WAIKATO PHENOMENON.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume I, Issue 63, 17 November 1880, Page 4

WAIKATO PHENOMENON.

For some years past various methods have been tried for the successful draining and utilising of the swamp lands at Waikato. By some it was at first contended that the too sudden liberation of the water ruined the land, a»3 Da&y resorbeA iograhua) drainage,, catting the water channels a foot deop the first year, and deepening them in successive years. That theory was tried by several. Of late years, however, Mr. E. B. Walker had resorted to deep drainage, with the most successful results. His last Achievement has bden the tapping of an underground lake or creek at a distance o£ tea feet from the surface. His men were engaged cutting a large main drain in the Eotorangi Swamp (better known as Walker's). A stroke of the pick was followed by a terriffic rush of water, which caused the men to hurry up out of the drain. . A pole was obtained and thrust nine feet into the aperture, through which the water flowed, and still continues to flow, in torrents, but the bottom could not be felt. This discovery has caused much discussion among pioprietors of swamps, and bears out, the opinion formed of that part of the swamp near. Obaupo, ■which the contractor of the railroad

tried in vain for so many months to fill in. The opinion was formed that there was , a shell or upper crust of the swamp which concealed a huge lake. This crust had been broken, and the earth as fast as thrown in was absorbed by the water, and floated away. Another argument held in favor of the notion that a large shett of water existed beneath the hard surface of the swamp was that the line in winter was more solid, and did not sink or open in huge cracks as it does in summer, the supposition being that the accumulation of water actually supports the ground. Mr. Walker thinks it very probable that various swamps have been formed by Maoris stopping creeks for the purpose of catching eels. The creeks got overgrown with vegetation, and the accumulation of debris ultimately spreads an earth covering over.— Auckland Evening Star.