DRAIN THROUGH HUTT PARK

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 51, 23 November 1928, Page 13

DRAIN THROUGH HUTT PARK

PROTEST FROM COMMITTEE INTERIM INJUNCTION PROBABLE Unless an assurance is forthcoming from the Lower Hutt Borough Council some time to-day that it will not proceed with the construction of an open drain through portion of the Hutt Park on Monday next as is at present proposed, the Hutt Park Committee intends to apply for an interim injunction against the work being carried out. For some time the proposal to cut a drain through the park, the object of which is said to be the draining of flood waters from the Moera settlement, has been a subject of discussion between the Lower Hutt Borough Council and the Hutt Park Committee. At last night’s meeting of the committee advice was received from the Lower Hutt Borough Council that the work would be commenced on Monday next following the Wellington Trotting Club’s meeting on Saturday. The committee also received letters from the Trotting Club and the Waiwetu Golf Club protesting against the proposed undertaking. The Waiwetu Golf Club said that from their observation over a number of years, until the mouth of the river was interfered with by the Hutt River Board’s operations, a very small portion only of the park was subject to flooding during exceptional rain with an adverse tide and southerly wind. Since this interfere ence, the club stated, the outlet had silted up gradually each year, conditions becoming bad even before a single house was built upon the settlement so that the extra water coming from there would not appear to be the cause of the trouble. Surely the obvious thing to do, they said, was to restore the mouth of the river to its original state, and note its effect. Until this was done the club must register an emphatic protest at what might prove an unnecessary interference with its fairways and a waste of public moneys. The Wellington Trotting Club said that the drain when completed would cut off all approaches to the park from the railway. This would be a seriou matter to the club, and even more so to summer picnickers, who patronised the reserve. After discussion the committee decided to move in the direction of securing an interim injunction unless an assurance were forthcoming that the work would not be proceeded with, as at present proposed.