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RAKAIA AND ASHBURTON PLAINS WATER SUPPLY.

' The adjourned itieetlng'df ratepayers and Others interested in the water" soheihe'.f or these Plains, was' held at the Town HaU, South' Bakaia, yesterday afternoon. There VraS a good attendance, about 260 persons being present. On the motion of Mr Passmore, Mr W. 0. Walker was voted lo the chair.

.THe Chairman said that the meeting was held for the purpose of getting a further expression of opinion from the ratepayers on this matter of water supply. He had seen a report of a meeting hela at Rakaia last week in reference to the Water soheme, and it seemed to him that that meeting had come to

a very right conclusion. The necessary power, would, be granted by Parliament to the County Counoil to enable them to carry ifcWt by borrowing a sufficient sum of money for the purpose J and as long as the ratepayers were agreeable to sanction the* Counoil obtaining these powers, and to have 'the BiU brought before Parliament in a thorough manner there would be no difficulty. If they objected to tho scheme they must now state their objections in order that the Counoil may see whether suoh an important work as a supply of water should be carried out. At the present meeting it was necessary for a member of the County Council to state how the proposed works Bhould be carried out. Thiß had been fully done, and nothing now remained but to get a further expression of fcheir Opinion as to whether they should have a system of water supply in the manner indicated. ' Mr Wilkinson said he did not wish to speak sceptically on the question of the water service, but would like fco make a remark upon a » matter that Was not quite clear to him. It seemed to him that it was a necessity that the private supply pipe must be taken from the tanks instead of the main line of pipes.

. The Chairman said fchafc there could be nothing in the objection Bpoken of. It would be possible that .a private service could be obtained . for any plaoe . where fche main pipes ran. It was not necessary thai; any or all tbe members of the Council should be engineers to decide upon the matter. It had been maintained that he (the Chairman) did not know anything about the engineering work connected with this water supply. Messrs Thornton and Bull had stated, fchafc he (the Chairman) would not have liked it if they liad presumed to pass an opinion on the excellence or otherwise of his wool. (Laughter.) He would thank anyone present to state his views on the question of the proposed scheme. ,Mr E. G. Wright said he was glad to sco suoh a large number of people present. They ,were aware that those present had now to give their final opinion on the question generally. The amended soheme could be carried put for an annual rate of nofc more than 6d per acre. There was a sum of £60,000 required for the work, and a sum of £5000 for contingencies. There was an idea gaining ground that this soheme should be one that would embrace an irrigation scheme as well. The plan aB proposed by Messrs Thornton and Bull was certainly an open waterrace, but it waa not an irrigation scheme by any means. It was found impra< ticable fco carry out the plan of Messrs Thornton and Bull, owing to the fact thafc that work oould not be permanently effective unless carried oufc at an immense cost. The line of pipes as laid out on the map, was in .every way suitable to the wants of the district for. a number of years. Every farm would be supplied with water through the -pipe system, and if the open ohannel schemo were carried out, they would not get anything like the same satisfactory Bupply indiviaually, He would read a quotation from a report written by Lieutenant Monteith, who was an authority on irrigation sohemes jon a large scale. The irrigation in Southern Europe cost per acre— near Marseilles— £l 5s lOd per acre j in Yaucluse the rate charges were 4s 2d per acre for grass land, and 2s , lid.. per .acre for other crops; in the Carpentaria Canal irrigating 16,620 aores, the ,rate was 6b s_d per annum, the water being turned on once a week week during the summer months. The quantity varies in eaoh, district, but the amount allowed appears to be about 1000 galls per acre $ailyi' or a hundredfold on the proposed .supply for watering stock. The land irrigated, rises in value from 50 per cent upwards, being in some cases quadrupled in value. The Canal de Lille was carried out , by 1414 subscribers, 1095 owning less -Lh-__-L.a9«B, and 205. owning less than 5 acres each. . The.cost per aoro of the Marseilles 2s for the land within its reaoh., Itß difference . would be— Marseilles "£lO 2s per aore, Ashburton 8s per aore, or 4 per cent only. The cost of the publio alone at Marseilles for an . irrigation scheme was £10 7s per aore alone for the land. Then there was fche private service expenditure, which amounted to £17 or £18 per acre. Thus it would be seen that the cost of an irrigation soheme was most expensive, and could not be carried out here. The drawbacks of an open water-race were many. First it was necessary to purchase the land, in order to maintain fche right of a course for the water through fche different routes across fche plains. . Then there was the percolation and evaporation, the silting, and the pollution of the water .before ifcreaohed thelowerpartof the distriot. There would be a further expense, after the work was finished. Ifc would have to be cleared out every year, and perhaps the rates raised would be hardly more than sufficient to pay for the cost of keeping an open channel m repair. What was the expense of the scheme at 6d per acre, compared with the present expense incurred by some of the farmers On the plains ? One largo farmer told him that it hart already cost him 4s per aore to put his crop in. The merit of fche present modified scheme would compare favourably with any other. The distance would be 134 miles against 182 miles, the area 175,000 as against 240,000, and the cost £65,000 against £78,000 on the- former ■oheme. The coat per acre of the altered plan would be 6d per acre to provide 7 per cent for interest and sinking fund upon a sum J* £6p.°°o. The sum is arrived at by adding £5000 to the estimate for contingencies, deducting the £10,000 grant.

