ARAPUNI CRACKS

Hokitika Guardian, 17 June 1930, Page 7

ARAPUNI CRACKS

STILL. A MYSTERY

I>y Telegraph—Per Press AosociaUon

HAMILTON, June 14

The whole i.iiiig is mysterious, and so lai- it has defeated all attempts to n.seertain the eaii.se. Tiiis is how Mr | . i‘'.;r.;ert, Chief Government Engineer, deserihed tlic recent earth ihovcmeiit at Arapr.ni.

Fnvesti rations have proceeded during the wliole of tile past week, but so far untilin't :i nature likely to assist the officers ol the Department i jji'd the cause,of the inovenieiit has been discovered.

A TOWNEE

There is a tunnel being driven beneath the crack on the lower side of the spillway. It has now pierced the e.-rih for a distance of 50 loot, and has passed beneath I'm first fissure. It is now on the way to the second crack, which is about 25 feet further in. I’d for tuna tely the operations so far have produced little information of any vine. It has been revealed ihat the first crack is q"ite vertical, and does not, as first imped, indicate which way the tilt of the earth has b"OM. It was with a view to ascertaining the angle of the movement, in order to know where to attack the nrot,mre, that the tunnelling was un-

dertaken. The tunnelling operations nro not. as suggested in certain newspapers, of a dangerous nature. There is Vtt'e, if any, danger whatever attached to them. There has been no movement recorded since the main crack was first discovered last Saturday, If any tiling, the* fissures have had a tightening tendency. A large hoimer has been erected alongside the. Falls on Aranuni in preparation for concreting work which ■ was decided upon some time ago at the fails themselves. This work will he hurried on with a large gang of men who at present are engaged in the excavation of a tramway road at the low level between the spillway and the falls.

THE LAKE

The water in the big lake has been reduced bv 18 feet and is going down at the rate of 2\ inches per hour. Tlic gates have been opened to a height of over seven feet, and they will he /progressively lifted as the watoi in the lake falls. The rush of the water down the bed of the old stream, between the dam and the power house, which hitherto had been drv, is now lapping over the platform which forms the power house base. This flow has put a stop to excavation work that was taking place at the'base of the new Penstock tunnels, where a large gang of men were engaged,

MANY MEN IDLED,

As a result the married men on thf mb have .been transferred to other undertakings-, while between GO and 100 single men have been put oft.

ENQUIRY DEMANEED

HAMILTON, June II

Until further expense is justified by expert opinion, other than the Public Works Department, nothing further should bo done at Arapuni hydro electric scheme according to the Hamilton Chamber of 'Commerce. The following resolution was trained last

evening:— Having regard to the fact that the Arapuni scheme has already abmrlyd three millions, that further heavy outlay of an unspecified amount is contemplated. that t!i© confident anticipations of the I’libl'o Yvorks seem likely to he defeated by the course of events, it is not certain that further capital expenditure is justified. This executive is unanimously of the opinion that the Government should immediately appoint a Commission, co'nsueing of a. Judge of the Supreme Court, and two indeoeiidont engineering authori' ics in this class of work, for the .miraoso of inqu'.irying into every aspect of the scheme and leporting oil the course which should !,» followed in dealing with the present trouble.