CENTRAL OTAGO

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18562, 24 May 1922, Page 2

CENTRAL OTAGO

IRRIGATION AND PRODUCTION. VISIT BY DUNEDIN CITIZENS. There are 600.000 acres of land in Central Otago that will not carry a sheep to 10 acres. There are isolated parts which, it is no exaggeration to say, will carry 10 sheep to one acre.—Mr dames Ritchie, chairman ot the Vincent County Council. The party of citizens from Dunedin, who left town on Saturday morning on a weekend visit' to the Upper Clutha district proceeded next day from Cromwell to Lake Wanaka. being driven through the Cromwell flats to Mount Pisa and thence past Luggate and on through Hawea Flat to the shores of Lake Hawea and, via AJberttown, to Pembroke, where, after dinner, they took launch to Glendhu Bay and back. Returning from Pembroke on Monday, they' drove through the Mount Barker district and. crossing the Clutha by the Luggate bridge, took the road at the foot of the hills past Rocky Point and through Tarras with the object of visiting the Ardgour settlement. The Lindis River was, however, running too full to admit of the oars crossing it, and the party had consequently to turn back and, after lunch at Tarras, approach the settlement by the other avenue of approach. Later in the day, a visit was made to the Ripponvale orchards and to the confluence of the Roaring Meg stream with the Kawarau. Some of the visitors from Dunedin had not previously hod the opportunity of personally observing the remarkable effects of the application, of water to the soil of ‘Central Otago. ' They are not acquainted with Ida Valley, where the value of irrigation is being powerfully illustrated at the present time, and this was their first visit to the Upper Clutha. They had not to go far out of Cromwell for a demonstration of the striking—it might almost be described as magical—effect of the introduction of water upon what to the outward, unseeing eye might be regarded as barren soil. For the spectacle was presented to them oil the Cromwell flats over and over again, of cultivated orchards, with row upon row of well-grown, healthy fruit trees, planted with that regard for symmetry and order which produces the best effect, divided only by wire fences from land of identically the same quality where there is no cultivation whatever. The contrast is remarkable, but the explanation is simple. The cultivated' land is watered, probably through the “change of purpose” of a right originally granted to a miner; the land which is bare and uncultivated Has not had any water brought upon it. And examples of this kind are provided at frequent intervals as the cars speed through the Clutha ValTey. Fields of which the rich, light soil has been exposed by the plough; stubbley fields the crop of which is represented by stacks, of a_ number rind size that spell favourable yields; fields green with wheat and oats of autumn sowing; fields of luscious lucerne, of which' there will be certainly three or four, perhaps even five, crops in the year;—lhesc are evidences such as are offered in the Upper Clutha of the value of irrigation where it has been applied as the result of private enterprise and the expenditure of private funds. Irrigation means _ that the-district can grow fruit—apples in particular—of a quality that is not surpassed by the produce of any other fruit-growing district in New Zealand It means that it can grow cereal props that will challenge comparison with the crops grown anywhere else. It means that the cultivation of lucerne can be, and is being, vigorously undertaken. The successful cultivation of lucerne affords promise of developments in the direction of dairying that were not dreamt of a few years ago—even after .it became evident that Central Otago must depend upon some industry other than goldrmining for the sources of its permanent wealth. And the cultivation of lucerne is already restoring to Central Otago a capacity for sheepcarrying' _of which the depredations of .. ' *oW3t . had deprived it. The visitors*’ 1 from Dunedin did not during the week-end see large numbers of rabbits. But they heard of them. The Mount Pisa Estate (147,000 acres), which is held by the Government for subdivision among returned soldiers, possesses certain notoriety for the harbourage it affords to rabbits. It was boasted by the Minister of Lands some months ago that the Government intended to furnish on Mount Pisa a demonstration of the way in which the rabbit pest might be suppressed. Well, there is reliable authority for the statement that within four months as many as 400,000 rabbits have been killed on the Mount Pisa Estate. These figures testify sufficiently to the zeal with which the campaign against the rabbits on the property is being prosecuted. But it is also asserted by. people who are not regarded as usually • guilty of exaggeration that there are more rabbits on Mount Pisa now than there ever were;—in which case the Gov“demonstration” goes to suggest that it will not be until the estate is subdivided that the pest will be attacked with reasonable chances of its being driven back to the mountain fastnesses.

