KAIRAKI STOPBANK DAMAGE

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28385, 18 September 1957, Page 18

KAIRAKI STOPBANK DAMAGE

Reply To Council’s Ultimatum

“My club was quite aware of the damage caused to the stopbank at Kairaki during the weekend, and the damage was repaired by 3.30 p.m. today,” said the commodore of the Waimakariri Sailing and Power Boat Club (Mr H. Blanchard) yesterday. “The damage was caused by a tractor hired by the club to carry sand to the site of protective works being built in front of our clubhouse.”

Mr Blanchard was replying to an. ultimatum by the Kaiapoi Borough Council yesterday morning giving the club 48 hours to repair the stopbank. At a meeting of the Kaiapoi Borough Council on Monday evening, the Mayor (Mr N. E. Kirk) said club members had taken a lot on themselves by their interference with something that had cost so much of the ratepayers’ money to build and was so essential. “Such action will not be tolerated,” said Mr Kirk.

High tides could now easily sweep through the bank. Three or more houses were threatened, all of the oval, and part of the camping grounds, said Mr Kirk. “Our clubhouse is right on the bank of the river, and to protect our property we have been sandbagging the river bank,”, Mr Blanchard said. “The work which we were doing protected residents at Kairaki as well as ourselves. We fully realised the damage we had caused to the main stopbank and have now repaired it.”