D.—6

14

Archibald McCallum. (No. 7.) Farmer, residing in Blenheim, and Chairman of the Lower Wairau River Board. I have resided in and about the town of Blenheim since 1860. I have a recollection of what is known as the flood of 1868, the largest flood that has been known in the Wairau Plain. Until the 1868 flood we used to ci'oss the Opawa to get to Grovetown on a plank- two-thirds of a mile above the Railway Bridge. In 1857, when my father bought his Section No. 70, this was free from floods, and all. cultivated. The first flood that came over it was in 1868, and was about 3 ft. in our house. Blenheim was continually affected by floods, principally from the southern streams and a certain amount of percolation of flood-waters which came through the vegetation down the overflow from the Wairau River through the natural hollows. Our springs are affected by the Wairau. The driest side of Blenheim was the northern portion, known as the Grovetown Road end. I remember the pile-and-wire dam. In 1879 there was an injunction which prevented the work from being completed. This injunction was a bugbear to my Board for many years. It is about eleven years and a half since a groyne was erected at Conder's Bend. Banking on south of the Opawa and Rose's overflow was our principal work. Before Rose's overflow was opened there were continuous floods in the town, and Rose's overflow was the principal cause of reduction. Mr. Cuthbert, of Christchurch, advised on Rose's overflow scheme. The town in winter was always under water. Once we had eight floods in seven weeks. It is three or four years since we put the last two groynes in. We saw that unless this work was done the greater part of the Wairau would come down the Opawa. Previously the Board had erected groynes to keep the Waihopai out of Gibson's Creek and to keep it meeting the Wairau squarely, to prevent the whole of the Wairau water flowing down t)ie Opawa. Prior to the erection of the lower groyne there was a gut some Bor 9 chains from the original bank—right out from the Opawa. Therefore we built the groyne to confine the Wairau to its proper channel and keep it out of the Opawa. Our groyne went out just a few yards past where the water was making its waterway. We ceased when they brought proceedings. This work was assisted by the Public Works Department. The local Resident Engineer of the Public Works Department controlled the erection of that groyne, and wanted it carried out 4 chains farther. This would still not reach the water. There was, of course, at that time no water flowing round it. Our Board is perfectly satisfied with the action of that work. The 1904 flood was the second highest, and a great portion of the plain was inundated—all north of the Omaka River was flooded. South of Omaka was dry, except that the water backed up at the bar and overflowed Riverlands property. The next big flood was in 19.16. The list of expenditure made up by the Clerk is, I think, correct. There is a special loan of £1,000 on the Rose's overflow district, and there is another loan of £5,000, the security being the whole of the district. In addition to the £2.000 Government grant for Rose's overflow, £3,666 has been received from the Government for the groynes and repairing damage. The main portion of that money was expended in connection with the erection of groynes. I know the Tuamarina district very well, and it has been subject to floods for a good many years, so much so that we know of two deaths on the King's highway by drowning. The photograph referred to was taken in 1875. In 1868 the course of the Opawa River followed a small stream. It took this new course in about 1879. It carried away 25 acres of my father's farm sown in oats, cutting across a loop. Before the flood in 1868 there was no shingle in the bed of the Opawa River. It burst across the loop in 1869. In reference to the erection of the last groyne put in three years ago on account of the gut, the Board feared that the whole of the river would come down into this gut. Our reason for putting it there was to turn the flood-waters into the Wairau River. There were 4 chains to go on to the groyne when the legal proceedings began. Our Board has tried to keep the middle of the stream clean. In my opinion, I have always advocated cutting through White's Bay, if possible, as there is always a great difficulty in keeping the flood-waters in the Wairau till you get to Tuamarina. The Spring Creek Board has acquired the Peninsula, and if it also acquires the land on the eastern side where the coachman was drowned, and bank back to a defined distance, it would be the better plan. Ido not think it would affect the present bar ; I think it would still keep open. I think the tide will always be responsible for an opening at the bar. Systematic clearing of the river-beds is not carried out. Referring to cutting the Fairhall and Mill Creek into the Opawa, our protective works in Blenheim are sometimes overcharged and the water flows over them, because of the fact of the discharge from three distinct watersheds coming through our town —the Taylor River, the Fairhall, and the Mill Creek. These in stormy times bring a considerable quantity of water down, and I think that if a diversion of those waters were made, taking two of the streams —the Fairhall and the. Mill Creek- and diverting them into the Opawa River at a point about where the Fairhall Stream crosses the. new Renwick Road, it would be a great advantage. I think that the dividing of those waters would protect valuable land from southerly rain floods. I think our rating-area should take in right back to the line of the hills. Arthur Penrose Seymour. (No. 8.) Surveyor, Picton. I have known the Wairau district since 1852. I was a member of the Provincial Council since it started in 1860. I was Superintendent in 1865, 1866 —served three terms. Then Executive Officer since the abolition. I know the scene of the breach. I knew what was the condition of the Wairau River at that time. The state of the river in that locality was that it was confined by what was a dense mass of good-sized scrub, manuka, and various shrubs, which contained the waters of the Wairau River in its proper channel. The settlers got firewood and fencing from this bush. The roof of my house was built of manuka taken from this bush. A portion of the flood went into the channel of the Opawa, which was then narrow with well-defined banks, and was about 1 chain wide, with scrub and fern on the banks and no sign of scour. The overflow would fill the channel. The banks might have been 7 ft. or 8 ft. high. flowed probably over the banks