EYRE RIVER EROSION

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23401, 7 August 1941, Page 3

EYRE RIVER EROSION

NEED FOR CONTROL SYSTEM FINANCE PROBLEM UNDER DISCUSSION The need for some system of control to prevent erosion of the banks of the Eyre river was discussed at the monthly meeting of the Waimakariri River Trust yesterday. It was pointed out that the problem was an economic one owing to the small amount of money available for work in the areas affected.

The engineer (Mr H. W. Harris) reported that he had made further inspections of portion of the Eyre river affected by erosion and two more applications for groyne construction had been received. It was recommended

that these matters should be held over pending the Government’s consideration of the Rivers Control Bill when a comprehensive report on the Eyre river could be made and given consideration. The whole question of additional work on the river was one of finance, and a satisfactory solution might be reached if the Rivers Control Bill was put through this session. Mr M. Spencer Bower, emphasised the urgent necessity of the work being dpnp. He said that people along

the river right down from Oxford were genuinely perturbed at the present state of the river. There were one or two exceedingly dangerous places, where the river,was likely to overflow on to valuable land. The general opinion of landholders was that there should be some system of control to remove obstructions after floods. The chairman (Mr F. W. Freeman) said it was not only a problem of river control, but also of economics. Mr Harris said the river was getting in a worse state year by year owing to growth and obstructions in the bed. The question was oue of economics as the total expenditure for the Eyre and Cust rivers was under £SOO for 12 months. Owing to obstructions in the riverbed small floods were allowed to go from side to side, and caused a fair amount of erosion which was likely to continue. . Mr C. Morgan Williams, M.P., said it was no good noping for too much from the Rivers Control Bill. It was designed to give other parts of New Zealand some of the benefits existing in Canterbury where there was am active River Control Board.

Law Case About Beer Froth.—When a Weights and Measures inspector walked into a Sydney hotel and asked for a pint of beer he got 18 ounces, two ounces less than a pint. The rest was froth, but the magistrate to whom he ccmplained refused to record a conviction for short measure. The inspector took,the matter to the Supreme Court, but the judge held it was not an offence in law to serve beer with froth on it in a pint measure when a pint was ordered and there was no misrepresentation or subterfuge.