COMPENSATION COURT.

Evening Star, Issue 12767, 21 March 1906, Page 1

COMPENSATION COURT.

'THE MOMONA CLAIMS. ' ifeT ill 0 c ?* *"* the evidence taken' in afterwe wentto pressyesLatham Osborne Bed, contmuing after" the luncheon adjournment, said! hkh river meant no outlet and that the-water' ' of: the creek would be dammed back, iS • when flienwr,TO» not in flood: dammimr back would occur at high tide. The water would be dammed bact about af far S Momona. In 1902, and snbseqnently when w,^? ™ th Mr Robert Hay, the tidal influence on the river was carefully considered as affecting the. various outlets. It was necessary for them to do this, as it was an important factor in the case. Presuming the river to be high and Moynihan's creek in flood, the water would be very sluggish-about three inches in one second. From his knowledge of waterraces he would say that with a by-wash at Moynihan's the water would eskpe im mediately. If the velocity of the water in the creek were very great, it would affect the escape at the to some extent The higher the velocity, the less the. escape, A of one foot per second would have no effect at aIL In the case of the ( nver being high and the creek in flood, the water m the creek would be practically stagnant If the water were overflowing near the river, the water would.be in the same condition, except at the point of outlet. He had never seen a by-wash, hr a race J with half an inch of water blocked by vegetable debris. He was sure that with half an inch of waterJhe, by-wash in a creek such as Moymhan's, could not be blocked white there was a clear fall outside the by-wash, as there was at Moynihan's. Moynihan's creek, in the West Taieri. district, had been banked. The effect of the West Taieri works was that where land had been previously flooded it; was now free, as the water had been concentrated in Moynihan's creek, and flood waters, which previous to the completion of the works took two or three days to come down now came down very rapidly. The dam, the cross-cut, and the general condition of things in the • creek would have no effect on the drainage at Moinona. The main drain coming through Momona into the cross-cut was in pretty fair order. It had a carrying capacity of 14ft. There were three escapw for flood-waters at Momona. Between Duck Creek and Momona was a well-defined basin. The natural drainage of Momona had been diverted into Duck Greek. When there was rain, the level of water in the Momona main drain was higher than the level of the water at the dam by about two niches, according to levels taken. This was because it was restricted by the Momona box. The natural drainage bas-in. or getaway was considerably below the level of the dam. There was a bit of a fresh on the day witness and Mr Hall were out. They found the water up. to the top of the bank, and within half an inch of flowing over the depression at Moynihan'B. • At Momona the water was flowing about five chains down from the southern boundary in the natural basin. The level of the water at the dam was about two inches lower than where it was flowing over'at Momona. This overflow showed that there was a clear get-away of the Momona water down a natural drainage channel. Witness took levels at Momona over all the paddocks connected with the claims. Many of the paddocks flooded were a great deal higher than the top of the dam. The lowest ground at Momona was an inch lower than the get-away, and was about eight inches below the crown of the dam. Assuming that the addition to the dam since 1902 was ten inches, no damage had been done to Momona at all, because Momona had got its natural get-away. As far as Moynihan's was concerned, taking into consideration the fact that there was no bank through Reid's, he considered the first five inches detrimental; but the rest had done no damage to Moynihan. lb was not correct that, in making a joint report with Mr Hay, he (witness) objected to the removal of the dam. If the dam were removed, provision would have to be made for the water, otherwise- it would flood the whole country away to the west. The dam saved a lot of expense, as it backed the voter into Duck Ore-uk. Thero were a lot of small drains at Momona besides the main dram, but they were in a very inefficient state. . To Mr Prnser: -The whole of his evidence was based on the levels and the measurements he had taken. They were taken in 1902 m connection with Moynihan's case, and the plan produced was prepared from the data made then, and was in conjunction with the joint, report of Mr Hav and himself. To obtain data he noWd the tide marks on the tidal boxes. The high tides left a stain on the boxes. HLs observations respecting high and low tides were correct within an inch or two. He had never heard of D'Alembert, He had never heard of the axiom " that the velocitv multiplied by the area must be the same at all pointe of the channel." He adhered to his statement respecting the stagnation of the water, except at the point of outlet.' When he took the majority of his levels the'.staff was held either by Sounness or Gibson. It was an ordinary of his to empby a litigant in an action to hold the staff. He found Messrs Sounness and Gibson very fair men. He checked the standard of- his [level before he went out to take the Momona levels, but he did not do so for that particular work. When at Momona hV observed a sheet of water about five chain.i wide. He would swear there was no barrier teA what ho would call the natural drainage \ basin. After taking all the eight'levels and . walking over the ground he was certain there was no obstruction sufficient to stop the flow of water. The ditch in Sounness's was a sood deal trampled in parts by cattle. He had no special, recollection of a ditch between Robertson's and Sounness's. H« did not go right along the boundary! If Robertson said there was an obstruction abng the boundary line which raised tile water on his land one foot, he would contradict him. He would be surprised to bear that Robertson had applied to Sowro<vv, far permission to cut through the obstruction and was refused. He admitted that if there was an obstruction there sufficient to dam hIL theo* Water thab faCt WollW < destro y 10.30 this morning.