SPRINGS COUNTY DRAINAGE

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25304, 2 October 1947, Page 3

SPRINGS COUNTY DRAINAGE

“A DREAM COME TRUE” CATCHMENT BOARD MEMBERS ENTERTAINED In appreciation of the work done by the North ' Canterbury Catchment Board in completing the drainage system in the LI drainage area in' the Springs County, farmers in the Springs district last evening held a function for the board’s engineer, the dragline operators, and the field staff. The chairman (Mr W. Machin) and members of the board were present.

The LI scheme was the first drainage project to be finished by the board, and one that had been sought by farmers in the area for 50 years, said the chairman of the meeting (Mr H. B. Moir). Mr Moir referred to the completion of the work as “a dream come true;”

Speakers referred to the long struggle which had been going on during that period for the drainage of the district, and tributes were paid to the members of the early drainage committees (all since dead), who had worked with unremitting perseverance for tfie completion of the work.

The chairman of the Springs County Council (Mr P. V. Bailey) spoke of the part taken by the county in the scheme. He spoke in appreciation of the action of those farmers who had agreed to come into the scheme so that a rating, area might be constituted, but who would receive very little advantage from having done so. Mr Bailey ccmplimented the chief engineer (Mr H. W. Harris), and the two dragline operators (Messrs D. Bruce and A. Gordon), on their outstanding efforts during the last few months. On one occasion, he said, Mr Bruce worked in Lake Ellesmere for 23 consecutive days for 16 hours a day so that he could complete his work before southerly winds set in. •

It was most unusual for local bodies and their staffs to be accorded such an expression of public gratitude, said Mr Machin. He emphasised the catchment board’s appreciation of the work of the engineer and his staff. Mr Machin commended the Springs County Council and its chairman for the great contribution they had made to the LI scheme. By their own efforts, without waiting for Government subsidy, they had done everything possible to assist in the scheme before the catchment board began its work, and were an outstanding example to other councils. The completion of the scheme, however, still left much to be done, he said, and the responsibility now lay with individual farmers. The maximum benefit from the scheme could only be obtained if each farmer made use of the public drains until such time as his land had its own drainage system.