MINISTER’S REGRET AT LOSS OF LARGE RIVERSIDE ORCHARD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27025, 9 March 1949, Page 4

MINISTER’S REGRET AT LOSS OF LARGE RIVERSIDE ORCHARD

The selection of the outlet of the gorge as the site for the Roxburgh power station will result in 45 acres of orchard being destroyed. “ Riverside,” which is the property of Mr Frank Tamblyn, is regarded as one of the best orchards in Otago, and more than 20,000 cases of fruit are sent off the property each year. It produces probably the best apricots grown in New Zealand. When the Minister of Works, Mr Semple, told Mr Tamblyn of the decision reached, he expressed deep regret that the orchard would be destroyed by the power scheme. He stated that he did not like destroying anything, and that he regarded the loss of the orchard not only as a personal one to the owner, but as a national one. His engineers had said that the lower site was the logical one for tjie dam, and the project was one of such vast national importance that all other considerations had to be put aside.

Mr Tamblyn told the Daily Times yesterday that he had to accept the inevitable, even though it was a bitter blow to lose the orchard he had spent almost a lifetime in bringing to such a standard. The orchard was nearly 50 years old, and had an unsurpassed irrigation scheme fed by a dam and pipelines he had built himself. The name of Tamblyn has been to the fore in fruit-growing since the industry was introduced into the Teviot district. Mr Tamblyn’s grandfather, Mr John Tamblyn, was one of the earliest orchardists in the Roxburgh district. Mr John Tamblyn’s brother, Mr Joseph Tamblyn, had planted the first apricot trees in the district on a hillside near Coal Creek. Ever since the sixties, Tamblyns havg been growing fruit in the Roxburgh area, and “ Riverside ” is one of their finest properties