Dr Holmes chairman of catchment authorities

Press, 13 June 1978, Page 2

Dr Holmes chairman of catchment authorities

Dr W. R. Holmes, chairman of the North Canterbury Catchment Board, has been elected president of the New Zealand Catchment Authorities' Association at its annual conference in Lower Hutt. Dr Holmes, an eye specialist in Christchurch, has been a member of the North Canterbury Catchment Board for 16 years and has been its chairman for six years and a half. He has represented the catchment authorities on the National Water and Soil Conservation Authority for six years. Dr Holmes said the prime challenge for catchment boards was finding their place in whatever form of local government emerges. However, this would be difficult for boards in the remoter areas. “Boards will have the opportunity to get in early in the piece and establish water and soil management in a way that has not been available to the Auckland Regional Authority and the Wellington Regional Water Board, he said. "We would rather work in association with planning committees than be directly represented.”

i Dr Holmes said the recent : extremes of weather had ' shown there were still lessons to be learned.

1 “During ‘the long drought 1 t there were pleas for water ? t storage where the need i 1 seemed unlikely a few years I i ago. It emphasised the prob- ’• t lems a great range of people * have to confront,” he said. i “The longer we live with i ! the 1967 Water and Soil ; r Conservation Act, the wider ’ are the cracks that appear. 1

They cannot be pasted over with amendments,” Dr Holmes said. “There is an obvious need for new consolidated legislation. for example, the section dealing with lawful uses: of water has led to a decade of chaos, and must be modified, and it is doubtful whether any overwriting of legislation about water classification is a feasible proposition,” he said. “Legislation is supposed to reflect the wishes of the community. We have to keep redefining community needs if people in management are to have a show of doing their job reasonably. “I hope, with everyone involved in public expenditure in New Zealand, that we can look forward to a continued supply of money so that intermediate planning can take place,” Dr Holmes said. The present system of planning schemes that took years to carry out with an inconsistent annual budget put catchment authorities in a difficult position with their ratepayers. The legitimate and worth l while aspirations of any group could find a place in water and soil management, he said.