Ellesmere Lake Land May Turn Into Farms

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28270, 7 May 1957, Page 17

Ellesmere Lake Land May Turn Into Farms

Twenty-two sheep farms or 45 dairy farms may be established on land at Lake Ellesmere if a reclamation project recommended by the Christchurch district inter-departmental committee is carried out. The committee says that the works are practicable, and the costs involved such that farming will be economic.

The area in the proposed scheme is 5900 acres, of which 4100 acres is unalienated and 1800 acres is held under lease in perpetuity.

The area is between the Halswell and L II rivers. The erection of a stopbank from Greenpark huts to the L II is envisaged. The estimated maximum height of the bank is Bft 6in, and it is considered that materials from the lake bed would be the most suitable and economical for its construction. “It seems that the construction of the stopbank should not be unduly difficult,” says an engineering report. To provide water for desalting the reclaimed land and its subsequent irrigation* it is proposed to pump water from the L II river. This supply could be supplemented from the Halswell river and wells could also be used to augment the river supply. The water would be conveyed to the farms by a system of irrigation channels. There would also be a drainage system io collect stormwater and waste irrigation water and finally dispose of it by pumping over the stopbank. £153,000 Estimate

alienated and unimproved Crown lands—this applied mainly to land held under lease in perpetuity and freehold—and an arbitrary division of the 5900 acres into three grades of development would increase the charge for undeveloped land to 46s lOd.

The estimated annual irrigation charges of 46s lOd an acre were admittedly burdensome, said Mr Stuart, but private farmers benefiting from the scheme should equitably share the charges. To relieve the proposed development area of a portion of the annual charges, it was suggested that if possible the race from the L II river to the end of Embankment road should be extended from the corner of Davidsons road and Embankment road across country to the corner of Clarks and Hudsons roads, down Hudsons road to Jarvis road and so to the lake.

On the sheep farm' with management at a high standard of efficiency Mr Stuart estimated that the owner, at prices' and costs ruling at the time he prepared his report, would be left with a surplus before taxation and capital expenditure deductions of £1035; and on the dairy farm a surplus of £956. These farms, he said, could withstand a temporary recession in produce prices without a corresponding decrease in costs. “Based on the broadest farm management assumptions, and in the absence of reliable experimental data, the farming potential of the district under .he proposed project is economically sound,” said Mr Stuart. “In the interests of objective thinking and approach to the development of this lake flat it is urgent that trials be commenced which will confirm or correct present assumptions.”

According to a report under the name of the resident engineer of the Ministry of Wotks in Christchurch (Mr H. B. Goldman), the reclamation phase of the project is estimated to cost £153,000, including £95,000 for the stopbank and £54,000 for stormwater drains and pumping installations. '

Irrigation works to farm boundaries are expected ’to cost £37,500, irrigation works within farms £53,000, and the annual operation and maintenance costs are set at £7OOO, but it is stated that these are most difficult to assess.

High Natural Fertility Mr W. T. Ward, a pedologist of the Soil Survey Division, says that generally soils on" the lake margin and sediments on the lake floor are potentially of high natural fertility, and with adequate drainage, desalting and judicious irrigation it should be possible to establish and maintain hignproducing pastures. He says that not only must lake waters be removed, but the level of ground water, which is saline, must be lowered so that injurious salts will not be returned to the plantroot zone.

While irrigation would be needed initially to leach out salts from the sediments, it would need to be continued to maintain pastures. Over-irriga-tion on any part of the reclaimed land would raise the water table locally or in some other reclaimed area. Should the water table rise, salts would re-enter the plant root zone and must then cause soil and pasture deterioration.

In another report, Messrs J. P. Fox and Goodman say that as the proposed reclamation area is sandy it should not prove difficult to desalt. Desalting by natural rainfall, which might taka four to five years with reasonably damp seasons, could be mate r iv ally shortened by irrigation with fresh water. The small amount of salt held in what clay there was at Ellesmere could be displaced by gypsum applied in superphosphate during the establishment of pastures.

The committee recommends that the proposals should be referred to the Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Council and Treasury, and that if their reports are favourable, provision should be made in estimates of the Ministry of Works for the current year for moneys required to complete engineering investigations with the object of constructing the stopbank in the next year, when authority fa» abou? £lOO,OOO would be needed. It is also recommended that the proposals should be referred to authorities having interests in the lake area, in particular the North Canterbury Catchment Board, and that negotiations should be opened with three Crown lessees for the purchase of their leasehold interests by the Crown. Economic Units A report to the committee by Mr R. C. Stuart, of the economics section of the Department of Agriculture, says that it would be possible to establish and maintain economic sheep or dairy units on the land. An economic sheep unit would comprise 250 acres, running 1095 ewe equivalents, producing 30 bales of wool and 716 fat lambo, and an economic dairy unit would consist of 120 acres carrying 60 milking cows, producing 17,0001 b of butterfat annually. If three properties held under lease in perpetuity were repossessed by the Crown and development carried out with emphasis on sheep farming, the 5844 acres would then support 22 sheep farms running 19,800 breeding ewes with replacements and producing 660 bales of wool and 15,752 fat lambs. Alternatively, if development was to be dairying, the land would support 45 dairy farmers with 2700 milking cows and producing 765,0001 b of butterfat. If seven private farms which were in a position to take advantage of the supply of irrigation water were also taken into account, the proposed scheme would have the effect of increasing the production of the district by 638 bales of wool, 14,902 fat lambs and 34,0001 b of butterfat, equivalent on prices ruling a year ago to £lOl,OOO a year if development took the form of thg*sheep units, or by 799,0001 b of butterfat, equivalent to £117,000 if dairy units were established. Annual Charges

Using the same basis of subsidy and charging as has been adopted “for new irrigation schemes, the annual charge would be 43s an acre if a quarter of the capital cost of reclamation and irrigation to farm boundaries was to be recovered at an interest rate of 4| per cent, over 40 years and allowing for a 10-year development period. If there was no repayment of a quarter of the capital cost, as had been decided for irrigation works, the charge would become 40s lOd, said the report. Where land was already partially developed and providing a living for a farmer, it was not likely thaf the same annua] charge could be made as for un-.