A THIRSTY LAND.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2462, 29 March 1909, Page 6

A THIRSTY LAND.

■ OTAGO CENTRAL AND ITS PRO;fe,p MISED IRRIGATION. In a. country so well watered by mountain-fed rivers as New Zealand is it can only be a matter of time till the Government turns its attention seriously to the question of utilising these rushing torrents to drive machinery and :o irrigate the land. When the Otira tunnel is completed , a force of some 1000-horse power will have to be obtained from the Devil’s Punchbowl, Holt’s "Ireek and other sources to operate the riectric locomotives which will haul the :rains up the steep grade in the tunnel. And there is no doubt that before ong. steps will have to be taken to proad© a comprehensive scheme of irrigation for the dry, rich lands of Central Otago, where the soil—a sand-like lilt and river deposit—awaits the touch if the water to make it quick with ife.Much has been told and written of pentral Otago and its wonderful fecunlity where there is moisture, yet the omplete development of this large vea is not a question to be disposed f easily. It will take money—a great !eal of it. Streams of gold must be loured out to raise the rivers of clear aountain water and spread them over he plains. It is not a matter to be ealt with by a parish, or a province, r even by the people of the South Isihd. It is a national matter, and 'hen one remembers the immense tracts f weil-watered land in the north still waiting the coming of the railway i seems that perhaps, ill view of the evelopment which is necessary before :ie railway can be made to pay, Otago entral got her railway before her time, till, the railway is there, and it does ot pay. The present terminus, Clyde, 143 miles distant from.. Dunedin. Snr-5-ys have been made for the extension the line to Cromwell, thirteen miles irther on, and every man one meets in tago Central gives it as his firm beif ..that when Cromwell becomes , the rminus the line will pay. But these iirteen miles lie through most propitious and difficult country, and when oy are traversed by the iron way, as [©ritually they must be, there yet ream forty niile© of . construction to fry the railway to the head of the awe a Flat, where grain and other ops are grown in abundance. So there e fifty-three miles of railway yet to built and a grand scheme of irrigam.tp be carried out ere the virtues the Otago Central are made commer|lly manifest. And then would arise je„ question of markets. This season ere has been a splendid crop of stoned lits throughout the district. To sell ese as fresh fruits for consumption in © home and by the jam factories there a limited market which can be reachprofitably. -If the immediate mart in Dunedin, - Invercargill, Oamaru, d other neighboring centres were titing for Otago Central fruit Otago ritral would boom. _ But the shops in inedin are filled with Australian and ;sriianian fruits; the Otago- product ist compete with the article from ier lands. This fact, coupled with © expensive and irregular carriage to a rail-head, accounts for the fact that the orchards about Crcmwell and iei r " places, remote from the railway >m.Sj. apricots, peaches and other lits He retting on the ground. Such lit, too, as one rarely sees for sale in a shops—plums as large as teacups. [t appears that there are three fac’B which must be favorable ore Otago ntral becomes a land of green o:r----irds and waving cornfields—irrigahi, the railway, and the market. And lothing else tended to make the quesa a national one, the last-mentioned itor would do so. In recent years it 3 been amply demonstrated that New aland can grow all the fruit her peos can consume. Pineapples and gra- ; can be grown in the North Island, 3 grapes will flourish in Otago Cen,l,- while the fruits of the tempefe climates also grow well in such tricts as Christchurch and Hawke’s

y. Protection of our rapidly exuding fruit industry must soon come. 0 prominence given to fruit-growing 1 its possibilities in Central Otago ses a good deal from the fact that far irrigation has been attempted y in a small way by people fortu:e enough to have water at their dislal which is not already the property mining enterprises. But fruitnving is but the small man’s way of tling with land which, tinder a broad 1 effective system of irrigation, would >w cereals, a less perishable and re marketable product. Cven to the casual visitor to this mge land of grasslc-ss hills and sandy leys the wonderfuleffect of water on soil is most striking. About Poo.n and Alexandra there aro many 'dens and orchards, aiul even at de, Ti'lilcii is a milch smaller settlent, the gardens are prolific in fruit l vegetables, while at Earnscleuch, oss the river,-the orchards are filled h fruit. But in these localities 90 ■ cent of the water rights are held mining people for dredging and icing .purposes. And it is here that egmning must be made to assist the pto who are trying to develop the The water rights should, at any cp-be equally divided between min- | and agrarian industries.. If the jvernment gave the fruitgrowers 50 ■ cent of the available water, and .growers established a canning facy at Clyde or Alexandra, tneie is le doubt that an industry profitablethe. railway and. to the growers dd be set up. Later tho railway riel move on to- Cromwell, and RoarMe<>- arid other water-courses should n be*turned to the moistening of tlie . . These things are. capabLo of aciplisbment in the near future-, and comparatively moderate cost, and. aid result in settling more men on land and in making the railway r. The construction' of the lmo to weva and tli9 systematic irrigation tho whole area-arc matters dependon the progress of, the dominion, til out a doubt they will reaclriruiv,in “the'course of time and with the rease- of population. In older lands, igo Central would be carrying :i s tning thousands, even as it did in the Is of the gold rush. At present the bririt 'is in a stage of transition, passfrom gold to corn and fnut. And - people have one blessing which la make them strain every nerve to W, their district flonrish-the railThat is the first step towards fore,—“Lyttelton Times.”'