IRRIGATION.

Grey River Argus, 11 June 1935, Page 5

IRRIGATION.

From Waimakariri BELFAST SCHEME. CHRISTCHURCH, June 10. AVith the co-operation of the A\ aimakariri River Trust', Mr J. iR. D. Johns, of Belfast, has completed the construction work for an irrigation Scheme which promises to be one of the most important ventures of the kind so far undertaken by a New Zealand farmer.

•On a dry belt of land which Mr Johns holdy under lease from the trust he has erecited main races, slueraces gates, and a dam which will supply enough water to irrigate, not only the 500 acres, which he hopes ultimately to treat, but many 'thousands more', and it would be quite possible that with the success of this scheme it could be extended to become one of the biggest irrigated areas in North Canterbury. Fifty cusecs of water will be available as a permanent and properly controlled supply. This* probably would irrigate most of the dry land from 'the site of the scheme almost to the sea coast. Not nil of it will be used, of course, for some years, but the area- which it is proposed to irrigate immediately seems' so well adapted for it ’that there is every prospect of an early extension. Mr Johns has gone into the scheme very thoroughly, and constructed an the necessary works' with a view to their permanent usefulness and scientific working. Moslt of the water- wild be used on light naturally drained land owned by the river trust. More than 150 acres of this land —considered by authorities to be highly suitable for irrigation in every way—has been brought in by Mr 'Johns in a few years from rough, scrub river-bed to highly productive country already undergoing steady improvement. This land Kes along" a narrow belt of country stretching well down the plains, which it has been established, suffers almost annually from drought, and which experiences an average yearly rainfall so far below the average of the rest of Canterbury that irrigation, or a't least some means of supplementing this natural supply of water, had become virtually necessary. The land is' chiefly a fine, silty loam, readily responding to irrigation, with suitable natural drainage and generally level enough to allow the working of a simplified system of irrigation without' much cost.