It seems desirable, however, to quote actual examples cf the results that have been achieved in necessarily isolated cases through the irrigation of the land. From one station at Tarras, from a 5000-acre block of irrigated land, 3500 fat sheep have this year,been sent to the freezing works. Prior to its being irrigated, this land had not' produced a single truck of fat sheep. This is the first year in which the block has been brought under irrigation. The fact is one that speaks for itself. It may be added that the sheep, after being driven to the railhead at Cromwell, had to ibo trucked to the freezing works art Pareora,. because of the risk of deterioration that would have attended their consignment to works closet; at hand, where preference is given to sheep that are not handled on the owner’s account. On a small-scale the experience of a settler at Ardgour is instructive. He has been able to secure a trickle of water sufficient to irrigate one paddock of four acres. This has enabled him to grow a pasture of mixed grasses on which four cows and a bull are fed. As one cow is regarded as equal to 10 sheep, this implies a capacity of more than JO sheep to the acre. The scheme of irrigation of the Ardgopr settlement from the Lindis is expected to become an accomplished, fact in the forthcoming spring, and, / with the examples they have before them of the satisfactory results of the application of water to land in the settlement, those who occupy holdings are full of heart in their undertakings, and are looking forward to the future . with a great deal of confidence. A settler at • Caimmiur, the holder of 140 acres, which a few years ago did not carry a sheep, was enterprising enough to introduce water from the Bannockburn Creek. The cost was very heavy—the exact amount need not be stated, but it is expressed in four figures—hut it was a first-rate investment, for upon those 140 acres, sown in lucerne, 3000 sheep are being wintered. The proofs of what has been accomplished bv irrigation are highly impressive, and they are doubly impressive by reason of the promise they hold for the successful development—the permanently successful development—of Central Otago when the benefits of irrigation have been systematically extended throughout' the district. It is estimated that there are 370,000 irrigable acres of land in the district which are not irrigated. It is not frqm the lack of water that they are not irrigated.. Great quantities of water are running to waste in Central Otago to-day. The problem is one of water conservation as well ns of irrigation. It is a problem that is complicated by the fact that there are divers claimants to the water. An application by a settler for a water-right is almost certain to be met with objections from three separate and distinct State Departments. The Public Works Department will object because it is the State authority which is entrusted with duties andpowers in respect of irrigation; the Lands Department will object on the ground that the water belongs to the land through which it passes; and the Mines Department will object on behalf of the miners whose supposed rights it is its duty to protect. This would seem to point to the desirability of a co-ordination of authority in the exercise 'of which the legitimate claims of settlers to water for the irrigation of their lands will be recognised. The importance of irrigation to the whole community is unquestionable. It is illustrated by the statement at the head of this article —a statement publicly made by a

public man who knows what he is talking about—and by concrete examples of successful results, a few of which have alone been indicated. It is not fantastic to say that, through the joint agency of irrigation and the cultivation of lucerne, _ there are scores of thousands of acres in Central Otago that will carry 10 sheep to the acre. The thing is now being done. Yet there was a freak politician who. a few years ago, after a scamper through “Central,” described it as a country that carried one grasshopper to the acre! It is hoped that the Government may be induced to undertake a scheme for the irrigation of the Cromwell flats brr water drawn from the Roaring Meg. The suggestion is that water from this source should 'be taken at a noint 2000 foot above the bridge at the Sawarau Gorge, and then carried by gravitation over the Meg Hill to the flats. The flow of the Roaring Meg ranges from a measurel minimum of 29 heads up to about 100 heads, and it is calculated that by the construction of a dam for the conservation of the water a regular supply of 50 heads could be secured all the year round. The estimated cost of this scheme is from £20,000 to £23,000. This project would be in substitution for, or supplementary to, such susppfy as may be obtained by" the Cromwell Development Company from the Kawarau .River under the revised scheme which it is proposed to test. Among the properties that would participate in the benefits of the Roaring Meg scheme is that portion of the Ripponvale orchard land which is not yet irrigated. Twenty-eight sections in this property have now been sold, and there are eighteen resident _ settlers, some of whom are already meeting with a gratifying measure of success. The area of the sections varies from 14 to 20 acres, and in each of them 10 acres have been panted with apple trees. Altogether, about 40,000 fruit trees have been planted on Bipponvale. As a practical apple-grower reckons the product of each tree as not less than 25s per annum, the value of the industry represented by the Ripponvale orchards may be readijy assessed. An extension of the orchards is contemplated as soon as the irrigation of the whole property is practicable. In the meantime, however, the industry has Oeen well-established and a successful future seems to be assured for it. As the original owner of part of the property is credited with having taken nearly 30 successive cereal crops off it, the quality of the soil may well be regarded ! as unexceptionable. To the industries with which the name of Central Otago has been associated in the past is now being' added that Of dairying. It is an industry ■ that is clearly dependent upon the successful irrigiation of the land, but the short experience which the district has had of it has been so’ encouraging that an extensive development of it is, far from unlikely. A co-operative dairying company is In existence which has its factory situated near Cromwell in premises that have had <s a somewhat chequered existence. Originally these premises, erected outside Cromwell on a site which overlooks the remains of the once famous Hartley and Riley dredge, covered a brewery. Subsequently they , were converted into a canning factory. Now they house what is described as an up-to-date butter factory. It was late in the season before. th& factory was opened last year for the first time. It was hoped that it would be opened in September, but it was not until November that it was ready to begin operations. During the season 50 tons of butter were handled, and the quality of the product is indicated by the fact that the first shipment of 128 boxes which were sent* Home realised 142 s, _ while, on a rising market, the second shipment realised 178 s. /The traditional hospitality of Central Otago was extended to the small party of visitors from Dunedin. Cars were provided for their use by Messrs D. C. Jolly (Mayor of Cromwell), G. Moodie (Lowburn), D. S. Middleton (Nqrthburn), and G. S. Paterson (Mount Pisa), each of whom drove his own oar, and this enabled the party to see a large expanse of country at a small expenditure of time. It was a raw, foggy morning when they left Cromwell on their tour of the Clutha Valley, and morning tea was not provided for in the programme, but exceedingly ‘ ‘grateful and comforting” was that supplied, with a lavish accompaniment of home-made delicacies, by Mrs Paterson at Mount Pisa homstead, which the party visited primarily for the purpose of inspecting the belts of shelter trees; and on Monday afternoon they were regaled at Northburn Station with a delicious and most acceptable tea, for which they were indebted to Mrs D. S. Middleton. Cold at night, the weather was bright and warm during the day, and it may be added that, after seeing Lake Hawea at close quarters and under favourable conditions, the visitors from town enjoyed, from the launch on Lake Wanaka. a perfect view of Mount Aspiring and of, beneath it, the Rob Roy glacier, ’which glistened like a gem under the rays of the setting sun.