TAIERI-WAIPORI RIVERS COMMISSION.

Otago Witness, Issue 3280, 24 January 1917, Page 26

TAIERI-WAIPORI RIVERS COMMISSION.

DAMAGE TO LANDS BY FLOOD AND SILT. A commission, consisting of Messrs J. 13. Thompson, (chief drainage engineer), O, 11. Vickerman, ami Ashley Hunter, set up to inquire into—(a) the causes of the silt-ing-up and flooding of the Waipori and Taieri Rivers, (b) the best means of remedying samo, (c) the damage done to lands adjacent to said rivers, and (d) the allocation of costs of remedial measures, sat at Wuipiata on the 19th and 20th insts. J as. Howell gave evidence, m the course of which lie said the Maniototo County Council did a wrong thing by opening up a channel at the back of Waipiata township. Millions of tons of tailings were let down. He gave it as his opinion that the lighter silt went down the river. There was not much hope of stopping the Kyeburn tailings. Walter Mathewson endorsed Mr Howell's remarks. The river might take line silt. Taieri Lake was tilled up. If a weir were constructed it would fill up.. Ho objected to the erection of a dam. lie thought his crops would suffer. Thos. Anthony Douglas (managing Miss Paterson's farm) said the farm had suffered slightly from the Nascby tailings. He assessed his losses at £l2 a year. Silas Horc, fanner and storekeeper, stated that Waipiata township would have been flooded had the County Council not cut the channel. Alfred George Mathias, farmer, said it took two days for the flood water to come down from up-country, and that the Kyeburn floods were all over before the upcountry water got down. Ernest Carr, ' miner, Patearoa, said that for nine months out of the year the local farmers backed up the tail-water out of tho mines. The farmers would like the water for irrigation purposes, and the top dressing was making their land. They got good crops of lucerne and red clover as a result. The miners would not contribute towards auv remedial measures. George' Howell stated that he had been particularly affected by cloud-bursts, which seemed to strike him every time. They toolc thousands of tons of silt down the river. There were no objections to mining among farmers at Waipiata in any shape or form. On Saturday evidence was given by Wm. Henry Tregonnirig (farmer) and" William Dowlo (mail carrier). Mr Tregonning said his property was affected by every flood. Tailings and sand from the Naseby and Hamilton diggings affected him. Beforo the commission at Naseby on the 2nd Frederick Walter Inder, who had been mining for the last 20 years fit Naseby, said he got rid of his tailings by dumping one paddock intjo another. Ho thought the burning of the snow grass tussock was responsible for loosening tho soil. He considered the present mining caused a minimum amount of silting. From 80 to 100 people were actually employed at Naseby. He opined that tho miners would not contribute to the cost of any remedial measures under present circumstances. Moses Brown (mining at Naseby for 36 years) said when ho first, camo to the district there were about 20 Chinamen and 50 Europeans working on the river and the terraces. In 1883 most of the Chinamen had gone, and there were only six or seven Europeans left. They stacked their failings in a paddock. The burning of the snowgrass tussock had altered conditions very materially. Ho thought the willows in the Taieri River diverted the water out of its normal channel by creating a thick mat and blocking the water. Bernard George Brown and Nicholas Selwyn Reed (miners) corroborated this evidence. J as. Buchanan (manager Mount Ida Government water-race) said that 55 heads of water was the average consumption, independent of private races. His reservoirs stopped the flood water to a considerable extent. Alfred Edward Inder (Maniototo county engineer) said that in tho Mount Ida Ridin"- there were 36 claims, valued at £9014; in Ivveburn Riding, eight claims, valued at £5580; in Hyde Hiding, one small claim, valued at £24; in Puketoi Riding, four claims, valued at £5600; in Serpentine Riding, seven claims, valued at £2770. Charles James Inder (farmer, Main Gully, Naseby) said he got no compensation for damage done to his lands. Two races went through his property. The surplus water made dangerous traps for his stock. Part of his properly was a mining reserve. He would not prevent mining operations. Ho could not suggest any remedy regarding tailings Stopping mining would not prevent silt from coming down. Alex. B. Mann (chairman of tho County Council) said he had seen two big floods. He favoured the erection of stop-silt weirs in the absence of a better proposition. He thought the cost should be contributed to by tliose who benefited most, and as it was a national undertaking, it should in a measure be contributed to by the Mines Department. William Marslin (dredgemastor, Nobbier Creek, Kyeburn) said his experience of tho river was" that no silt came down except when the river was flush. In flood timo they stoprd 80 per cent, of the silt. Ho was trying to stop the silt trouble as much a-< possible. No heavy gravel was carried down. What went down was purely and simply slime. Tho commission will sit at Naseby again to (lay (Wednesday) at Henley on Thursday, and at Berwick on Friday.