IRRIGATION IN SOUTH CANTERBURY

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 142, 17 June 1937, Page 11

IRRIGATION IN SOUTH CANTERBURY

The second Irrigation scheme in South Canterbury—the Levels Plain scheme, built at a cost of £69,000 and planned to serve an area in the Levels County of 19,000 acres of farm landsis finished (states the "Press"). Commenced in July, 1935, the scheme has provided employment for 150 men. Mr. A. D. Todd, Assistant-Engineer to the Public Works Department at Temuka. was in charge of the work. In an interview, Mr. Todd said that a gross area of 19,000 acres would be served by the scheme, water being avaUable for 12,800 acres. Within that area farmers who wished to benefit from the supply would be able to receive water for tlieir lands at low charges—6s an acre for a two-foot depth and 3s for an "acre-foot." It was one of the cheapest supplies in the world, and would work out at less than a penny for 14.000 gallons, or less than one-hundredth of the price of water in a cheap town supply. An offer by the Department to prepare four acres, free of charge, for irrigation, had been accepted by several farmers, Mr. Todd said. He was confident that the scheme would prove invaluable by increasing the fertility and production of the soil.