Mr M'llraith . What is the nearest limit of land to be exempted from the rate proposed to be levied P r r

The Chairman said that about a mile distanoe from the line of pipeß would be allowed to be taken out of the rating. Mr M'llraith said that he had seen it reported thafc oertain properties had be*n exempted from the rating by having their properties left out of the ratine district. If suoh was the oase he would ask' to have his property left out as well, as h_ eouid, not see that it was far better to allow, any to !7i „ S U * J-* 1 - 0 Parties were moluded m the boundaries, of the proposed distnot about to bo rated. (Cheers.) The Chairman said, that if every ratepayer asked to be left out of, the rating bo_n_arie 8 of the proposed district, it would be manifestly abjurd, and) improper to carry out a sojh^me.for, a.water supply. Mr. MMraith said that it would not cost E?-,?_JS I BUppfy his P ro P ert 7 ™th wator, and on. those i grounds he would ask to tyre his name struck oufc of the rating list. Afr Coster sa,4 Shafc the reason ofS-easr. Gould and Cameron's property being left out irasowmg^theu- not having tho L 5 through he,*. Property. Mr M'liraSh had the pipes.laid through his land, and. the- oobo was different.

ft£S }v 6qUal of water, scheme could nofc bfr cari . ifld out 2J , -«_M \ *" 'A large earthenware P»pe would not do ahl^ ib was filled with water to give pw* jore fo _ ,to . lofc of different brano^ pipes# A pe rßon wan ti ng water by a supply service could not go to any earthenware main to get any pressure, unless it was at such a place that its fall would be sufficient to take the water up to his house. AU knew that the plains were devoid of fall- in many directions, especially for enabling the private supply system to be carried out satisfactorily. He would say that there .was only 60,000 acres of land that required to hare a supply of water yearly. He would propose an iron pipe system. Mr White then went into a detailed account of the different cost, weight, and size of the different pipes, if an iron-pipe system was carried out. The total weight of pipes would be 827 tons of iron. The cost, of the first six miles of pipes laid oh the plains would be £2300. The seven miles of large main would be £10,000. He would propose to lay threj lines of pipes of different size instead of the large earthenware pipes„fchose to be 4, 8, and 2-mch in'diaineter^ Adding the three sizes together, for one mile the weight would beHSBJ tons: this, at £10. per, ton, would be £200 per mile for one pipeY^-tfttgether this

