THE WAIMAKARIRI-ASHLEY WATER SUPPLY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CIX, Issue 13121, 8 May 1903, Page 7

THE WAIMAKARIRI-ASHLEY WATER SUPPLY.

TO THE ZDITOB. Sir, —I see in- your issue of Wednesday last the report of the Brown's Rock headworks, as presented to the annual meeting ' of ratepayers at Cust, attended by four ratepayers and three members of tho Board, if you will permit me, I should liko to review some of the statements in that report. The report begins by atating that "the river 'has shown a strong tendency since Januarv, 1902, to leave the intake at Brown's Rock." This, I submit, is incorrect. I have sat on the Board for the last three vears, • and, taking a great interest in the" scheme, have frequently visited Brown's Rock, and I distinctly affirm that .during that time the river has run-practi-cally uniformly at this point, stream at some eight or -ten chains distant ■ from and parallel to Brown's Rock, the intake being fed by two or more streams, which left the main stream at different distances up the river. The whole strength of the intake, to my mind, existed m the fact that, immediately at Brown 3 Rock, the river ran through a deep, narrow channel, tb° .bottom'of which was many feet below the main stream, thus acting during the recedih" of floods as a draw or point of attraction for the liver. During the winter and spring of last year the river was abnormally low, but'l submit that it did pot change its usual course at Brown's Bock.

"It is very evident that the late engineer, jaw trouble, or he would not have proposed.his alternative intake in May, 1902." Of course the late engineer saw trouble. He has for j-ears advised the Board to consider some means by which the supply could be made mora certain. Ultimately be -was instructed to take what steps he could to achieve this result, and proposed to put in an alternative intake, some short Distance below the present intake, which e said would give us an additional two jeet of water. The inoncjs£o pay for this .was lying in the bank, and the ratepayers would not have had to put their hands in Iheir pockets for a single penny. When this proposal was first discussed, our present Chairman opposed it, combating the Mutineer's opinion that it would give the additional two feet of water. Shortly after fhis, our late Chairman, who was much In favour of the scheme, was, through the Jraotious opposition of a member of the Board, constrained to leave the Board. The present Chairman, when the subject Jiexfc came up for discussion, was as much In favour of it as he had before been »gainsb it. "Take the quickest steps pos-. Bible to get the tenders in," was his order to the engineer. Well, the tenders came in, and one was accepted conditionally. :Duringi negotiations with the tenderer, the Chairman again changed his mind, opposed the proposal, with the result that the fchemo was hung up till the winter, and on account of actions which have since been taken is now impossible. As to the remarks about the river having washed away Mr Brown's land, after it was bought, twenty-three years ago, and that it has now repented of its action, and is about to restore that land to Mr Brown, will you permit me to use the word twaddle?

The Chairrnan says, further, in. the report:—" On Sept. 11 -was up at the intake, and! found only 10£ inches of water on the eill,' and only a small stream, 20ft by Ift, going past the 'Brown's Rock intake." This is one of the most extraordinary statements I have ever seen in print.. How is it possible that, given the bottom of the river at the, intake is very deep and/ with only lft of water running over, that bottom, ihere should be on the sill? On Tuesday, Sept. 2, at Rangiora, it was derided by three members of the Board to Jrat in a dam of 'bags of swingle below the intake. This momentous decision was arrived ait by three members cf the Board, at the weekly Rangiora market. A fourth member was in the township on that day, but was not consulted, and the Boardi was ,to meet on the Thursday. Ignoring the .responsibility of the Engineet, the Clerk Vas instructed by the Chairman to proceed to Brown's Bock, with men and sacks, to try and dam the stream. On the Thursday, the Board met at Oxford; the »t'her two members of the Board were informed of what action had been taken, and at once expressed disapproval. The Board then adjourned, and! proceeded! to Brown's Rock to see what had taken place. There we found men trying to stem a hu«e volume pf water with little bags of shingle. Three of' the meffiibers expressed approval, two giving it as their opinion that the dam was, and would be, an absolute failure, as regards tr.e intention of those "who advocated its erection. On this Thursday night the long-expected' fresh came-down, carried away.most the dam, broke through the end of the dam furthest from ■Brown's Rock, and widened the channel at lea*t a chain. Through October (vide rebort) the water waa 2ft 2in on the intake ; this is attributed to the dam. How, can'this he, when the flood of September carried it away, and November- was spent In "mending it up?'' ' The head-race has always leaked, sometimes more, sometimes less; the leakage varies according to the clearness or otherwise of the water in it. The reason it leaked to the extent it did in October and November was on account of its having been dry for so lorg. Through the unprecedented lowness of the river, the silt on the sides and bottom had become friable, and was carried forward by the water, instead of as, -when held in solution Iby the waiter, entering the leaks and helping to reduce them. The Chairman has put himself to great expense in widening fourteen chains of the moit leaky part of the headrace, Imt he must not forret that he did lb entirely on; his own initiative, cot conmlting the Bcfard in the matter, and that, while this lengthy work was going on,-the rest of the, leaky part of the head-race, about one mile audi a half, was repaired by hand, and is, for all practical purposes, as efficient to-day as the -widened fourteen chains. What the district should ask is: If, during the tintfe occupied in widening!the fourteen chains, there was sufficient water on the gales to water the district? If so, would not a long time iiave'been saved hy repairing by hand? The report says that the Chairman has 'done "' over aga ; n " what the late Engineer reported on April 29, 1899 (four years ago), as having 'been satisfactorily- completed. This again is misleading. Surely he does not claim that the stopping cf leaks todav will ensure their safety for four years, or "does he infer that the Engineer leporteil inaccurately? Them we come to the mat'ter of cleaning out the ro.ee (after slips) •with scoops. I must congratulate the Chairman on the fact that this has turned out admirably, but he must excuse me if I point out that it was a imost dangerous experiment. Mr Laing •Mcason, in his report, gives a most guarded answer to the question as to 'whether it is advisable to do so. It is perhaps true that hundreds of pounds might have teen saved had that method been adopted, instead of doing the work by hand, ir the spoil bank had al•wavs been'in the same state of solidity as it i"s now, tout that it would have answered ■when the spoil 'bank was newly thrown out 'I verv much doubt. The report finishes with the doleful statement that "the river is working itself away furthcr every day." This again is incorrect It may be receding from Brown s ftock, but not of its own yweet will. The rystem of dams, instituted by the Cnair- ■ iian, has, as was pointed out to him at the Jrsfc would 'be the case, driven tns river"way. The deep channel which existed it Brown's Rock, and which, as 1 say *bove, acted as a point of attraction to the river, has 'been filled with thousands of tons of shingle, and the river is forced to eeek a new outlet. In that it is able to find one exists the menace to the ratepayers Should the Waimakaa-ixi, m its enormous strength, find this new outlet the ratepavers will be compelled to imcl £6OOO or. more, and go to the Gor>3Bnuge for a new intake. But, shoula%iey see fit to procure the strongest iron chain, and •with it securely fasten Mr Dixon to his own study chair,, thus allowing the _ \Varmakariri to resuine its sway, I think it will undoubtedly come back to Brown's Uoik. —I am, etc., T. 'H. LANCE, 'Alsari'ber Waimakariri-Ashley JYater Supply Board..