ASHBURTON RIVER SCHEME

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23319, 3 May 1941, Page 8

ASHBURTON RIVER SCHEME

“Unless encouraging local assistance is forthcoming," said the Minister for Public Works (the Mon. H. T. Armstrong) in a letter to the Ashburton County Council, T can see no prospect of completing the river clearing scheme at the present time. If the council wishes the project to proceed, it should be prepared to subsidise any allocation from the Government on a basis of not less than.£l for £2.” It should be realised that the Government had stretched its resources to the utmost to aid the council, Mr Armstrong stated, but because of the war effort,, the problem of completing the work must be considered of local importance. The sum of £34,375 had been allocated for clearing work in .the Ashburton river, but in March it was found that the costs had increased to almost twice as much as previously estimated, £27,000 still being needed to complete the work. The finance of such work was dependent on the amount allocated from year to year by the Public Works Department, plus any addition made by the Ashburton County Council. Members of the council, the Process League, the Geraldine -River Board. Mr T. D. Burnett,, M.P., and Vlfs A. N. Grigg will meet the Minister at Ashburton on May 6 to discuss further proposals.