A BIG SCHEME

Hokitika Guardian, 14 September 1932, Page 6

A BIG SCHEME

WATER FOR FARM LANDS. BIG IRRIGATION WORK. DUNEDIN, September 10. r- Without exception, the most ambitious irrigation, undertaking in Central Otago, and.,probably one of the largest relief; works in hand in the Dominion, is the Tapper M&nuherikia irrigation . scheme. A total of 197 men are finding .employment on the project, and good .progress is being made with trie litei section of a. scheme, which, when completed, wills-involve an expenditure ol a.pproiximate|yij''£l ) soo,ooo. .7' • .(■The soheifigijcalls for the storing- oi iwater/ from Manuhenkia River and Bome of its|i&|utaTies in a huge 200 ft. dam at t'he*f«®{ near iSt. Bathams, for i.t'he purpose of' irrigating an area, of 128,00 Q acres in the Omakau, Matakajnjii, -and Lauder districts, as well as parts of the vaat Maniototo Plains, r olt is stated .in connection with the final cost of the scheme that it was based on comparatively high co-fs ruling in *1930, .and it is expected that th e utilisation of unemp’oyed labour will/ materially reduce the expenditure under the heading of wages.

The scheme i,s being constructed ii. sections,the first of which is now well in 'band. It will provide for the irrigation of 14,000 acres at a cost of ,£21)7 T'6, a -per acre cost of £l9, c'oni,pired with a ge‘n<ral average on exi-'t-i,na schemes of' 'approximately £22 psr acre. The contmericemerit of the first section, however, involves the erect'on of the huge da/', at the falls, so that it is; certain this first section will b:? debited: i/vitii' a. good proportion of the;' heavy pp~.t ,of storage for the whole scheme. '.jK”' l - :

. What the-;per .acre charge on the land for water!‘wilt be has nofc yet been r decided, brit.lthe first figure mentioned was 'lßs pfefe/acre, -a charge which, in view of the experience of the PublicWorks Department in other schemes, has been abandoned in favour of 12s 6d per acre. By levying a rate of 18s per acre the department would secure a (return ori capital expenditure of ap,proximatelyv'4 per cent., or perhaps a dhade mo-ffqi’ - That would be infinitely mote than; any existing scheme in Central Otago has been ablje to pay to date, and there are many quite willing to doubt that the 3 per cent, interestresulting from a 12s 6d rate per acre will not materialise. Work on the scheme at the present tim 6 is divided into two sections, theconstruction of, the 200 ft. dam and the cutting of.: the/main distributary race. Jn-each case the contract is a. tremench OuS one. It is probable that 50 to 60 miles of main-race wlil have to b e cut before all the - districts ar© linked up and as the dimensions of t'he race arcparticularly large th p gangs at work on i-itf*"hiay look /forward to many months’ ’ Work’ yet. An- indication ;of the-size-.Q? the' Tac© the' fact ■ rieis used for th e removal of spoil are' able to traverse the cut that has been •made 1 . '

■' Of • th’of tbtaFiof -197-lfmen' engaged on this. Work, 10 are members of the permanent staff of the Public Works Department, .and 147 of •‘•hem are married men, ; living in camps estab’ished at Omakau-- and th© - In addition, there: ar e 40 single men accommodated in a special camp a few miles from Where the married men .are located.

- ‘The high elevation of much of the lipid ■. artd its undoubtedly poor soil condition 5 are well known in Central ’‘Otago, but a more- serious difficulty 'suggested by settlers and Government dfficials a-lik e is contained in th-e 1 distribution of the land that will come under the scheme. The best of t'he land ii held by a comparatively smalil number of settlers, who, besides being callVd upon to bear an unusually heavy share of the cost, will also fiii'd' themseVes faced with' t'he difficulty of hand!'ing ; ia-n area of irrigated land ' which, is’ not easily controlled by one farmer. The efficacy of irrigation in the district; ori fft'e other 'hand; has been clearly ' demonstrated ’by settlers who have undertaken pri vate irrigation covering approximately 4000 acres of the land that rvill eventually b e embraced by the' scheme.