ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume II, Issue 488, 21 November 1877, Page 2

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

♦ THE OAMAUU WATER SUPPLY. TO TUE EDITOR OF TUB EVENING MAIL. Sip.,—Being on a visit tu the northern metropolis of Olago for a few days, and wishing to see all I can, I availed myself of an opportunity kindly granted by the contractors' agent, Mr. Dunbar, to look over the works now in progress to supply the town of O.tmani with the muchneeded water. Having gone up to Duntroon the night before, tile following morning I came down the Waitaki until I struck the inlet where the water-race receives its supply from the river, a few miles below D.mtroon. Tiie works here appear to be prett}' well completed, and are not of a heavy character. Passing along the rare I came to the settling pond. It is situated 20 or 30 chains from, the inlet, and is intended to be six or eight chains long. Tiie excavation of the pond is in progress. The piling funning the drain is finished. It will be a substantial piece of work when the concrete is put in and completed. F-oin the pond to the hill opposite Black Point Railway Station the race is taken about two Hides across a shingle flit. It is nearly all cut, and itn gravelly sides and bottom look vjry thirsty, and will swallow a large quantity of the Waitaki when turned in. From the point above mentioned to a small township called George Town the race is i a rough one, as it passes along the face of the rocky spurs that run down here into t N e old bod of the Waitaki, In many places the rock is solid, and of a very hard character, and the workmen must have had some very hard belting here. I But the engineering (if it is worthy <>f t!ie ' name) appears to bu of a very simple ' character, and not beset with any dilhcul- : ties. From George Town the nature of the country passed through is alternately ■ rock and clay or earth, and is not worthy i of any comment any further than I should think the settlers who have already ph nty of water will not view the race as an unmixed good, passing through their beauti-

ful paddocks Fussing on from luvo I next visited Papakiio, where, I was tol 1, a viaduct has to be erected over a (Jeep gully. It is to be 100 ft. high, and will be a heavy piece of work, designed, I am told, by a working carpenter (iMr. C Days), who is acting as chief inspector for tlie Corporation, and who will porsonally superintend its erection. Ab it was now t »o late in the day to visit the tunnels, I put it oil' until next morning, when 1 wax kindly shown by a canny -Scot which gully .<> take, and by following his directions (although I " thocht his bittock just a wee lang ") 1 arrived at the first tunnel. Lighting a candle which I had provided before starting, 1 made my way inside, but found no one at work at the end 1 entered ; but as 1 could distinctly hear the blows from the pick on ■he other or south face there cannot bo much to drive through. As I am not a Hugh Miller, nor a disciple of his, I eannot'lalk geology ; let it therefore snllico to say that for some distance driven the tunnel passes through clay, after that rock, of variable qualify ; this tunnel is eight chain.". On entering the next tunnel (28 chains long) f.om the north 1 again found no one at work, and on my inquiring the reason of an individual who kindly volunteered to pilot mo ho said a sub-contractor had sloped, and the tunnels having only just been re-let were not fully manned. In this lunnel the formation is much more variable, and some of it very hard. The face is standing at (he north end against blue rock ; at the south end still' limcst'iie, with a weeping of water through il. After leaving this tunnel, I passed down a romanticlooking valley. A small stream passes through it, which appears to hare cut its way down through the solid limestone and kft huge blocks standing on both sides— Like the loose crags whoso threatening mans Lies tottering o'er the hollow pass, »s if an infant's touch could urge Their headlong passage down tliu verge. On looking along the almost perpendicular (in places) hill side, all seamed and broken from slips, where 1 was fold the water had to be taken, but to my unprofessional eyes it seemed almost impossible to do k> onh ss fiumed. Where the race leaves this valley it crosses another stream which ruts through between two immense blocks <f limestone which form the abutments (f the viaduct, <»0 or 80 feet apart. Preceding up the next gully 1 arrived aL another tunnel, manned entirely b? Italians and Auslrians. On entering 1 found it being driven through very hard limestone, sound an a lull and beaut if nib white, if my judgment is not at. fault a fair mm pie. of this stone put in tin market, at this time would find a iead,\ sde. <>n my proceed in l .; furl her lino I hit tunnel I fo.iud a. quantity of sawn limliei bad bei'ii put. in, and on my inquiring what it was for, 1 was told it was intended for permauieiit lining where the roek had been cut out. by water and t!i" pot holes had (i.'led np with greasy clay, ll immediately struck me as being passing strange that timber should lie put in here as perman nt lining, when any amount of the best liuirs'one [ ever saw was being pitc'ieil d.iwii the gully ; but, not being a born engiii"er. I miisi not see matters of f is sort iii their prop r light, I suppose. But independent of tiie pohc.y of putting timber in instead of stone, 1 found to my cost (in spoiled clothes) that the limber hail been soaketl in tar, mixed with red lead. 1 wondered lueni.iry, if ever the pure water of the Waiiaki should reach this tunnel, whether this extraordinary composition u on Id have any 1-aucful i-U'eci. i.p"ii it-. Perhaps some of our scientific men who are not, quite so ignorant as I am on such matters will inf nin me through y ,ur columns. The o'hcreiid of this (unn 1 has b ••en driven through a, s.>ft grey granite intersected with hard bars of basalt. The Italian miners working in this tunnel appear to be :i very line, strong lot of men, and do their work well. A mile fuvtltcv on, J, was shown another tunnel worked by mi English party, who as far as I could judge, tire doing their work r. niarkably well, the drive being as straight as an arrow, and very smooth and even on tho sides. The material driven through, however, is the most regular, and (he rock the softest, of any that I have seen. I wan told when 1 came out that there were some more working parties between |,|j<) tunnel and the town ; but as my legs hud got quite enough of tins numerous tips .and downs between Papakio and where I was, I inquired the nearest way to Oaniaru, and arrived ul the Star and Garter quite satisfied with my day's Iramp, and wits very glad when I heard the dinner bell, as I had got an alarming appetite. Tkav ku.uk. Oamaru, November 20.

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