ARAPUNI.

Putaruru Press, Volume VI, Issue 233, 19 April 1928, Page 1

ARAPUNI.

GENERAL ITEMS.

The First “ Baches.” Some half-a-dozen “ baches ” have already bec-n erected along the shores of Lake Arapuni, and indications are that this stretch of water will become one of the greatest pleasure resorts, if handled in the -correct manner. If allowed to grow up “ any old how,” after the manner qc!U Topsy, much harm may be done, hut with wise and judicious oversight, without any petty restrictions, much future heart-burning may be saved, and many eyesores avoided. Cannibal Fish. Mr. M. E. Fitzgerald, Matamata county engineer, spent the Easter week-end at his “ bach ” on the shores of the lake, and reports that the fishing is excellent. Seventeen goodsized fish were caught, and all were in very good condition. Practically everyone, however, when opened, had young trout inside, and in one there was a young trout three or four inches long. As there are millions of young fish in the lake, it would appear that the older fish find it less exacting to eat their kind, than to scour the beds for food or rise to the surface for files. Trade Bad. Business has become very quiet since the contractors finished operations on a large scale. Two large stores have closed their doors, and other remaining shops are experiencing a very lean time. “ Trade here is dead,” stated one shopkeeper to a representative of the Press. “ Not only have we lost the trade of those who have been paid off, but those now employed by the Public Works are of a different class. They are not as free spenders,” he added. Foreign Capital. However, the steady flow of visitors to inspect the works has done much to relieve the situation, and much “ foreign capital ” has been left in the settlement in consequence. Temporary shacks have sprung up i-ke mushrooms at all vantage points, where trippers are likely to be waylaid, and from these buildings, composed mostly of a shell of wood and iron, may be obtained fruits, .ces,

biscuits, tea, hot W'ater, cigarettes, and other likely requirements, even down to bootlaces. From the window ledge of each the inevitable gramophone grinds out the latest popular melody. A Fearsome View.

“ Oh, it’s far larger than the dam that burst in California,” stated a male tripper, with a slight American accent, who was conducting a party of ladies over the works. “If this dam went there would be an awful catastrophe, and Cambridge and Hamilton would be simply swept away by a wall of water. The ground is not too stable, and it would take four days for the lake to empty,” he concluded, before passing out of hearing. Some people seem to take a peculiar delight in conjuring up horrors, and quite apart from the fact that Arapuni is a British engineering job and the Los Angeles dam an American piece of work, anyone capable of understanding what their eves perceive will not readily picture the wall of water even if a most violent earthquake did destroy the dam wall. Some Hurdle. As the dam contains 95,000 cubic yards of concrete, weighing something like 150,000 tons, it would take some shifting. Further, the length of the dam wall in a straight line is something like 200 feet, while a few chains below, round about the outlet of the diversion tunnel, the gorge narrows down to about 30 feet. With 100,01)0 tons of broken concrete jammed in this narrow space (here would not be much chance of a “ wall of water,” so that on the face of it, unless the whole gorge collapses, the most nervous resident in the towns named may turn in o’ nights and sleep without any qualms.