158 



Transactions. 



(3.) The Belfast Well. 



This well is situated at the Canterbury Frozen Meat Company's works 

 at Belfast, ten miles north of Christchurch, and within a mile of the Wai- 

 makariri. The well was sunk in 1896, and is 96 ft. deep. It is not a 

 flowing well, but opens into a concrete sump, in which the water stands 

 about 4 ft. below the surface. Its construction seems to preclude any 

 surface drainage. Observations were made on it by Mr. L. P. Symes from 

 the 14th October to the 1st December, 1911. The controlling factor in- 

 fluencing its fluctuations seems to be the level of the Waimakariri, as the 

 following graph shows. The heights of the river are those noted at Bealey 

 on the day before they are entered on the graph, as the water in the river 

 takes eighteen hours to flow from Bealey to Belfast. 



Fig. 9. — Graph of Well at Belfast (Full Line) in Centimetres, and of 



Waimakariri (Dotted Line) in Feet. 



Conclusions. 



The well at Lincoln depends for its supply almost entirely on rainfall. 

 The wells in Christchurch depend on rainfall, probably assisted by percola- 

 tion from the Waimakariri. The wells at Belfast depend chiefly or entirely 

 on the Waimakariri. The rain supplying the wells of present depth falls 

 on the plains comparatively close at hand — say, within ten miles of the 

 town. The discharge from the wells probably lowers the water-table in 

 the country. The barometric pressure influences the wells. 



At the close of a paper that is largely a compilation of the work of 

 others I have a long list of helpers to whom to offer thanks. Mr. Speight 

 and Mr. Symes have been good enough to offer valuable suggestions during 

 the course of the work. The Council of the Canterbury Philosophical Insti- 

 tute has voted money for apparatus. Many of the students at Lincoln 

 College. Mr. Speight, Mr. Symes, His Lordship Bishop Grimes, Mr. Crump, 

 and the verger of the Presbytery at Lincoln, have either taken well- 



