A BADLY-FRAMED MEASURE

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 255, 27 July 1927, Page 13

A BADLY-FRAMED MEASURE

(By

“Searchlight.”)

Recent criticism has revealed a, lot that needs explaining in the Wellington City and Suburban Water Supply Bill as drafted by the City Council for presentation to Parliament. As those in charge of the measure have shown no inclination to place the cards on the table it is well that the public should be made aware of certain important facts. In its general principles the scheme is an excellent one. It means the setting, aside of a great tract of forest country at tho headwaters of the Hutt River and its chief tributaries as a permannt water supply, water poweg. recreational and general endowment for'the residents in various areas surrounding Port Nicholson, and provides also for the afforestation of certain areas of land now in a more or less derelict condition. 'Phis admirable plan is marred by several serious defects in the empowering legislation drafted by the City Council. The defects to which it ig especially desirable that attention should bo directed are as follow:— (1) Wellington City Council, which needs water least, is supremo on the board of control, and no satisfactory provision is made for meeting the watersupply requirements of the smaller local bodies included, or for protecing their interests. (2) The milling of timber in tho 56.000 acres of State forests ,to be taken over is removed entirely from any control by the trained staff of the State Forest Service, and left absolutely in the hands of the City Council. a body possessing no expert forestry staff wnatever. (3) Action on the scheme has been urged as immediately necessary in order that certain ontions of purchase held by Mr. W. T. Strand, a. chief promoter of the scheme, may bo exercised over about 20.000 acres of private lands mostly in or adjacent to the Akatarawa Valley. This valley has a through road from Upper Hutt to Waikanao traversing it; it was condemned for water-supply purposes by the late city engineer (Mr. W. H. Morton); no cogent reasons have been adduced for the purchase of lands in it; the prices under Mr. Strand’s options have not been disclosed; and no provision in the draft legislation ensures an independent valuation of additional' lands to bo purchased. There are many other points in the proposed legislation to which exception has been taken such for example, as the power of the Water Board to tear up expensive bituminous pavements for miles on end without being under any obligation to defrav any part of the cost of their restoration. The total .exclusion of the public from tho whole vast forest area, similar to its total exclusion from the present city water supply areas, is also a possibility causing concern. Attention, however, will bo confined in this article to the three aspects of the measure set out above. WILL SMALLER BODIES GET FAIR PLAY? Taking the first point, inspection of the draft Bill show that the constitution of the proposed board of control is almost identical with that of the Wellington City and Suburban Highways Board. On a board of eleven members, * six will be members of the Wellington City Council, and the entire administration will be conducted by tho City Council staff. The complete dominance of the watersupply scheme by the City Council is unwarranted in view of the fact that it has ample supplies of water for many years ahead. Mr. Morton, in his report of 1919, estimated that Wainui-o-mata and Orongorongo supplied would suffice the city until round about 1950. Some of the other local bodies in the scheme are by no means in this happy position. Eastbourne Borough, for example, has no water supply at present, and tho provi-, fiion of an independent supply, for it would be an exceedingly difficult and expensive matter. The Citv Council has already refused to permit Eastbourne tc draw water from the city’s ample supplies—the only convenient source—and under the Bill the city still reserves its present supplies entirely for itself. Eastbourne will thus have no hope whatever of receiving water under the scheme until some distant date, when it suits the City Council to authorise. INEFFICIENT ADMINISTRATION?

A further important question in view of the conveyance of solo control over the scheme to the City Council is the administrative efficiency of that body. It cannot bo maintained that its standard of efficiency has been particularly high of recent years. The City Council’s last venture in water supply was not a striking example of how to tie things. It paid a fancy price for a tunnel through the hill to the Orongorongo River in order to make a rush job. This tunnel was begun in 1920 and completed in February, 1924. The necessary mains to bring in the Orongorongo water, instead of being laid while the tunnel was being driven, were not completed until November, 1926, nearly three years after the tunnel was finished. This performance was only- on a par with the error in measuring the roads for the suburban paving scheme, and the Northland tunnel muddle. In view of the foregoing it would seem that the City Council and its staff have ample work ahead in setting their new administration in order without, embarkjnj* into a outside field of timbermilling, tree-planting, suburban water supply, water-power construction, etc., etc. The City Council possesses no forestry exports, and it is extraordinarily difficult to see what advantage will accrue to the district by having the control of this huge forest area vested in it. An independent trust board, would have every prospect of doing things a lot better, and very little of managing them worse. -' A DANGEROUS OMISSION. This brings us to consideration of the second of three major defects in the scheme, enumerated above. It is a very significant fact that although the basis of the scheme is water conservation, n very remarkable emphasis las been laid on timber milling. Mr. W. T. Strand, a chief promoter of the scheme, is a sawmiller. Mr. Norwood, late Mayor of the city, after viewing a portion of the area under Mr. Strand's guidance, expot’ated on the fact that there was valuable commercial timber on the land that would provide cutting for fifteen years. Timber milling has throughout loomed large in the advocacy of the scheme Tn numbers of cases blocks of State forest have in the past been handed over by the State Forest Service to local bodies for water conservation and other purposes. In the files of tho Gazette will be found standard conditions imposed in these cases. It does not appear that anything like 55,(HKl acres of State Tareet has ever bean handed over to

BUTT VALLEY WATER BILL- - VITAL FACTS FOR CITIZENS ■ ALL CARDS NOT ON TABLE

Serious defects in the draft legislation for the fine Hutt Valley water supply scheme, deserving of the close attention of all interested in the future of Wellington City and its suburbs, are discussed below, and several highly important shortcomings are brought to notice for the first time.'

