CANTERBURY LANDS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 18116, 5 June 1919, Page 5

CANTERBURY LANDS.

MAY BE MADE MUCH MORE PRODUCTIVE. SCHEME FOR SILTING AND IRRIGATION. A paper on silting and irrigation of lands in Canterbury was read by Mi D. L. Freeman at the monthly meeting of the Canterbury Pkiiosopnical Institute last night. lie said that there were great tracts of land adjoining Canterbury rivers which could be uxaue to yield more profitable returns and carry an increased numoep bi cultivators, if properly controlled iu regard to tfie sni orougut jdowu by tlieir waters and to tue water that went unuul.sed seawards. A mouutamous piieqoi vaiuaoie sdt that wouid considerably enhance the value of great areas auu afford a bettei medium oi crop production that tut present one, was beiug washed annually into the sea and lost to the province. If the fugitive wealth was. arrested it might result in a valuable mantle of agr,cultural land, replacing present unproductive areas and converting Canterbury into a more productive and more valuable province, with . more people and more stock on its surface Canterbury needed the silt that, was bejng washed to the sea, and, in certain areas in particular, it needed the water also. The Waimukariri was at times as thick as souft—made thi silt. The water might be deprived of the fertility it carried and then be liberated. If a person obtained an idea by calculation of the approximate quantity of exceedingly valuable silt .which was annually x being carried down dm rivey 1° the sea, and which might be evenly distributed over tho plain land through which it passed, he would ■ be amazed. If the silt was distributed over the land tlie result' might be a good depth of agricultural land that would be a permanent asset'to the province. The replacing of unproductive lands by a bed of cultivable land might be brought about by leading oho silt-laden water of the rivers on to the land, allowing it to deposit its sediment and afterwards liberating it. An engineering scheme was necessary to the success of that proposal, and the aid of engineers would h to be obtamed. It was < a matter of taking levels and arranging for the diversion of the river waters by means of canals, channels and waterraising plants. Tho diversion of the water on the areas desired to be silted and irrigated should not be yery difficult. The water - could be conducted along channels possessing tributaries, led on to the embanked areas to bo treated and freed after it had beendeprived of its valuable treasure. Individual fanners desirous of either silting or irrigating could take the work in hand by erecting suitable waterraising embankments a foot deep or more around the areas to be treated. Cultivators might practice a system ■ 1 silting and irrigation combined. It was certain t/Vs* on land treated as suggested, dairy Aiming, market farming, and fruit growing could be successfully carried on. That would result in closer settlement. It was within the; bounds of possibility.' by means of silting, to rajse the lands on the sides of the Waimsknriri and prevent the inundation of Christchurch.

Mr It, Speight said thnt Mr Freeman's suggestion t»> silt lin river-beds and cover them with valuable silt was bv no means a sti;etcli of imagination. T'm paper was a vcvv interesting con-t’-ibntien to the agricultural history of Canterbury.

A vote of thanks was passed to M Freeman.