LAKE ELLESMERE DRAINAGE

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21908, 8 October 1936, Page 10

LAKE ELLESMERE DRAINAGE

Construction of Works Authorised

PERMANENT OUTLET TO SEA

[From Our Parliamentary Reporter.]

WELLINGTON, October 7.

A clause in the Finance Act No. 2, introduced in the House of Representatives, authorises the Minister for Public Works to construct works for the drainage and control of Lake Ellesmere, for the protection of adjacent lands, and for the construction of a permanent outlet to the sea. The bill also stipulates that all money held in the Public Works Fund and received on account of leases of Ellesmere lake lanos may be applied towards meeting the costs of this work, and that all money received after the passing of the bill from such leases will be disposed of in accordance with the provisions ot~ the Land Act, 1924. The clause repeals the section of the Land Act, 1924, dealing with the disposal of money from Ellesmere leases. This repealed section sets out that* the money should be applied, first in survey and administration expenses; second, in the costs of reclamation works on the land there; third, in the repayment to the Public Works Fund of money previously paid out in the construction of the railway from Lincoln to Little River; and the balance to be applied under the provisions of the Railways Construction Act of 1878. The bill authorises the Ellesmere Land Drainage Board to contribute to the cost of work mentioned in the clause, and for that purpose to raise a special loan. The board will control and maintain the work after its completion.