Arizona republican., 1906-08-02
PRIVAIE CONFERENCE
 WITH R. $. ENGINEERS
Held Yesterday by Land Owners
 Opposed to Priority Suit.

Yesterday was another day devoted almost entirely by the visiting engi- neers of the reclamation service to i conferences with officials of the Water i Users association and with the repre- | sentatives of certain landed interests which are not in full harmony with the association in some matters, par ticularly the priority water suit.
 When MT. Davis was here last week
 en route to Roosevelt some of these. gentlemen requested an interview with
 him and. his associates. that they might present their coEtentions re- garding the water suit. The result of that request was the calling of the meeting of the board of governors which was held Tuesday and which
 was a very fair and open discussion participated in by all who chose toi attend, and during which meeting nearly every phase of the situation
 was presented by one or another of the speakers. However. a number of the gentlemen who have been hitherto openly opposed to the suit were not present and desired a private confer ence with the engineers yesterday, 1 which was granted, Messrs. Davis. Bien and Hill being present and the meet ing being held in the directors room | of the Valley bank.
 MT. Davis, when asked last night concerning the meeting said it was asked for as a confidential conference and he did not feel at liberty to make ! public the proceedings. He said, how ever that nothing occurred that in his 1 opinion, might not as well have taken | place in public had the gentlemen sol willed it. for 1t was practically a going ftFr.aF ,f WFtr discussed the day before. The con ference was an earnest and evidently an interesting one for all remained l through the luncheon hour and until the hour of a later conference with the officials of the Water Users asso- l ciation in the afternoon. Man does nott
 live by bread alone" If he did the en- | gineers would have d.ed last night for | they had no monday meal
 After the conclusion of the meetingl a report was circulated and attributed to one who was present. that as a re- suit of the conference it did not appear | that Engineers Davis and Bien were in full sympathy with the suit of Hur- | ley versus Abbott. These engineers.
 when seen. announced that they did | not care to take sides or to participate ! in any local controversy and there was | no occasion for them to revise anyI statements previously made
 Those who were present at Tues | days meeting as well as those who have read the published account of it | can have no vague understanding of | their opinions and in his many years of dealing with this valley MT. Davis | has never been discovered in the public | endorsement of policies that confIicted |, h afFaf terviews- It can be stated from an au- thoritative source that their attitude remains unchanged.
 In the afternoon a number of uues- uons were given consideration at a | conference of the engineers. President | Fowler and Judge Kibbey The great est attention was giveneto the matter of the necessity Of the large owners of | land. disposing of their holdings in ex- | cess of 16O acres. before the announce |. ment of the government reciting when II It would be ready to deliver water and II upon what lands. It will be remenI- l' bered that a letter from the secretary j. of the interior was published some II time ago to this effect and though II there is no immediate urgency in the II matter. it is one of the things that II must be done before the stored water II will be available. The conference ves- terday was merely a discussion of the II ways and means by which this end II might be mos: successfully accom- III pished.
 The engineers left O. last nights ! train for Yuma, where they will in- vestigate the perplexing conditions that obtain through the continued per II nicious activity of the Colorado river