THE TOUCH OF WATER
CENTRAL"-OTAGO'S FUTURE.
(BI TBLSOSAFH.—BPKCUL TO IHB POST.) ; DUNEDIN, This Day. In an interview with a "Star" reporter yesterday, Mn. A. Veitch, MtP. for Wanganui, spoke hi highly enthusiastic terms of the possibilities of Central Otago. He remarked first of all on the vast possibilities of the district, with its fruit industry and its gold deposits. He went on to point out that greater than either of these were the thousands of acres of land awaiting the touch of water to transform them into the best areas in New Zealand. The key to the situation was undoubtedly irrigation. "To my layman's mind," said Mr. Veitch, "the future of Central Otago rests largely on the development of hydro-electric energy. A number of irrigation schemes, nearly all on the gravitation principle, are in operation or are being developed, but there are great areas which can never be irrigated if that principle only is followed. It is here that hydro-electric power will be of the greatest value. Cheap power for pumping must sooner or later • prove- to be the solution of the problem. This would enable individual farmers to raise' water from the rivers and turn all their property into workable land. It would also be of immense value in working the. many gold deposits that cannot possibly be worked on"the gravitation principle. It is .clear, therefore^.that: the greatest need of Otago Central is hydro-electric power. I have seen the results ■of irrigation. In some places are to be seen great-crops of .lucerne or grass on watered land, while within a few yards may be seen the same fine soil lying barren and idle. There is nothing speculative -about the proposition; the only thing is to select the best scheme _of hydro-electric development, and this would have to be on a big scale. So far as Dunedin itself is concerned, it is in the same position as any other town or city in New Zealand. Its prosperity depends on what is being produced around it. "
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Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 20, 24 January 1924, Page 2
Word Count
335THE TOUCH OF WATER Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 20, 24 January 1924, Page 2
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