KAWARAU DAM

Southland Times, Issue 20206, 17 June 1927, Page 7

KAWARAU DAM

THE SECOND CLOSING. PROSPECTS VERY BRIGHT. LEVELS MUCH LOWER THAN LAST YEAR. (Per United Press Association.) Dunedin, June 16. Slowly yet steadily the Kawarau is falling though the absence of comparative data at various points makes it impossible to record the average fall. At Cromwell at 9 o’clock this morning a fall of 2ft. Bins. in 24 hours was recorded while there was a fall of only Ift. in the same period last August. A heavy fall of from 9ft. to 16ft. has taken place at the Development Company’s dam and the river there is at a lower level than any period last year. Further up, the river’s fall varies but in most places it can be safely said that the fall in the first day. is greater than last year. At Roaring Meg, the Kawarau has dropped 7ft. 6in. or 6in. below the maximum fall recorded three days after the closing last year. One reading on the flat claims immediately below the Development Company’s dam records a fall of 18in. below last year’s level. A heavy icy fog fell on Cromwell during the night and the weather to-day is freezing although the sun is breaking through at times. Heavy frosts were experienced over night up the river. There is little snow on the mountains at the head of the tributary streams and with a continuance of hard frosts, the Kawarau should fall steadily. Drainage is slow at places and discrepancies in the fall along the whole course prove that the bars from rock and silt abutments and slips are holding back the water but there is little doubt that the level will be lower than last year’s. Probably days will elapse before the maximum low level will be reached. Discrepancies in the falls are puzzling, particularly as the drop at Cromwell has been so pronounced. No work is yet possible on the river and one company does not propose making a start on mining till seven days have passed. Several miners in the Natural Bridge Company prospected in a promising crevice last year and collected about £4 worth of gold this morning. The lessening of the fall makes it imperative that bars of rock and silt across the river be blasted away at the earliest date. Down the course of the river is a series of ponds and the low level will not be possible until the blasting is carried out to give the waters free drainage. The level at Cromwell has fallen only three inches in five hours. Blasting is said to be the duty of the parent company. In blasting tons of slips now blocking the river there is a grave danger of causing the hillsides to slip down into the river channel.