IRRIGATION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6130, 17 March 1898, Page 4

IRRIGATION.

Action by the agricultural pi; and pastoral association. A special meeting of the committee of §*;the Agricultural and Pastoral Association -' -was held yesterday afternoon ; present — ; : . Messrs W. Eeece (chairman), J. Deans, T. : W. Adams, A. Chamberlain, G. Gould, It. Macdonald, F. C. Murray, E. G. Staveley, W. F. M. Buckley, S. Garforbh, Dr Levinge and Sir J. Hall. Apologies for absence were received from Messrs D. M'Millan, t H. P. Murray-Aynsley and G. E. Rhodes. The Chairman said that tho main objects of the meeting were to find out whether irrigation was generally desired, and, if so, how it was to be curried out. He felt that the Agricultural and Pas- :■ toral Association, being centrally situated, -was the body best suited for the work of ' collecting information and co-ordinating the efforts of those who had already been -: moving in the matter. The question of : irrigation was practically one of the ,'■ most important that had ever engaged .. the attention of the Association. 1 . Of irrigation itself, he did not prej tend to have more than a very : ; superficial knowledge, but hoped to be - "better qualified before the matter got muck further ahead. They learned from v the Book of Ecclesiastes that irrigation '\ was no new thing, for it was there stated ). that King Solomon had a scheme for the ;" irrigation of his garden. They knew, too, ;. from the experiences of other lands all over the world, that it waß a useful thing; that it was desirable they had seen with their own eyes in the parched condition of the Canterbury Plains; and that it was wanted they knew by the general outcry of hun- . dreds of farmers who had so seriously suffered. What, then, under the circum- • stances, was the best thing to be done ? He .found that at the two last agricultural f. conferences irrigation was approved of, and ;. resolutions were passed which did not appear to have been acted upon. He took ... it that they wanted at as early a date as 'possible to get some scheme which would ; put them in possession of the needful information, so that they might assist in getting the. necessary legislation passed. He would therefore suggest that the committee should communicate at once "with all the kindred societies of Canter- : bury and those other public bodies which had already been working in the cause of irrigation, and request them to appoint delegates to meet a sub-committee of the Association ; atf d that,' if necessary, the subcommittee should be empowered to visit any district or obtain any information, reqnisite. He trusted that they would fully discuss the question, and that .some useful result might be arrived at. A letter was received from Mr Henry Overton, expressing the opinion that with •' the present high price of labour the irrigaitiq'n of large properties would not be attended with any great pecuniary advantage ; but from what he had seen of the farms of Messrs M'Gregor and Saville Bros, he was satisfied that a large area of the Canterbury Plains, now only fit for the grazing of sheep, could, by irrigation, be made into land suitable for small holdings of from 100 to 200 acres. But in order to cairy out the work on these satisfactorily. ! and with profit, the labour would have to : be- done within the family. From his observations in the Kirwee district, he had no doubt that the irrigation of the Canterbury Plains would prove an ultimate I success. He advised thn employment of an expert, who, after a thorough study of other countries and places where irrigation had been adopted, would then inspect the Canterbury Plains, devise a fitting water supply, and report upon the best jnaethod of tapping the present abundant ,; sources, and distributing 1 the water in the f^inost profitable way over the greatest area. i':Tthey mußt have a good foundation to work ;«ppn, and extravagance or useless expenditure must be carefully guarded against. ■? Mr r John Studholme, jun., wrote sugtgeating -that the Association, might at a small cost, considerably assist the irriga- ■ tion scheme by appointing a sub-cor-n■ mittee to' visit the scenes of experiments ■ already made, and to set out in detail the I various classes of land on which irrigation H had proved successful. ■ Sir John Hall said that it seemed almost ■ superfluous to say anything about the H benefit of irrigation as applied to any ■ olassa of land. He remembered attending ■ a commission which sat in Victoria in 1890 H for the consideration of the same subject. ■ He had the reports of that Commission in ■ his possession, and would be happy to lay ■ them before the Association. Victoria had ■ at 'present a Minister of Water Supply, Hand water questions over there were ■ managed by local trusts, a system of H which he did not altogether approve. H The questions they had to consider I Jffßjre, first, the getting of water on to the ■ land, and, secondly, the expense connected H therewith. He thought it was a matter to H be settled by a Government expert, or by Hone or two experts. The whole question H was really one of engineering. He advised H the engagement of a thorough expert, and ■ thought that the initial amount spent in ■ this direction should not be too closely ■ considered. If the Government did this ■ for the farmers, it would be doing no more H than it had already done for the mining H industry, and what it had done for the ■mining industry. could be readily found in ■ the official reports. People in Canterbury H needed this water supply more than those H in any other portion of New Zealand, and ■ they would have to rely on themselves B rather than on outside assistance. Sir H John Hall quoted the Pastoralists' Review H to show that in New South Wales sixtyH one veils from 2000 to 4000 feet in depth I had been sunk by the Government, and ■ the Governments of other Australian H colonies had done similar work. H Mr J. Deans proposed Messrs H. Overton, ■ D. M'Millan, GK Gould, W. F.M. Buckley, H Q. E. Rhodes and Sir John Hall as a subH committee to carry out the ideas suggested ■by the Chairman. Mr Deans said that the H various County Councils already provided H the necessary power and machinery for the H -undertaking, and he counselled the AssoH ciation to assist these Councils in every H possible manner, and to . seek their aid H rather than that of the Government. He H held that drainage, as well as irrigation, would be required, for the surplus water H would have to be led'off the sour land. Dr Levinge, whose name had been pro- ■ posed on the Bub-committee, but who had to stand, seconded the moion, and in doing so stated his opinion that the Hr Agricultural and Pastoral Association F^should lead, in preference to being driven. Wtf The motion on being put, was carried unanimously. H Sir J. Hall suggested that a deputation H from the Association should wait on Mi H Seddon on his arrival at Lyttelton, at the H end of the week, in order to ascertain how H far the Government was prepared to assisi H them. Sir John held that Government H assistance was necessary to the snecessf a H carrying out of the object they had in view H The suggestion was adopted, and the meet' H ing terminated.

I A well-attended meeting of raiepayeri -was held in the schoolroom, Allenton, oi Tuesday evening, when Mr John Orr pre sided, and explained that the meeting was called to endeavour to obtain a system o: irrigation for Allenton. Mr Steel showec .a potato weighing 21b, said to have beei grown on poor shingle land under th< influence of irrigation. Mr Craigherd pro posed — " That the district be formed int' an irrigation district, and Messrs Orr Collins, Silcock and Cambridge appointed i committee to act." This waß seconded bj

fflt'Scvmt atttt^epHedlr A number of signatures to the petition were obtained in the room, and lists were ordered to be left at Mr Steel's re3idonce, Alford Forest Eoad, fqr signature. A vote of thanks to the Chairman closed the meeting.

At the meeting of the Progressive Liberal Association on Monday night a keen discussion took place on the proposal {hat the Government should give a grant in aid of tho cost of irrigation works on the Canterbury Plaius, aud the following motion was carried: — "That the Progressive Liberal Association protests against the proposal which has been made that the Government give a grant in aid of the cost of irrigation works for large aveas of the Canterbury Plains, because, if j irrigation bo carried out in a proper -manner, it will enormously increase the j value of the irrigated lands, probably by a considerably greater sum than the total cost of the works; and,. as such increase will go to the individual owners of irrigated lands, it will be an injustice to take i from taxpayers who will derive no such direct benefit any considerable portion j of the cost."