Turning the Course of Rivers.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 3018, 2 October 1888, Page 2

Turning the Course of Rivers.

The wire basket or cage 3 which aro tilled with stones, and imod in tho Waiohino River, near Grey town, is an idea in connection with turning the courso of a river that ought to, saya the Standard, be widely known throughout the colony. Mr Hart Udy, jun,, is the inventor, and after proving the value of the wire basket he was desirous of patenting it; but the Patent Office informed him that this could not be done if the invention had been exposed to publio view. Having, of course, tried its merits in the bed of the river, Mr Udy could not say that it had not been open to public observation, and tho patent was not granted. This docs not appear fair, for how is it possible to prove the value of suoh an invention without testing it in a turbulent stream? As Mr Udy has no desire to keep the plan a' secret, wo will state tho modus eperemdi, in the hope that it may be of service in othorparta of the colony whero the rivers olten become mountain torrents, A large wire net is made of No 12 wir*, for it is cheaper to buy (ho wire and plait it than buy tho netting, the cost of the wiro and plaiting not amounting to id a yard. The plan adopted by Mr Udy was to drive somo stout nails in a horizontal line in tho wall of a barn,' and commencing from these nails with' different wires, weave them into diamond patterns ; the net can bo worked to any size required. This is then put on the spot relected in the river, boulders are 'piled on, and the ends of the net brought together and laced securely. This forms a solid block which cannot bo washed away and turns tho whole course ofthe stream when put in at the desirpd place. The iuvention has been in use for over twelvemonths b'y the Waiohine Eiyer Board and has been most successful, It has done away with all pile-driving and saved the Board a lot of expense, All the piles and booms previously put' in haye d|sapppijrptl, .bjit the wire netting filled with stones stands uninjured, Just above the Matarawa Swing Bridge there Is ono of' these wire cages contHinins'about twenty tonsof stone, and there are others of smaller size in different parts of the liver, We believe the idea only wants to bemore widely known to bo brought into general use. . ~,, , .

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