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its lower end the Willowby extension race was dry for three miles. There seemed no alternative to the more difficult and expensive task of tapping the Rangitata River.

The Ruapuna farmers, including those on the new settlement, moved first. In 1899, quite unexpectedly they guaranteed payment on a loan of £7000—the only action of this kind taken in the county. It was unfortunate therefore that the project proved more awkward and expensive than others. The men who constructed the headwork for the new system in the Rangitata Gorge, under harsh weather conditions, called the place ‘Klondyke’. They made an intake capable of admitting 10,000 gallons of water a minute, only a quarter of which should have been needed for stock races. The supply was apparently meant to allow for full irrigation; but inefficiency made this impossible. A channel was excavated for some six miles along the face of the terrace bordering the river. Turfing and puddling were resorted to because percolation was so great that the water did not reach the plains for over a month after the official opening in March 1900. A heavy flood in the following year seriously damaged the intake. Costs increased.^[1] Frosts and snow restricted the supply. Percolation continued along the terrace channel and lengths of concrete had to be introduced. Nevertheless as one event showed the scheme was a success. In August 1901, the ratepayers of the Coldstream and Ealing districts, having failed to launch a scheme of their own, met and agreed to ask the Ruapuna farmers on what terms they would sell their surplus water. However, the Klondyke works were not really satisfactory until extensive repairs and improvements were made in 1903. The Ruapuna scheme was the only one of the ten main parts of the county water supply which had caused enough difficulty to attract public attention to its development. The feature of the Ashburton system as compared with those in other counties was the rapidity with which the races advanced.

The Rakaia ratepayers made no distinction between stock races and full irrigation when they appealed to the County Council in 1878 to prepare a water supply scheme. Even years later the term ‘irrigation water races’ was being repeatedly used for what was strictly a stock supply. Yet the County Council, busy finding suitable sources of supply to meet ever-growing demands, actively discouraged farmers by prosecutions when necessary from carrying out even the smallest irrigation schemes on their vegetable gardens. Indeed the best testimonial to the value of the water came from