LONGBEACH ROAD DISTRICT.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 1, Issue 135, 5 August 1880, Page 2

LONGBEACH ROAD DISTRICT.

■ I • 1 The usual monthly meeting of the Board of this district took place on Monday, the 2nd inat." There were present Messrs Grigg (chairman), Chapman, and Dawson. After the minutes of the last usual meeting were read and approved of,. the Government advertisement with reference to the alienation of a portion of this district to be formed into a separate road district was discussed, and it was resolved That, with reference to the petition, that a portion of this district be severed and formed into anew road district, to be called “The Till; wald-Winslow Road District,” as advertised by the Government in the Ashburton Mail of Saturday, the 31st July, this Board has no means of judging if the requirements of the Canterbury Roads Ordinances have been complied with, and that a copy of this petition, with the signatures be asked for. That, for the information of the Government, the Board would point out that it has been already petitioned by the number of ratepayers required by the provisions of “The Canterbury Roads Ordinance, 1872,” to have the whole of the district divided into wards ; hat the Board has complied with this request, and taken action by forwarding a petition to His Excellency the Governor, enclosed in letter to the Honorable the Colonial Secretary, dated 17th June 1880, and that, in the schedule to this petition, last referred to, No. I Ward has got the same boundaries as the portion of the district now advertised for severance. That copies of these resolutions be forwarded to the Honorable the Colonial Secretary, with the respectful request of the Board that the petition for severance be not complied with, for the reasons already stated, arid also because the division of the district into wards would have the same effect, so far as the separate working of the part desired to be severed, as the severance of it from the district would. And lastly, that copies of these resolutions be forwarded to E. G. Wright, Esq., the member for the district, asking him to kindly explain the matter to the Government. CORRESPONDENCE. Correspondence was read from Mr. Thomas White, asking that the drainage of Dawson’s road, near the junction of Bell’s road with it, might be improved. The Surveyor having explained what was required, the work was ordered to be done. From Messrs. Jackson and Sweeney Bros., asking that the road leading from Ealing railway station eastwards along the north bank of the Rangitata river he formed. The Surveyor was desired to inspect the place, and report thereon at next meeting. From Mr. C. H. Dowding, the manager of the Coldstream estate, asking that the repeated applications for the formation of Crow’s road may he complied with. The Board decided to put • the work in hand. From Mr. James Scott, the manager of the Chatmoss estate, protesting against the drainage works now being done on Boundary road, and giving the Board notice that should any damage be done to the Chatmoss estate, owing to the effects of this drainage, that the Company will hold the Board liable for all such damage done. The letter was ordered to lie on the table. From four ratepayers, asking that the Chatmoss read from Boundary to McLennon’s roads be formed. The Board decided that they had not sufficient funds at present for this work. surveyor's report. The Surveyor’s report was read as follows : Ward System. I have the honor to report that since the last meeting of the Board, the petition then resolved on was forwarded to his Excellency the Governor, asking that the district may be subdivided into wards. No reply to the same has as yet been received. The Clerk was desired to write again to the Hon. the Colonial Secretary. Tenders Accepted. For each of the six pieces of work authorized by the Board to be done a tender wan accepted by the Chairman. The acceptation of their tenders, as well as the performance of some small necessary but unauthorized works, was approved of by the Board. Contracts. All the various contracts are now being proceeded with satisfactorily and certificates for progress payments have been granted. Rangitata Cutting. Owing to the diversion of the lower beach road whore the cutting through the terrace into the Rangitata river bed is being made, the road will now be through a greater length of swampy ground at the foot of the terrace than was originally intended. This will require the expenditure of a small extra amount of money which I would ask the Board to authorize. Agreed to. Timoald. The cleaning out of a ditch at Tinwald to take the water off the Great South road at Mr. Shearer’s workshop is required. The Board decided not to do any more work in that locality until either the severance of that portion of the district or the proclamation of the district into wards was carried out. Waierton Drainage. Notwithstanding that the works for the protection of Waterton from the effects of floods are nearly completed, that place was more heavily flooded during the last heavy rain than, I am informed, it ever was before, and from a careful survey of the place and surrounding neighborhood, I am convinced that these works, even when completed, will not be sufficient to carry away the storm water which now accumulates at Waterton and flows over the top of the main rord there in several places. What I would propose , should now be done, would be the construction of a wholly artificial main drain from the'

gully in Mr. Richard Davies’s land, R. S. 18894, right up through Waterton and on into the old toi-toi paddock until Spicer’s creek is sufficiently tapped, for that is the main source of the water that floods Waterton. The details of the scheme might be bi’iefly as follows : —Following the line of a gorse fence which commences at Williams’ corner, on the lower beach road, and continues the whole distance, a strip of land half a chain in width be purchased (I follow the line of the gorse fence so as not to cut through any paddocks and thus cause compensation for corners, etc., cut off, to be necessary). On this strip form a drain with plough and scoop, say sixteen feet wide, at the gully, three feet deep, and decreasing one foot in width every half mile from the mouth upwards. The total length is about four miles and thirty-six chains ; thus at the spot where Spicer’s creek would be tapped the width would be only seven feet, giving an average width of eleven and a half feet, and of this work a very considerable proportion is already performed by means of the side ditches alongside of the gorse fence, only that not being properly connected, the beneficial effect is lost. All water-rights, such as irrigation, &c., could be preserved along this course by means of stanks, and overflooding of existing ditches or drains, which might be intersected, could be avoided by using floodgates. This drain being almost quite straight throughout its entire length, and having a very considerable, yet, in my opinion, not too much fall, its effect would be to render any accumulation of flood-water impossible : and as it would tap a great number of springs, the supply would continue all the year round. As for its maintenance, being straight, very little, if any, silting up would occur, and if it did silt up a little at first, the silt could be removed by scouping, at a comparatively small expense. Again, as for scouring, the nature of the soil above Waterton is that it will not scour, and that in the part having the quickest fall for the remainder of the course, I will not now say that it will not scour, but if it was found that it would scour, a number of timber stanks, about one foot each in height, placed across and in the drain would decrease the fall to any amount required, acting in the same way as the locks in a canal. If Waterton is to be protected from floods, 1 am convinced this is the cheapest and most effectual method to obtain that object, as what is required being to cut off the water in Spicer’s and other smaller creeks, the drain leading through Wheatstone cannot take any more water than now finds its way into it, unless it is made very much larger, and it is already quite large enough to be on a road-way, and the other County drainage work following, as it does the zigzag course of a creek, I am afraid will be found, if not useless, at least too costly in its maintenance to be of any permanent service. W. Cuthbert, Surveyor. It was resolved that this clause of the report be referred to the Ashburton County Council for their favorable consideration, and that the Surveyor make a still further survey of the ground, and attend the next meeting of the Council to render any further information that may be required. The Surveyor was desired to give Mr. Stalker the levels, etc., for carrying the water • across the Great South Road opposite his house, and to instruct him to proceed at once with the work. The pay sheet, amounting to LlB5 3s. sd. , having been examined and passed for payment, the meeting adjourned.