NOT ISSUED BY M.O.W.

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31139, 16 August 1966, Page 3

NOT ISSUED BY M.O.W.

(N.Z. Press Association) AUCKLAND, Aug. 15. Science took a back seat at the Paremoremo maximum security prison site when a Ministry of Works engineer put aside his slide rule for a willow wand. Other engineers, some a little sceptical, stood by as Mr H. H. Thompson used a strictly non-minis-try issue W.D.A. (water divining apparatus) to locate an underground water supply. Mr Thompson, a senior engineer with the minis-

try's south Auckland district, has every reason to be confident of success. At the prison site last year he divined an underground stream which is producing 1000 gallons of water an hour through a bore. This was not enough for the prison, so at the invitation of the North Shore resident engineer, Mr D. Jenkins, Mr Thompson went back for a second try. He was successful within a few minutes and another bore will go down. “It’s not an unusual

gift,” said Mr Thompson. “Many people can divine water—so can my wife.” He said he had divined 25 underground supply points. All produced successful bores. “But there was a time near Whangaroa when 1 divined water and soda water came up instead.” he said. “It wasn’t very nice soda water either—it turned all the cooking pots black.” Other ministry engineers at Pareporemo tried the wand but without luck.