Arthur. — On the Taieri River Ploods. 95 



finally the practicability of utilizing such natural sites as exist for the 

 storage of flood waters, but which have not yet been surveyed and reported 

 on. A tolerably intimate knowledge of the basin of the Taieri Kiver above 

 Outram, and of that of the Waipori Eiver, has satisfied me that certain flats 

 on the banks of these rivers offer very excellent facihties for the construc- 

 tion of dams capable of impounding the most of the flood waters, and that 

 at much less cost than is usually supposed. The expenditure of about 

 £200 on a survey would settle definitely this question, and the money 

 would be well spent. 



Floods on the Taieri Eiver have been reported on, or written about, by 

 Mr. J. T. Thomson, C.E., Mr. G. M. Barr, O.E., Messrs. Blair, Bell, and 

 Higginson, M.I.C.E. (Flood Commissioners), and Mr. E. B. Cargill. Their 

 estimated discharges of the river and its tributaries differ somewhat, as well 

 as the remedies propounded ; and as to the scheme of the Flood Commissioners, 

 its cost has been fatal, apparently, to its early realization. I propose, 

 therefore, to give you a few facts in support of my statement that the Taieri 

 floods are capable of being checked, if not entirely reduced to manageable 

 limits, by reservoirs, and that at a very moderate expenditure. 



Rain Storms. 



The opinion that the Taieri floods are due to the sudden melting of snow, 

 caused by warm north-west winds, with or without rain, is erroneous. For, 

 first, in the case of the gathering ground of the snow-fed rivers of Otago — 

 the Waitaki, Clutha, Oreti, and Waiau rivers — the greater part of the snow 

 lies above the 4000 feet level, while the mountains which discharge the 

 greatest amount of water into the Taieri — viz., the Eough Eidge, Lammer- 

 law, and Eock and Pillar Eanges — do not exceed 3800 feet in altitude (in 

 round numbers), with the exception of about 3000 acres on the Eock and 

 Pfllar. The snow is generally off the latter mountains by the middle of 

 November, and this season, while I write (October), there is httle or none ; 

 and the Taieri floods, particularly the most destructive, do not generally 

 occur while snow is on the highest catchment ground, that is, in winter. 

 The worst flood of all, that of 1868, occurred in the beginning of February. 

 Lastly, the heaviest floods have been consequent on raia-storms from east 

 to south-west. This range of direction does not bring warm rain ; that 

 comes from north-west ; but the storms blow well home, and as they reach 

 the Upper Taieri Plains keep pretty steady at south-east. My own notes on 

 the weather, made while living on these plains during 1867-68, and 1869, show 

 this to be correct. It is corroborated by the experience of settlers living 

 there, and the meteorological observations taken at Dunedin for the same 

 period are confirmatory. That is the first circumstance to be kept in view 

 in ascertaining the distribution and effects of the rainfall. 



