USE OF WATER-POWER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14150, 27 August 1909, Page 6

USE OF WATER-POWER.

A WEST COAST PROPOSAL. IMPETUS TO MINING. [BY telegraph.—own correspondent.] Wellington, Thursday. A settlement has been arrived at between the syndicate, which desires to lease the water-power rights on the Toarahoa River and the Mines Department. The syndicate at a recent deputation made a strong objection, among other things, to that part of the regulations which required them to put down a deposit of £500, and the Minister (Hon. R. McKenzie) urged in reply that the deposit was merely the usual proof of bona fides required in dealings with the Crown. The syndicate has now paid the deposit, and the terms of the license are being drafted by the Crown Law Office. The syndicate, which has a capital of something like £150,000, proposes to develop 19,000-horse power, chiefly for the purpose of pumping water from the Hokitika River on to the Rimu Terraces, to be used for hydraulic sluicing purposes. Some 300 heads of water will be obtained, and by that means it will be possible to raise the water to a much higher level of the auriferous terraces than could be done previously by the old process of gravitation. If the project is carried out successfully it will, in the opinion of the Minister for Mines, provide a great impetus to gold mining in that part of the West Coast.