Boring for Water.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 257, 7 February 1889, Page 2

Boring for Water.

HOW IT IS DONE IN GISBORNE AND IN AUSTRALIA, At ths last meeting of the Borough Council the following tenders were received for sinking an artesian well:— A. Weston—Up to 200 ft, £100; 300 ft, £238; 350 ft, £346; 400 ft, £4Bl ; 450 ft, £650 ; ffilOft, £7OO. T Gilberd, Taradale—Up to 200 ft, £135 ; , 200 to 250 ft, 13s 6d per foot; 250 to 300 ft, 18s 6d ; 300 to 350 ft, £1 3a 6d ; 350 to 400 ft, £1 10s; 400 to 450 ft, £ll7s 6d ; 450 to 500 ft, £2 ss. Doney Bros., Hastings—Up to 200 ft, £l6O ■ 200 to 250 ft, £1 per foot; 250 to 300.’t, £1 2« , o<i ; 300 to 350 ft, £1 5.; 350 to 400 ft, £1 IQs; jk 400 to 450 ft, £llss ; 450 to 500 ft, £2. It was proposed by the Mayor, seconded by Cr Lewis, that the tender or Mr Gilberd bo accepted, as it was considerably cheaper than the others, the contractor to start boring within a month.

The telegrams received from Queensland writes a correspondent, announcing that the Government were leasing their artesian wells and devoting the rent money to further boring operations mark an epoch in the interior history of Australia. Thia news refers to th« operations of a Sydney C'mpany, which operations have been remarkably successful, Tbe Federal Baring Company secured the

proprietorial rights to a nsW patent boring appliance, introduoed here by an American oapitalist, Mr J, S- Longhead, and they have seven machines now in work. It is onyiaua to note before stating the result of tbe oomSany's operations that when Mr Longhead ret came here, only twelve months ago, there was not a single squatter who would 'even al(ow the patentee to put down a bore, owing to their experience of failures in well-borinv. Nothing daunted, Mr Longhead proceeded, and he made this statement—to which he still strongly holds—that he would strike an abundant water supply ou any spot pointed out to him on Australian so 1. The success achieved in actual work seems to demonstrate that this statement is not mere talk. Sixty four wells have been sunk, and qot it a single inslanoe has there been a failure to find abundant water, Mr Longhead said he would find water from the south-western border of New South Wales right across the Queensland border to the Gulf of Carpentaria. And thia he has done. Oue hundred miles west of Bourke he has struck Water. At Kerribree, the out flow fram about 560 ft la 550,000 gal per 24 hours. ’His last strike in Central Queensland, at Baroaldine, the terminus of the Central Railway, Is a signal instance of mooes., At 760 ft a subterranem river was slruok, and an outflow of 772,000 gals par 24 hours wagsecured. The result Is of great advantage to the Queensland Treasury, as a new township has sprung up, and blocks of laud which previously could not be given away are sold at the price of 8.-übane tuburban lands. It may bo stated that the Longhead prlnoip'.s ia not the'diamond drill, but a steel rod or drill, which makes a bore any depth with a diameter up to Ift or lift, la fact a bore of 2sft oan be made. The bore at Baroaldb e was Ift in diameter down to S2oft, at which depth sa't wate- was struck

aud iron tubing was placed; beyond that tbe bore was 9in. The rush of water is so great that it has created a small running creek, and to save the tqbing from being shot out the aperture had tc be plugged and reduced toAJin, which, however, still deliver* 500,000 gal per 24 hours. It has been suggested to Sit Henry Parkes that an official report should be mad* on these discoveries wfthout delav, but • ehsng* of Minis" * relieves him from th* duty, * ’