BOtuee would cost £400 per mile on the averaged There would be 60,000 acres of land supplied with 30 miles of main pipe, so' thafc each 10,000 aores of land would take five miles of piping. The quantity of water a 10-inch pipe would receive would be 1,799,444 gallons of water if the fall was lin 75. This would be nearly a million and three-quarter gallons of water per day, and 60,000 aores would take more than an eighth of thafc to supply it efficiently.' • A rate of 5d per acre would pay the interest on the sum required to carry out the work as proposed in this way. There were other means of raising tho funds for this work besides an acreage rate. There were small holdings, especially at Chertsey, thafc would have to pay towards the rate at a much higher figure than any acreage rate. He coidd not see but that the Government should contribute towards the supply. Ifc seemed absurd to him to suppose that a 4-inch earthenware pipe from the railway line to the beach would give a sufficient Bupply to those living below the line. The earthenware system was a very' wasteful way of giving a supply of water, as there could be no pressure. • The iron pipes could supply a good pressure at any time. Mr M'llraith asked if ifc was proposed to rate all people alike, or if those who had gone to the expense of making large concrete tanks would be rated at any less sum per annum ? He thought ifc only fair that this should be stated to the meeting. The Chairman said that by having a good supply of water, tho tanks would therefore be so much more valuable by having water to put in them.

Mr Gordon Holmes asked whether every owner of property would be rated according to the improvements on his property, or whether they would be rated if they used the water or not ?

The Chairman said that the Bill would shortly be made publio. It was now in the hands of the Council's legal advisers. Ifc was a difficult matter at all times to fix a rate thafc should be considered fair fco every ratepayer. Mr Mann said that he saw a great many present at this meeting who were nofc ratepayers, and who live on the beach, and consequently were outaide the boundaries of the proposed rateable district.

Mr Wright said he must make a few remarks upon what Mr White had said in reference to the iron pipeß. He for one would be only too glad to see the scheme carried out afc the price mentioned by Mr White. Ifc was extremely foolish to say that a supply could be obtained by having oylinders sunk in the river-bed of the Rakaia. The matter was of too grave a nature to this district to bo carried away by statements whioh were quite erroneous. If Mr White could Bustain his statement ob to the result of having a high pressure supply of water at the cost mentioned by him, he was sure the Counoil would only be too glad to get hiß services for the soheme proposed by him. If the scheme was submitted to a board of competent engineers, and the report was favourable, by all means let us have it, as it would be a considerable saving to the whole County. A high pressure system was, of course, the most preferable. Mr White wanted to bottle up the water at its source, hecauso he thought it would be required when the nor' -westers were blowing. (Laughter.) This was absurd, because the pressure on the pipes can be always relieved at any point in the line of pipes.

Mr White said he web sorry to see that Mr Wright laughed at the scheme proposed by him. There was surely no mistake in his figures. [Mr Wright : No, you have rather over-estimated it than otherwise.] (Laughter.) Mr White said he would rather drive a team of bullocks with a flax Bfcick than have earthenware pipeß for the Ashburton Plains water supply. (Cheors.)

Mr Passmore Baid that the County Council must have the credit of bringing tho matter before the ratepayers. If they wanted the water, let them help the County Council to have a proper scheme earned out. It was not their place now to oppose this scheme or any other Bchemo. Let Mr White bring forward his soheme before fche County Council in a proper manner, and they will no doubt give it, as well as any other, their earnest consideration. Ho quite agreed with the remark made by Mr Holmes. He would be sorry to see any one's pluck and energy destroyed by, having their property rated for improvements. There were instances — many of them— where land had been bought for purely speculative purposes. His neighbour had improved his land by erecting buildings, and had spent his life, his energy, and his .money on a property, which, in a manner, improved the speculator's land more or less. Ifc was certainly an injustice to rate a man for improvements. Let every man who had bought land for speculation, pay thereon taxes as the one who has improved his land. Acre per aore tax was the only fair way to rate Eroporty in the boundaries proposed to c rated. He would favour Mr White's scheme if ifc could be shown thafc ifc would be more economical and more serviceable. He. would, propose — " That this meeting pledges itself to support the County Council in the work of introducing an efficient supply of water on the Plains, and iB willing to paya special rate for fchafc purpose, the rate not to exceed 6d per acre, and the supply to be at least eight gallons per acre per diem."

