CENTRAL OTAGO

Evening Star, Issue 21129, 15 June 1932, Page 2

CENTRAL OTAGO

VALUE OF IRRIGATION ADDRESS BY MR R. B. TENNENT The value oi' irrigation in Central Otago was strikingly portrayed at a lecture given last night by Mr It. B. Tennent (fields superintendent of the Department of Agriculture). Mr Tennent addressed a largely attended meeting held at the Museum, under the joint auspices of the Otago Institute and the Field Club. Professor T. D. Adams presided. Mr Tennent commenced his address by indicating, through a lantern slide, the average rainfall in various parts of the South Island. The map revealed the fact that a very wet belt embraced Dunedin, and swung round through South Otago in the form of a horseshoe bend and linked up with the West Coast wet strip. Southland was slightly drier, and North Otago, Canterbury, and the Lakes District still more so. For arid conditions, however, Central Otago proper, which received less than 20iii of rain per annum, held the record. As a matter of fact, said Mr Tennent, there was one particular belt in which the rainfall was as low as llin a year. It was the old miners who, by means of their races, first made people realise the fertility that was locked away in these apparently barren wastes. The lectm r used another diagram to show that during only one month in the year—January—was there over 2in of rain in Central Otago. February was the driest month, with May and August next. He went on to point out the value of water from irrigation schemes in raising the land to a high standard of fertility, stating that 72,683 acres were at present being irrigated. Of these the Government had developed a little over 50,000 acres, private individuals 10,000 acres, companies 5,000 acres, and local bodies 7,500 acres. The work of irrigation in Central Otago was really only starting, for there were enormous possibilities in the scheme. He considered that close on 400,000 acres could bo kept under water by some means or other, and that 280,000 acres of this could be supplied by gravitation. Pumping methods could deal with some 42,000 acres. If the Lake Hawea scheme were developed there would be plenty of cheap electricity available for pumping purposes. Mr Tennent estimated that before this territory of 72,000 acres was irrigated its production value was only about £28,000, whereas now it would produce £500,000. (Applause.) With water the country could be made the most fertile in New Zealand, and the Government, whether or not the land was paying under the present temporary depressed conditions, was quite justified in developing it in this way. In dealing with the various types of farming which were carried on in Central Otago, the lecturer said that there was a great future for the dairying industry in these parts. People were generally attracted by the beautiful orchards when they passed through, but he considered that most of the suitable land for fruit growing was now occupied, and that there was little room for further expansion. Water was important for sheep farming, for.the number of sheep that could be run depended on the quantity of winter feed available, and if there was irrigation much hay and lucerne could be grown to feed the animals when they were brought down from the snow-threatened ranges before winter set in. After throwing interesting slides on the screen depicting primitive methods of irrigation in Egypt and India, Mr Tennent presented pictures which showed clearly what had been clone to develop Central Otago. Substantiallooking dams on the Manorburn, Moa Creek, and the Kawarau were shown, us well as many others illustrating the various methods of distributing the water.

At the conclusion of the address Mr Tcnnent was accorded a hearty vote of thanks.