IRRIGATION PLAN

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXV, Issue 57, 19 February 1935, Page 6

IRRIGATION PLAN

PERMANENT PARADISE Possibilities on the Plains INVESTIGATION PROPOSED Two members of the Hastings Chamber of Commerce were appointed by the meeting of the Chamber last evening to form the nucleus of a committee to investigate the practicability of irrigating the Heretaunga Plains, and the Patangata County Council, the Hawke's Bay County Council, the Hastings Borough Council, the Hawke’s Bay Bivers Board, the Havelock North Town Board, and the Partners’ Union, will each be asked to appoint two memoers to the committee, the convenor of which will be the Mayor of Hastings, Mr G. A. Maddison. The members appointed by the Chamber were Messrs P. E. Smith, who initiated the proposals, an* Mr W. E. Bate.

Those present as representatives of local bodies at last evening’s meeting were Mr H. R- von Dadelszen and Mr M. E. Greenwood, representing the Havelock North Town Board, Mr R. E. Talbot representing the Rivers Board, Mr C. Lassen representing the Bivers Board and the County Council, Mr 8. J. McKee representing the Hastings Borough Council, and Mr SV. H. Diamond, a member of the Hawke's Bay Council of the Institute of Horticulture.

In outlining a tentative proposal to tring water from the Tukituki pver into Lake Poukawa, and use the water for a scale irrigation scheme, Air. F. £• Smith said that after having brought up the matter of irrigation at last month’s meeting of tho Chamber he had been asked by a number of people what irrigation had to do with a body of businessmen such as the Chamber Of Commerce. His answer was that the business people of the towns were intimately concerned with the welfare and progress of the farmer and with every aspect of production from the ground to the consumer. MUCH NEED OF WATER. During the past season it had been wery evident that the farmer had been much in need of water. Mr N. J. Adamson, Government Orchard Inspector, had told the speaker that fruit trees were feeding on the moisture of their own fruit, and that many of them were perishing for want of water.

Hawke’s Bay la ad was as good as »ny in New Zealand. It had everything but moisture, and by means of irrigation what became a desert in times of drought could be turned into a paradise all the year round.

If it were shown that the farmers had not suffered often enough, or long -.enough, or severely enough, to make them feel that an irrigation scheme was warranted, then, said Mr Smith, let them go on suffering until they felt that it was warranted.

His own views about the practicability of getting water from the Tuki tuki through Poukawa Lake and on to the plains was endorsed by a member of the Williams family, who had had • long experience with the river, and •Iso by officials of the Public Works Department. He believed that the lake could be filled with enough water, by means of an intake from the river, to irrigate 3000 acres at a time and yet preserve the safety-level of the lake. It would be necessary to bring the water 21 miles on to the plains, and of that distance 15 miles would have to be new canal. The lake canal measured six miles in length. The fall would be quite sufficient for the purpose. DESTRUCTION OF BUSH. Some people advocated pumping, Air Smith continued, but he thought it unwise. The district’s natural water •upply had been greatly diminished by the destruction of bush and heavy scrub, and the tramping of stock had made the surfaces of pastures so hard that the water just ran off. The soil had no power of absorption. Artesian water supplies were diminishing, and the destruction of bush and scrub bad gone further towards the diminishing of those supplies than many people realised. Air Lassen said there was no doubt that the water could be brought down through the lake, but the great difficulty would be to distribute it from Pakipaki, which was the lowest point on the plains, to Ngatarawa and elsewhere. It would have to be raised ten feet. The highest lands on the plains, •nd those which most needed water, were mostly situated along the banks of the old Ngaruroro, and the difficulty once the water had been taken into that river would be to get it out again. If irrigation came to the Hats, Air. Lassen continued, it would have to come in a series of small schemes rather than in one large scheme. For example, the Ngaruroro could be used only for a small group-scheme for Fernhill and Twyford. and the water brought in by the Roys Hill butts. Water for Ngatarawa could be brought in near Maraekakaho. In replv to Mr. I.assen. Mr. Smith said he did not think, from the evidence he had seen, that Pakipaki was tho lowest point on the plains Jn any event, a part of the water could be taken along the foothills, and would then be high enough to carrv itself over the plains. He did not wish, however, to insist upon any individual scheme, but merely to arouse interest ja jhq principle of irrigation

for the district by whatever means might be most practicable. Air. von Dalelszen said that the proposed scheme would serve only those areas that were «u the west side of the old Ngaturoro. To lilt the water on to the Havelock side would necessitate a reservoir, and his own opinion was that an adequate reservoir would cost at least £lO,OOO. Air. Talbot said he understood that in some of the South Island irrigation schemes the cost per acre for irrigation was 30/-. It was to be admitted, however, that some of the land had previously been absolutely sterile, and that irrigation had made it productive. In one scheme the water was brought 16 miles before it began to irrigate. “When a man brings forward a scheme it is up to us to see whether there is anything in it’’, said Mr. AlcKee in moving a motion to invite the local bodies named above to cooperate in forming an investigating committee. The meeting accepted the motion unanimously, and also passed a resolution thanking Mr. Smith for the work he had done and the interest that he had taken.