WATER-RACES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXV, Issue 9427, 30 May 1891, Page 3

WATER-RACES.

THE MALVERN AUXILIARY SUPPLY.'

The formal ceremony of opening the auxiliary water-race, which taps tie Waimakariri near the Gorge Bridge, took) place yesterday. There was a large number) of visitors, and Mr D. M'Millan, the; Chairman of the Selwyn County Council,! having let the water into the race, an; adjournment was made to luncheon. This, 1 was supplied by Mr ■G; Piercy of tho| Sheffield Hotel in a temporary marque* which was erected between tho bridge and) the head-works of the water-race. Mr DJ M’Millan presided, and was supported on his right by Sir Jobn Hall, and on his left: by Mr W. C. Walker. Messrs T. H. Ansonl and H. W. Peryman occupied the vice chairs. About seventy persons sat down! to the luncheon, and among tho visitor*! present were Messrs W. C. Walker and C. JTj Harper (Ashburton County Council), G. PJ Williams and E. Dobson (civil engineers),! Captain Parsons (Rangiora), T, I. JoyntJ (solicitor for tho Selwyn County Council)) Messrs E. M,- Templer, H. • Palairet and] all the members of the Council except) Messrs Dunlop, Westenra and Murray,] who. sent apologies. An apology was also] received from Mr E. G. Wright. After] luncheon had been disposed of, the Chair-] man proposed the usual loyal toasts. Sit; John Hall then proposed "Success tothej Waimakariri Gorge Water-race.” H® most heartily congratulated the Selwyn) County Council and the people in the! County on the important and moat ueefnl! work, the opening of which they had that) day met to commemorate. Whether old! settlers or not they could appreciate th»| value of the work that hod been carried out. But the visitors could never realisai the importance of the work to. such an: extent as those who had been hero in the) early days, and. had seen the difficulties that all the settlers on the Plains had hoi contend against for want of water for their) stock. He, and many of those presents could well remember when every drop or water that was used by their stock had toi be carted from the river. The initiation] of the water-races had put a stop to all that, and now that they had opened an; auxiliary supply whioh would be .prac-i tically unlimited, the advantages wouldbe very great indeed. He coagrstu-) lated Mr M'Millan and the members o£i the County Council on their undertaking.) They deserved the greatest credit for the way in which they had done their work,, not only in connection with this race, bub also with the other races. It was an, easy) thing for a Minister to sit down and borrow) a million of money, call in an engineer and make a railway, as he could speak Hon* experience; but he also had experience oS County work, and it was not so easy A matter, before carrying out a work of such! a nature as this water-race, to have td persuade the ratepayers that this or that] thing was going to benefit them, and to show them by facts and figures that it was necessary for them to put their handd in their pockets for it.

Mr M'Millan, in responding, said th&fi he was flattered by the reception the toasn had met with. He admitted that i£ it haq nofcbeen for the action of the Provincial Council it was doubtful if they would have! had water-races to the extent that, they now had them. In the flrat instance* the initiative expense, whereby they| had gained experience, had been borne by the Provincial Council., He alluded to the fact that portions of tha supply would be available for irrigation* and though he did not anticipate that they would go in largely for irrigation at present, still, as experience was gained, and the water was available, the' County Council would offer facilities. He thought that, judging by the way in which tha settlers were now in the habit of nibbling* at the races for water, there would be no difficulty in the course of time in inducing them to try irrigation as a permanent means of improving their properties. They had 122,000 acres in the district, andthey, had borrowed the sum of £10,300, which included the cost of the Eowai dam. That represented their whole liability in connec* tion with water races. The present raca' had cost J 27923 Ids dd, and there were only! a few small items left, which would not make it cost more than £BOOO. This wat covered by a rate of Is B£d per acre. The 1 interest on £10,300 at 5 per cent was £515, ; or Id per acre, the supervision and maintenance, estimated at £9OO, would cost IJdJ par acre, involving a cost of 2fd per acre for the interest and mainte-i nance of the double , service. When! the farmers began to use the water foe irrigation it would be interesting to watch' which water was the more fertilising of’ the two, the snovr water or that from thaf rain river. He bad spoken with Mr Sj, Bealey on the subject, and that gentleman was confident that the snow water would! be the most beneficial, being charged with; so much debris from the mountains, citing the Eaiapoi Island as a proof of this*' Personally he was of opinion that the other, water would be the better, judging from tha growth of weeds along the water-races. Where the races were fed by snow water; from the Kakaia they had very little diffir culty in keeping the weeds down, but in* some of the races from the Eowai theweeda grew very rank. After testifying to the valuable services of the Council’s officers,! Mr M'Millan declared the Malvern auxiliary water-race open. The toast of "The Visitors," which was responded to by Mr W.C. Walker; Chairman of the Ashburton County Council,] having been honoured, the terminated; and the party, after driving down to Dean’s Cully to inspect the lower end of the new race, embarked at Eacecourae Hill on tha return train for Christ-; church. All the visitors expressed them- 1 selves highly gratified with the* day’s outing.