£18,600 DAMAGES CLAIMED.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19735, 27 September 1929, Page 6

£18,600 DAMAGES CLAIMED.

FARMERS V. RIVER TRUST. EVIDENCE CONTINUED. Again yesterday the Compensation Court was engaged in hearing the claim «( James Wright, for £16,641, and the claim of his sons for £2OIO against the Waintakariri River Trust, as compensation for alleged damage to Wright's farm by the operations of the Trust tn the riverbanks. Mr Justice Kennedy presided over the sitting. Sir Walter Stringer was tha assessor for the claimants, and Mr X. Bold (Wellington), the assessor for the Trust. M* A. F- Wright, with him Mr W. J. Sim, appeared for James Wright, Mr Sim also for the nous, and Mr F. W. Johnston, with him Mr E. W. White for the River Trust. Recalled by Mr Wright Joseph Smallay, farmer, said that if he hifisc'f worked the 132 acres of Wright's farm he estimated that by supplying milk to Christehurch at £32 per cow, there would be a return of £I9BO. Ten acres In potatoes would produce making a gross profit of £'3oo. Against that there would be interest on capital, <709. and rates, taxes, and labour £450, leaving a net profit of £IOSB. There would be a gross profit of £l9lO using the cows for faetorv supply, and running ISO, pigs. With £76- interest on eapTtal and £450 for rates, taxes, and labour, the net profit would amount to Gordon Wolaetev Wright, a son of James Wright, said before the 192ti flood there was no flooding to apeak about, except a little backwater I roai Gregg's drain. Witness did not recall the land having been flooded in the nor'-west part, prior to the Trust's operation!. The flood in December, If-5, entered the land iu the north western area. There was » previous breach iu II assail's bank, t! W h which the water fame, scouring 0,., a hole of about a quarter of an acre. Wright, sen., put up u buuk which forced further floodwater down the Kaikanui creek. The Trust raised the bank on top of the old one, erected liy witness's fatherThe banking up at Dixon's stop;> d flooding there iu 1025, and thus tilled tip the Kaikanui creek. The brefnhes i that had been in Hassail's old bank had existed for some time, and witness could not retail the Trust ever having made my repairs to the ' rink. The 1025 flood, continued witness, also drowned out three at-res of potatoes. In 1925 also, ISO acres, which witness was farming on the North road, were completely laun lated. Before the flood e&me no damage was •uffered »n the homestead property. | Debris uad«r the Coutts's Island bridge |

made his father's farm susceptible to flooding. To Mr Bim: The Trust had cut down about 10 or 15 chains of willows, two chains back from the riverbank. It was some time after 1926 when the Trust moved the silting from under the Coutts's Island bridge. At no time between 1926 and 1928 did the Trust intimate that it was abandoning the No. 2 scheme. As to the actual damage suffered, the leasehold held by witness from his father was worth an anual rental of £6 an acre, although his father rented it to witness and his brother for £3 10s an acre. The land was worth £llO an acre. The general farming operations were disorganised by the activities of the Trust. The floods compolled witness to change over from dairying and root crops to restricted dairying and sheep, for, when a flood came, sheep could be moved to another place. It was not a wise policy to move dairy cattle in such a way. The dairy herd dropped down from 73 to 45 To Mr White: Flooding in 1925 caused the breaches in Hassall'B bank. The flood in May, 1926, did not do much damage. To Mr Johnston: Prior to 1925, Doubleday's property was never flooded. G. E. Royds, a partner in the firm of Field and Royds, grain merchants and stock and station agents, said that the land tax value of a farm would be 10 per cent, to 15 per cent, lower than its selling value. In his opinion there was no better quality land in Canterbury, and he would price it at £.IOO an acre, including improvements. With the growing of lucerne a considerable improvement could be effected in a farm. Prior to the operations of the Trust witness would not regard the farm as a dangerous proposition from the selling point of view. George Slater, surveyor and engineer, said that a good proportion of the flood waters would go down the Kaikanui creek. The stop-bank erected by the Trust, had the effect of forcing the water on to Wright's property. The Court adjourned until this morning- (