ARAPUNI TROUBLE.

Waikato Times, Volume 112, Issue 18705, 3 August 1932, Page 8

ARAPUNI TROUBLE.

PECULIAR COINCIDENCE. FLOODING OF A GULLY. PREVIOUS OCCURRENCE REPEATED (Special to Times.) ARAPUNI, Wednesday. As the lowering of the water level to below the lip of the spillway at Arapuni stopped the flow over the water-fall and through the buried forest, engineers took the opportunity to examine the concrete work and surrounding country. From the base of the spillway to some distance below, and including the waterfall, the whole bed was concreted to prevent further erosion. From to-day’s inspection it would appear that these remedial measures have withstood the strain, satisfactorily. What may either be a peculiar coincidence or a significant connection with the trouble occurred when Acacia Gully was flooded. The gully is on the Arapuni—Te Awamutu Road, in the vicinity of Pukeatua, and is some six miles from Arapuni Lake and four miles in a direct line from the spillway. Simultaneously with the appearance of the serious cracks in the terrain between the spillway and old river bed in 1930, the gully was flooded. It was thought at tiie time that water from the lake came down an old drain and banked up there. A concrete wall was therefore placed there to prevent a similar occurrence. However, when the present seepage was discovered it was found that Hie gully had again filled, thus disproving the drain theory. The explanation now suggested is that water from the lake has seeped the six miles. What connection there is between the flooding of the gully and the trouble at the spillway is a matter of conjecture. As soon as the increased flow of water down the old course was felt at Horahora the remedial measures in hand there had to be abandoned. Men were engaged in converting the bed at the spillway to take the force of the water and prevent further erosion in a similar manner as at Arapuni. A line of light/ railway was constructed to facilitate the work. This morning the river had risen to such a height that it swept away the supports under about 50 feet of rail and the rails themselves and the hydraulic pipe which runs along them are sagging dangerously and are liable to be tom adrift and hurled downstream at any moment. The river h«as also brought down a number of huge logs and lesser debris, which are at present held up by the screens. -