RIPPONVALE

Evening Star, Issue 19801, 27 February 1928, Page 5

RIPPONVALE

INTOLERABLE CONDITIONS DEMAND FOR INVESTIGATION On Saturday last, by unanimous dceilion of tho Ripponvalo settlers, the following statement was drawn up and banded us for publication, tho object being to assist the movement for securing a Royal Commission to investigate irrigation in Central Otago and that ihe serious condition of tho Ripponvalo lettlement might be given publicity and brought to tho notice of tho Govern,ncnt;—

Some years ago tho Government (►ranted to the Cromwell Development Company a special license and solo right to supply to a largo area of land in the Cromwell district, including llipponvalc, irrigation water, and tho right to charge 35s per acre for water. The fact that these charges had Government sanction helped the company considerably to sell their Ripponvalo property. This special license granted by the Government has proved most disastrous both for the settlers who took up land and also tlie Cromwell district as a whole.

Tho company agreed with tho -settlers to supply irrigation water at tho rate of l-200th part of a head per acre from their Kawarau works, and to deliver same through measuring boxes to each property sold. The water supply has been totally inadequate, and the Kawarau water has never been supplied to Ripponvale. Also, no measuring boxes have been installed, and generally the service and water supply are so poor that settlers have had a great struggle to keep their farms going. During the past two years nine settlers rmt of a total of twenty-one have walked nff their farms, losing all their capital invested. The reasons for such a state of affairs are almost entirely duo to the high water charges (35s per acre), the inadequate supply of water, and the water service being such that a settler has to sjjend the timo needed to work his land in tramping up the water races and fighting with his neighbors for a little trickle of water to save his crons.

Ripponvale settlement has the highest water charges, the smallest water supply, and the poorest service of any in Central Otago. Vvhcn tho Cromwell Development Company sold off all their Ripponvale bind tho water should have passed with the land to the settlers; but, with the company holding a special license from the Government, they (the company) have been able to sell their land and still hold tho Water and exact tho high yearly charge of 35s per acre, which charge has been out of all proportion to tlie quantity of water delivered and the service rendered.

The Ripponvale settlers consider that the Government is largely to blamo for Iheir condition, as ’ho Government acted wrongly in granting this special license to a private company, and that it is now the duty of the Government to step in and see that tho wrong done is put right, and tho settlers given a fair chance to keep their homes and make a living on the land, by the Government acquiring from the company all their water rights and arranging for an adequate supply of water at a fair price for the settlers. Ripponvale settlers, along with those in othei districts in the Central, consider that there is an urgent need for the Government to appoint a special commission to inquire fully into irrigation matters with the object of arranging that the settfers on irrigated lands in the Central, as far as is practical, shall have a supply of irrigation ivater adequate for the best working of their properties, and that the charges bo so fixed that tho settlers are not unduly harassed in the meeting of their payments or in the securing of finance to work their farms; also that the water service of delivering the water to tho farms be such as to meet the requirements of the crops being produced. For, and on behalf of, the Ripponvale settlers. AA'. Win out (Chairman). Thomas B. PaiLinrs. C. R. Eason (Water Committee).