COMPLETE SUCCESS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 17130, 4 September 1926, Page 6

COMPLETE SUCCESS

THE KAWARAU DAM CONFERENCE OF COMPANIES AMALGAMATION PROPOSED (Per Press Association.) DUNEUIN, this day. At a meeting of directors of the Kawarau Company, and a committee representing t lit- general body of claimholders, a "suggestion that it would be in Ibe interests of all if an amalgamation of all the companies and interests concerned could bo brought about was favorably considered, and a committee represent in-' both parties was set up to consider tin? details of such a scheme. The feeling was that the undertaking would then be on a more sound foundation to carry out the necessary works to ensure the success of the scheme. The meeting agreed that the dam was a complete success; that it bad performed the functions for which it was designed and constructed : and. that the volume of water at, present passing down the- Kawarau was due to the melting of the snows, and the consequent freshes om the Shotover. Arrow and Nevis river watersheds.

CLAIM-HOLDERS DISAPPOINTED

PROBLEMS NOT YET SOLVED

CROMWELL, Tuesday

The cold facts of the Kawarau scheme have to be faced, however distasteful it may be to have to give them to the public' At 8.30 o'clock this morning the water in the river' Cromwell bad dropped oft. At 6 o'clock this evening it iiad dropped only an inch or two mora. Again an eager body of treasurehunters made their way to the various claims iu the gorge. The river had dropped sufficiently to enable them to fossick alonn; the sides of the banks, and in some instances encouraging prospects were obtained. -The river had fallen a foot or two below the depth registered last year during the winter period when it was below any depth recorded during the past 25 years, but there was still_a great volume of water racing through the gorge. 'the result was that the claim. holders had to confine their attentions to fossicking on the, banks. The Kawarau scheme to lay the bed of (he river nearly bare has so far not been successful,' ami it seems hardly possible that the prospects can now bo improved. SOURCE OF WATER IN GORGE. _ The optimism with which many of the people in the. locality regarded the project is no doubt praiseworthy, but they candidly admit now that- they are disappointed. After the river has been given over 30 hours to clear itself in the Sorgo a great volume of water is still coursing along, and the claim-holders have no chance of getting anywhere near the bed. How deep the river may bo iu the gorge can onry be. estimated in tiki narrower parts. ' There can be no doubt it is many feet deep.

The position'really is that the prospectors may be able'to fossick along the banks of the gorge for goal, but they have no chance of getting" into those parts of the river which they had eagerly anticipated would be bared to them. A common question among the claimholders on the banks to-day was: 'Where was the water coining from? This question is so far unanswerable. Some suggest, that there is it seepage from Lake Wakatipu in the vicinity of the dtwn. Others say that the Shotover is solely to blamei for the volume of water in the Kawarau, 'The experts say that there can be little seepage from the lake and that- the Shotover river is primarily responsible for the fact thai the Kawarau is still carrying a- great volume of water to the Molyneaux. QUESTION REGARDING THE SHOTOVER. Whether the claim-holders are prepared to consider the cost 'of also damming the Shotover river cannot. of course, be ascertained at the present moment, but there is no question that from the condition of the rivet to-.-irght the damming scheme has not proved .successful.

Many of tin; claim-holders in the gorge make no secret of their disappointment. Fortunately, most of them took the precaution of restricting their expenditure and adopted the "wait and see" policy, and they will not, t'heicfoiT, be faced with any severe exoenditure The holders of many of the. claims have also made the disconcerting discovery that- the banks dropped sheer down into the hidden depths, thus preventing their doing any- ! thing until <i..,;>rentor area of level river I bottom can be disclosed. | The whole story of' the claim-holders in the gorge is summed up in the quosHon : Where is the water coming from? Until that question can be answered, and a remedy provided to lower the .waters, the Kawarau scheme, so far as 'the is concerned, cannot be dectn!od a success. Of course, the scheme. is in its initial stages and. measures may yet be discovered to reduce the flow of water in the gorge.—Auckland Herald.