142 Transactions. 
there is but little progress to record with regard to arterial drainage. With 
the exception of the Rangiora Swamp, (which has been partially reclaimed 
by a carefully planned system of drains, calculated, when completed, to 
reclaim 7,000 acres of swamp land), the drainage works of the province are 
of no interest, in a scientific point of view, except as showing the mischief 
that may be done by attempting to drain extensive districts without keeping. 
distinct outfalls for the upland and lowland waters. 
I would wish to direct the attention of the members to the efforts being 
made in England to enable landowners to obtain powers for draining 
through private properties, and for the. relief of districts which have been 
water-logged, to use an expressive term, by the injudicious erection of dams 
and weirs for obtaining mill power, often to the infliction of great injury 
upon the surrounding properties. 
Such legislation is no less needed here than in England; and I may 
remark upon a peculiar feature of our low-lying lands, whigh introduces 
unusual difficulty into the question of main drainage. 
It is, that the natural watercourses through the swamps and half-dry 
lagoons are in most cases above the level of the adjoining land, running - 
between embankments which appear to have been formed by the gradual 
deposition of silt in eomparatively still water. So generally is this the case, 
that in the neighbourhood of Christchurch it will almost always be found 
that a rise in the ground marks the position of an old watercourse, the 
original source of which has been cut off by the gradual deepening of the 
beds of the rivers by which it was fed. 
It will, therefore, be readily understood that the natural watercourses 
cannot be used for the drainage of our swamp lands, but that new lines 
must be cut for that purpose; and it is precisely the interference with 
private property involved in this course, that has led to so much difficulty 
and litigation in the attempts to reclaim the swamp lands in the province. 
For some years past the Provincial Engineer has been engaged in record- 
ing the levels of the country, as ascertained during the progress of the 
various road and railway surveys, the several sections having been all taken 
with reference to a common datum, viz. ordinary high-water springs at 
Sumner Bar. It is proposed gradually to extend these levels over the whole 
provinee, as opportunity offers, and to establish permanent stone bench- 
marks in every road district, for future reference. It is interesting to 
observe that a similar work is now in progress in France, for the purpose 
of affording accurate data for engineering surveys of all kinds, and it would 
be difficult to overrate the value of the information thus given to the public, 
or the facilities it affords for ascertaining, almost at a glance, the difference 
of level between distant points which it is required to connect for the pur- 
