" Special Service DUNEDIN, September 18. By the end of next month Hawea hydro will be a "deserted village”—if not a ghost town. The completion of the Lake Hawea control scheme ha. been marked by a noticeable thinning in the number of residents over the last few months in the once populous area, and according to Ministry of Works sources, by the end of October departmental staff will have been withdrawn completely. There is no intention, however, to begin a large-scale transfer of the houses of the village. Construction work on the earth storage dam was completed early this year, and the population of 750 then began to fall. According to a department spokesman at Benmore. the number of workmen at Hawea has dwindled to about 20. These, he said, were engaged on landscaping—tree planting and grass sowing—and the laying of rock slabs on the dam face to counter wave action. As far as can be foreseen, after the end of next month the sole official resident at the hydro village will be a State Electricity Department employee stationed in the release gates control room. Many of the larger industrial offices and houses of the village already have been transferred to Benmore.