.Mr Wilkinson said he agreed with the views expressed by Mr Passmore and Mr G. Holmes. Nothing could be fairer than an acreage rate. He would second the resolution.

; Mr Wright said that in order that a wrong impression may nofc go abroad regarding those living below the railway line, as to whether they would be liable to be rated, there would have to be a vote taken, and this would moet all the requirements of those who were disaffected. By that means it would be found ; oufc whether the rate was required or not. 1 Mr Costen said he could hardly understand the remarks mado by Mr Allen as to thoso living near Cher jf.ey. He had occasion to go in that distriot a short time ago, and coulc. not get enough water for his horso. F l6 oo'kmly got a drink for himself, but w -as told that a supply of water was very m- ach required, but they did not want to payfo, r it. (Laughter.) Mr Brown _aid that he was surprised to hear several, people make a general remark vii Traß nofc inten ded. H " for one should strongly affirm thafc idea, an d say that it wa& untrue. He knew for a fact that thor* were several of those who had spoken agarnst fche scheme that had no vote at all. Mr White aoid that only the, B o who wanted the water should bo oskf.d to pay for it. (Cheers.) r J Mr Mangham said thafc he- knew for a fact that a water supply was very muoh required. It had cost him more thß.n £20 a year to> carfc W u !_ t0 i hlB farm ' He w o u W question whether there was any one present who had a well that was able to supply water to a threshing machine during the summer. (Hisses.) He himself had a good supply of water, but would gladly avail himself of the opportunity to pay for a constant supply of 10 gallons of water per acre. He knewaevoral people on the Acton run who wanted water very badly, and wero in favour of the scheme; Mr Passmore said all he wished the resolution to convey was, whether a water schemo was wanted or nofc. The CouncU only wanted to know whether it was required or nofc. Parliament would meet next month, and unless ifc was brought forward early in the sesrion it would be no use, as ifc could hardly be, considered if late. There was no desire to pu sh tho scheme upon any ono, or to compel any one to pay, especially those living in the Ac. on district, if they did not want it. Do nob let one person prevent a supply of water being provided to his neighbour, because he objects simply on private grounds. (Hear, hear.) The Chairman here read a letter from Mr '1 . M. Hassal, approving of the scheme as prepared by fche County Counca for the supply of water for the Rakaia. and Ashburfcon Plains.

Mr Allen said he would propose an amendment, as he objected to the property on the Acton run being rated for such purpose, or any land being rated below the railway line. He would propose as an amendment— " That the Council do nofc extend the wator schemo below tho railway line from the Rakaia to Chertsey, as fche residents in that portion of the district have a plentiful supply of water for all requirements,'* " Mr Wright said he objeoted to the amendment, because it did nofc affect the questiem of the resolution. ; Let them put it' in a ' separate resolution altogether. The Ohairman said he could not put ifc.- as an amendment. Ho would put it ft 9 a separato resolution aftorwards. He would now > put; the resolution to fche meeting. On being put ifc was lost, the votes being 14 for ifc, and 28 against. „<.,: -, After some . confusion the meeting broke upafter cheering the Chairman, ... The resolution proposed by Mr Allen was

not put, as the meeting did not .wait. The proceedings then terminated. It should be mentioned that the bulk of those present were ratepayers living below the radway line, and were not inoluded in the rating boundary of the proposed district to be rated or supplied with water.

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS18790612.2.25

Bibliographic details

Star (Christchurch), Issue 3485, 12 June 1879, Page 4

Word Count
3,294

RAKAIA AND ASHBURTON PLAINS WATER SUPPLY. Star (Christchurch), Issue 3485, 12 June 1879, Page 4

RAKAIA AND ASHBURTON PLAINS WATER SUPPLY. Star (Christchurch), Issue 3485, 12 June 1879, Page 4

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