local control before. Further, it docs not appear that any block of State forest ha B before been handed over by tho State Forest Service of recent years witn no control reserved over ’ milling opera'tions. Under tho draft Bill the City Council can do exactly- what it chooses in the wav of timber cutting, and the State Forest Service may have ,to stand by and see tho bush completely ruined by inefficient working under licences granted by the City Council to private sawmillers. „ . „ • ». Here are the State Forest Service standard conditions in grants of forest land to local bodies. Tho clauses below appeared in the Gazette last year in a transfer to Marlborough County, and the same conditions can be found in other cases: — _ .. 1. The Marlborough County Council shall within six months of tho date hereof, or within such extended period as the Commissioner of State Forests may decide, prepare a general forest-working plan of future operations to cover a period of not less than five’ years; such working-plan shall fully specify the sibicultural operations proposed to be carried on during tho currency of tho plan and such other matters as tho Director of Forestry thinks fit. 2. It shall not be lawful for the Baid council to carry on such . silvicultural operations unless and until ■ such plan has been approved by the Commissioner of State Forests, and all such opera’ tions shall bo carried on according to such iplan as approved by the eaid Commissioner and under tho supervision of tho Director of Forestry. 3. Any officer of the State Forest Service shall have free access to the said land at all times for the purpose of inspecting planting or ether forestal operations, or for the purpose of reporting on proposed forest activities. (■ FOREST EXPERTS NOT WANTED! In the Bill priorly drafted by the City Council, and which it has' sought to ram down the throats of the other local bodies, what is the position as regards timber-cutting? Here is tho essence of them:— The Wellington City Council shall . . . have the exclusive control „nd management of the land subect to the provisions of this Act in respect of tho following matters: (a) All matters of forest policy. (b) All forests (whether provisional or permanent). (c) The planting and thinning of forests. • • • (d) granting of leases, permits, licenses, and other rights and authorities under this Act. It is a very singular and remarkable feature of tbe draft Bill that whereas it is laid down that working plans in. respect of areas set aside tor afforestation (tree-planting) purposes- shall be subject to approval by the State Forest Service, the State Forest Service is deprived of all control whatever over tim-‘ ber-cuttmg operations It difficult to believe that this vital omission was unintentional. What is its purpose? Is there confidence only in the competency of the State Forest Service as regards tree-planting, and not as regards timbercutting supervision? It is an extraordinary position. No clear requirement that timbercutting rights shall be offered for public competition is discoverable in thd draft Bill. This is a serious defect; and a previous transaction by the local bodies in forest land in this area emphasises the need for such provision. ■lt will ’be remembered that two years ago tho CityCouncil and the other local bodies of tho district joined in contributing funds for the purchase of a block of virgin forest in the Little Akatarawa basin. The purchase was made at the instance of Mr. Strand in order to prevent the sale of the‘whole to a sawmiller, and to conserve it for future water supply purposes. After purchase, control of the block' was vested in the State Forest Service, but for some' special reasons never disclosed, the very sawmiller, ahead of whom the local bodies had purchased, was given milling rights over the block, and apparently without competition. That seems to have been approximately tho position. If it is an inaccurate statement, it is desirable to have it corrected. These timber rights oppear either to have lapsed, or, at any rate, to be dormant. Had they been ’ exercised, there was, of course, tho State Forest Service Control to see that tho timbergetting was without detriment to the future water. conservation. At the same time it is highly undesirable that valuable timber-cutting rights over public lands should be disposed of otherwise than by open public competition. If any further private lands are to be acquired under options subject to milling rights, it is desirable that tho fact should be publicly disclosed. MR. STRAND’S OPTIONS. There now remains to bo examined me tiurd point as to tho proposed purciiase oi private lands. Air. otrund has stated that he horns options over about acres oF private lands, linking the main blocs or State lorest surrounding mo eastern and western brancued of tuo Hutt liiver proper with tho biocss to the westward in toe basins of the Little Akatarawa and Wakatixei Streams. A considerable area oi tins land is in tho Akatarawa Valley, through which runs tho rbad from Upper Hutt to Waikanae. air. Alorton, in his report, said that in view of tho settlement along the Akatarawa he was “unable to recommend it tor consideration” for waler supply purposes. It does not appear that this stream would have any very great value tor water-power purposes. If Mr. strand's options are exercised presumably the settlement in the valley will vanish. Even so, will the area be suitable for water conservation with a through toadin it frequented by picnickers, and used for driving stock, et.c This road was only completed a few years ago, after prolonged agitation. Does M-. Strand pronoso that it should be closed, and if he docs not, what is the value of Akatarawa Valley for waler conservation? There arg several reasons why the position with regard to tbe Akatarawa options held by .Mr. Strand should bo cleared up. According to published statements tlie options in this watershed cover land owned by Messrs. L. A. Port, Odlin, and Strand Bros, The Hutt County Council rate books _ show the Strand family as in occupation of 2260 acres in the upper part of tho Akatarawa Valley, this land being partly leasehold and partly freehold. No details have been procurable as to the prices fixed in the options secured by Mr. Strand from the various landowners. The only information hitherto obtainable has been that the prices range from £2 to £4 per acre. It has been urged that tho seneme should be hurried on with in order to exercise the options held by Air. Strand. On the other hand, Mr. S. Blackley, chairman of the Hutt County Council, in whose territory the option lands lie, recently stated that “be did not think tho private lands embraced in the scheme were increasing in value.” . , ' . The position, therefore, is that Sir. Strand participates in the scheme in a dual capacity. As Mayor of Lower Hutt, and a local public mart, ha has