Historic find investigates water options in 1890s
Waimakariri Irrigation Limited (WIL) CEO Brent Walton presents an 1894 report investigating alternative options for getting water to the Waimakariri Plains to Waimakariri mayor David Ayers
A report written in 1894 for the Minister of Mines investigating alternative options for getting water to the Waimakariri Plains was recently uncovered by Waimakariri Irrigation Limited (WIL) CEO Brent Walton.
Brent presented the original framed document to Waimakariri mayor David Ayers last week to mark the 125th anniversary of the report on 28th June.
He discovered the document while searching for another report in the WIL archives.
“I was actually looking for something else and just stumbled across it when I found it tucked away in a folder. It was such a coincidence that it was just a couple of weeks away from the 125th anniversary of the report when we found it.
“The nine-page report makes for great reading and given its relevance to local history and the irrigation scheme it seemed appropriate to present the document to the council, as it’s of interest to the wider local community.”
Copies of the original report will also be given to the Cust Museum for their collection.
