POLLUTION OF SILVERSTREAM

Evening Star, Issue 21507, 4 September 1933, Page 11

POLLUTION OF SILVERSTREAM

ACTION AGAINST DAIRY COMPANIES CASE FOR THE DEFENCE A case of considerable interest to dairy factory interests generally was resumed at the Magistrate’s Court this morning, Mr J. R. Bartholomew, S.M., hearing evidence for the defence in the case in which, on the information of the Otago Acclimatisation Society, the Silverstream Dairy Company Ltd. and the Mosgiel Co-operative Dairy Company were proceeded against on a charge of having allowed liquid injurious to fish to get into a stream where trout existed—namely, Silverstream. Mr P. S. Anderson conducted the case for the Otago Acclimatisation Society, the original hearing being adjourned from Mosgiel on August 11 until to-day. Mr W. L. Moore appeared for the Silverstream Dairy Company Ltd. and Mr E. J. Anderson for the Mosgiel Dairy Factory Company Ltd. Giving evidence for the defence, James Douglas Redmayne Dyer said that he was a director in the Silverstream Dairy Company Ltd. The Silverstream dairy factory had been in existence twenty-eight years, and prior to the formation of the company belonged to his father. The waste from the dairy factory went into the Silverstream. The season lasted about six months, the peak being from the middle of December to the middle of January. Whey, which was stored in a tank, was given away to the farmers. At the peak of the season the surplus over and above what was given to the farmers would be at the most 200 gallons. By the middle of February the greatest surplus would be fifty gallons. The factory used over 10,000 gallons of good, clean water daily for cooling purposes, which was running practically all the time. When the whey was going down the drain the water was going down as well. Witness knew of quite a number of other drains running into the Silverstream, which during the last two years had been exceptionally low. Witness walked up the stream on March 6 for about three-quarters of a mile, and above the factory he found numbers of dead fish. There was a little water running down the gravel. Below the factory witness had seen no dead fish. To Mr P. S. Anderson: Witness said that the only explanation he could give for dead fish being found below the factory on February 22 was the dry weather. Re-examined by Mr Moore, witness said that the whey that was put into the river was put in during a period of about an hour from 10 a.m. to noon. During the rest of the day water and washings were going into the river. Leonard Chalmers Young said that he took a keen interest in fishing, and during the last four years had taken a £ articular interest in the Silverstream. •uring that time he had noticed a dearth of large fish in the upper reaches of the Silverstream. Witness had noticed in one portion that, whereas there had been perhaps half a mile of deep holes, there was now only 100yds. The rest had been filled up with gravel, and consequently the fish did not have the same depth of water. Witness had drawn the attention of the Acclimatisation Society to the matter two years ago. Witness had endeavoured to find if the heavy gravel deposit held any matter that was injurious to fish, and as the result of an experiment he found that when a black deposit was stirred up it made the fish quite sickly. This would be about three miles from Dyer’s. He thought the heavy gravel robbed the stream of its natural supply of water. There wore small drains running into the river all the way up the Silverstream. There was a slaugbteryard drain. Witness said that with one exception he had always seen healthy fish between the corporation outlet "and Dyer’s factory. For a quarter of a mile above Dyer’s, where gravel

had been taken away, there was twice as much water as there was above this stretch. In answer to a question by Mr Moore, witness said that from the aerodrome to the Black Bridge ho had seen hundreds of fish dying. James Stanley M'Millan said that ho was a carter, and in February and March. last year was carting gravel from the stream near the aerodrome. It was necessary to dig down Sin or 4in in some cases and a foot in others to get water. There were hundreds of dead fish about. Samuel Bowman, general manager of the Waitaki Dairy Company, said that there were quite 500 dairy factories m the dominion, and perhaps more than 90 per cent, would be placed on the banks of streams. These dairies would have effluent pipes discharging into streams. It was news to him that “ wash ’’ from a dairy factory was injuriou to the fish. Trout and eels actually competed for a place near the outlet. “ Quite a Plunket system for the fish,” said Mr E. J. Anderson. To Mr P. S. Andreson, witness said that there was very little waste in a dairy factory, and the only “ washing ” from a cheese factory would perhaps bo particles of curds or whey. To Mr P. S. Anderson: The water from the factories going into the stream would bo helpful to the fish below the factories. Evidence was then called on behalf of the Mosgiel Co-operative Dairy Company, Thomas Craig Henry, manager, stating that it had always been a practice, for the factory discharge to bo put into the Silverstream. From 2,000 to 2,500 gallons daily were used in the washing down of the factory. Only about 100 gallons of whey on a Sunday morning were put down the drain, the rest being carted away by suppliers. To Mr P. S, Anderson witness said that most of what ran into the stream was general dairy waste. William Ernest M'Lean, manager of the Co-operative Dairy Company (Dunedin) said that he had co-operated some years ago with a commission relating to the Silverstream. He had heard evidence that the original stream ran round the foothills to the racecourse, and then down the Owhiro Creek. A cut had been made to deal with the problem of flood watefs on the. Taieri. The Silverstream ultimately became vested in several bodies, and was now controlled by the Taieri County Council. During the time he was secretary of the Silverstream commissioners tho Mosgiel Woollen Mills were discharging into the Silverstream. Tho commissioners permitted various people to drain into the “ cut.” He could remember seeing trout in the stream before 1916. To Mr P. S. Anderson, witness said the water going down tho Silverstream was natural water. He could remember seeing trout in tho Silverstream since 1910. David Cunningham, a Government inspector and grader, said that the majority of dairy factories discharged into streams or pumped their discharge into streams. In his experience fish throve on the of such factories. While in Taranaki witness was a member of the Hawcra Acclimatisation Society, and ho had never heard any suggestion of factories being prosecuted for discharging into streams. John James Henry, factory manager of the Co-operative Dairy ’ Company (Dunedin), said that in twenty-six years’ exnerience be had never beard it suggested that the product of a factory was a polluting agent. The court adjourned until tho afternoon, when legal argument was heard.