THE LEE STREAM WATER RACE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12472, 1 October 1902, Page 6

THE LEE STREAM WATER RACE.

TO THE EDITOfe.

Sm, —I c(o not wish vo enrer unto the merits of the various schemes in. connection with water powsr required for the electrio trams. One of my reasons for writing at present is to discuss the question of cost of cutting the Lee Stream race, x'i is somewhat strange that, with so many men on. the council probably directly or indirectly connected with mining, there is> not among them gome practical man cz-pabfe o* 1 dealing with such a question as this, ijor many years I lived on the goldfields, both in Otago and on the West Coast,.and,.with this experience, it appears to me there should be no difficulty in arriving at a veiy close approximate of the probable cost of- a, water race, no matter wtiat may be the dimensions or class of country through which it has to be taken. Although I- do not desire to raise any difficulty between the two engineers (neither o4 whom w pet" eonally known to me), I would like to refer to two points raised 1 by Mr Anderson. The first m tlie question of Wasting. This, ho asserts, should -hot be done, _ as it would shake the country too much. 'Theoretically he may be right, but as a matter of practicand fact it is always done, and the shakes become eilted and watertight in a, very short time. The -second point is the tail that should he given. That proposed by .Mr Rogers, I understand, is 6ft or 7fb per mil*. This, Mr" Anderson asserts, \vould cause "soour" and endanger the race. This, also is theoretically, by apparently competent authorities, correct, but in practice; ie, wrong, and more especially so in country suoh as thau along the Lee Stream. As a.n instance ol this, I would refer you. to the Mount Ida waterworks, where the race, with a carrying capacity of 40 Government heads, has a fall of 7ft per mile, and tha* through country varying from loose gravelly wash to hard schist and granite; and under these conditions the scour is practically nil. When I mention also .that the work was carried out by more than 20 different contractors and sub-contractors, and by all BOTfo of men. it will be understood that the points raised by Mr Anderson were fully tested, and the result is a race which has stood the test of 20 years. This leads me to one of the principal objects I 'had in writing, and that is to endorse the opinion, expressed by Or Gore that Mr Browne; C.E., of Naseby, who carried out the Government Mount Ida water race scheme from start to finish, is the most competent man I know to give a reliable report on the water raee and reservoir portion of the Lee Stream works. I would therefore strongly urge that he be requested' to go over the lino of race and submit an opinion on the proposals of Mr Rogers, or, if necessary, ah alternative one; and also to prepare an estimate of cost on the lino as now surveyed. I am satisfied that the' resuii would set at rest the unsettled minds ci our city fathers, aSd of this also I am per-fectly-certain-: that, judging from the cost of the Mount Ida water race, the estimate would be under that mentioned by Mr Rogers.—l am, etc., Maniototo.