RIVER TRUST’S WORK

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23353, 12 June 1941, Page 7

RIVER TRUST’S WORK

CONTROL OF FOUR RIVERS FULL REVIEW OF YEAR A full review of the work of the Waimakariri River Trust in the last year was given members at the annual meeting yesterday by the chairman (Mr F. W. Freeman). Progress in the trust’s furtherance of its schemes of control works in the Waimakariri, the Eyre, the Gust, and the Cam rivers, was outlined and approved by members. Arrangements with the Eyre County Council were now complete to join the gap in the main embankment. The road diversion, said Mr Freeman, would cut out the Old Cutting Bridge and would shorten the road by a 35 per cent, saving in distance. This work would complete the designed scheme of embankments in the lower reaches of the river as originally planned in ■1926.

The crossbank had been raised three feet and greatly strengthened by widening the top from four to 16 feet. "Four-fifths of this huge undertaking has been completed,” said Mr Freeman. Two groynes at Coutts Island had been completed, thus preventing lateral erosion and training the river into the scheme alignment. There had been no serious floods in the Waimakariri, although there had been a large number of medium floods and freshps. Large floods had occurred in the Eyre and Cust. Necessary surveys, levels, and plans had been made for drainage at Woodend and the Pines, said Mr Freeman, going on to give details of what could be done to give relief to owners of areas totalling 6000 acres, which suffered in the past from faulty drainage. Because of the shortage of supplies and increased prices, occasioned by the war, the trust had had much difficulty in the maintenance of its works, but the trust had maintained its “high standard” policy, existing works had been stabilised and all danger points had received attention. The purchase of additional plant—a second dragline general excavator and a complete bulldozer unit—had greatly relieved the position and had more than offset the marked decrease in the number of No. 13 scheme workers. To prevent unnecessary flooding and to improve the drainage of the Flaxton area, a series of floodgates and culverts had been installed to correct the grade in the Cam area and had drawn excellent results even before the completion of the extensive stopbanks already under construction. None of the area below Boyes road and the Cam (an area of 900 acres) was flooded by drainage waters, as had always before been usual after a rainfall of intensity, as in March. On either side of the north branch of the Waimakariri for a distance of six and a half miles, said Mr Freeman, protective stopbanks seven feet high had been erected to control flood and tide waters. Incidentally, this deepened the river channel through the main stretch of the hitherto _ shallow portion of the river near Kaiapoi. At the south branch outlet the installation of a nest of three 42-inch culverts and floodgates was under way. Danger points at Eyreton and Englebrechts had received adequate attention. The new groynes at these places would be done this coming year. The river conditions up to now would have made the execution of these