WARDEN’S COURT, CLYDE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 452, 16 December 1870, Page 2

WARDEN’S COURT, CLYDE.

December 14. (Before Vincent Fyke, Esq., R.M.) Ferauil v. Holt. An action brought against itihe proprietor of the Town Race for neg'ecting to comply with the conditions under whifih he obtained his water right, in refusing to allow plaintiff water for irrigating his farm in the Wai Keri Keri Valley. Damages were claimed at the rate of £2O a day tor each day the supply of water was withheld when required. Mr. Brough appeared fur plaintiff. The ease was adjourned from the previous week iu order to allow the Warden to visit the farm and collect information. Prom the evidence of plaintiff and his two servants, it appeared that plaintiff on the Ist instant, notified to defen ant that, he should require water for irrigating his fanU tl,t f nr weeks, and that def n 'ant told ■ill to take the water, hut would guarantee his being supplied for the period hecesiral Plaintiff would not take the water on defendant’s terms, and through not being supplied, estimated that he had sustained a loss of £2O a day. One of his farm servants estimated the loss at £3O a day, and stated that the farm would yield but only a quarter of a ton to the acre, but had it been irrigated, half a ton to the acre would have been grown. Defendant stated that in an interview with plaintiff, he a.reed to let him have the water as lono as he' Could spare it, but refused to guarantee him a supply for a definite period, as other farmers might require water. The Warden 'considered that plaintiff ought to have taken the water when permission was given by defendant, and dismissed the case. He also made the fo lowing order:-That one sluice bed pf water Should at all times 1 e allowed to flow in defendant’s guage-box, below plaintiff’s agricultural lease-'area, for the use of .the inhabitants of Clyde and for working defondant’s coal pit, subject to which condition, plaintiff, upon giving to the defendant twenty-four hours’ notice of his intention so to do, shall be allowed to use all surplus water in defendant’s race from the loth of September to the •’3lst of December ir. each year, with leave to apply for an extension of time should circumstances require it; provided that, if other hoi ers of agricultural lease areas commanded by defendant's race in the Wai Keri Keri Valley required water, the surplus—that is to say, all above one sluice-head, as before mentioned—shall be divi-.ed iu proportion to the acreage respectively held by each holder, as follows .; Feraud So be entitled to the whole of ihe surplus water for eight days in every fourteen ; Jay to the same for four days, during the same time ; M‘Arthur, ditto, for one day ; Hanlon, ditto, for one day. Mr. Brough gave notice of appeal.