IRRIGATION IN NEW ZEALAND

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3080, 10 May 1917, Page 5

IRRIGATION IN NEW ZEALAND

PLEA FOR ■ INCREASED PKODUCTION. A meeting of the Technological Section of the Wellington Philosophical ■Society was held last evening in the Dominion Museum, when the chairman Mr. F. W. Furkert, A.M.Inst.C.E.) ar«ad< a-paper, on "Irrigation in New ■Zealand." The lecturer pointed out that in Otago .there is an area of 2700 'square miles, where the rainfall was •under • I2in. yearly. He estimated that 500,000 acres of this laud was suitable ,£or irrigation, and would -then support 5000 families" directly, and another 4000 indirectly, thus adding one million and {i half sterling annually to the wealth of the Dominion. In Canterbury and Afarlborougli there is an area of 13,000 square miles, including most of the cropping land, where the rainfall was under 30 inches, and only one-fifth of this is '-under crow at present. He believed that iivigjition would inorcase the yield per acre on tho cropped portions by muoh more than fire bushels per acre, but even at this figure it ■n-ouM add .£500,000 to our wealth, while the increase in settlement and in aroa | of cultivated land would bo enormous. | ?The lands the i&ftTn and 'Waimakariri wore in 1881 supplied with a little water (20 gallons per day per acre) at a cost of 2s. per acre, and: their Value immediately increased by ..£8 psr Sore;, but if supplied with, say, 100 ■times this amount, as is bow proposed at Ida y alley, tho effect would, havn ■been more advantageous still. The j Jnere irrigation of land was, of course, Sot all tho story. The soil and the ielimate imist bo suitnWe. the tenure ' land the. transport facilities such as will onconrape settlement, ami the en?ine?rinif work must be 'simple, cheap, and The lecturer believed the I>est procedure was for tho State to "acquire nil the land affected by the Scheme, ami afterwards to throw it open for selection under improved settlement conditions. He advocated the establishment of experimental farms in ench area under consideration, when information as to water required, probable evaporation, and necessary manures could be ascertained in advance. An important point to remember was that ■all temporary work should be shunned in irrigation projects, and. illustrated point by ,citing the fact tha.many Soman irrigation works were still in use. The /rreat difficulty in New Zealand was tTiat of securing experienced .fcettlers. Tbe talk of settling returned jSoldiers on such lands was often pushed •fro dangerous extremes. Only those "born and bred in tho dry aTeas could :be -regarded as suitable men for the 'ipurnose. . But given such farmers as would take proper advantage of the irri-gation-provided, ho predicted a golden future for many part's of the South ■Island now sparsely settled, or not tilled to advantage. ■ > A hearty vote of thank's was accorded Mr. Fnrkert for his paper.