DRAINAGE BOARD

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume LVIII, Issue 70, 3 September 1937, Page 6

DRAINAGE BOARD

MONTHLY MEETING,

The monthly meeting of the Ellesmere Lands Drainage Board was held at Christchurch on Wednesday, at which there were present: Messrs H. J. Macartney (chairman), John Sharp, R. McLachlan, F. Miller, F. Coop, H. Pickering and W. Downey.

Advice was received that the Local Government Loans Board had sanctioned the proposal for the raising of the loan of £850, the board's proportion of the cost of diverting the Halswell river to Lake Ellesmere. The loan was granted for a term of 25 years, the rate of interest being £3 10s, and sinking fund £2 10s.

The secretary reported that the receipts for the month totalled £263 4s 7d. The credit balance was £518 3s. Accounts amounting to £375 12s 3d were passed for payment. WORK FOR THE MONTH. In his report, the secretary (Mr G. L. Comer) detailed the work done during the month, including the following items:— River: The river at the Tai Tapu end of the Lansdowne section has had the sides cut and dragged, also some overhanging trees have been removed at the upper end of this section and the lower end of the Halswell section at Birdling's bridge. Along the Canal section and the upper end of the Tai Tapu section the sides have been cut and dragged.

Drains: Drains that have received attention are:—Dawsons, Knight's, Spark's, Tramway road small, Birdling's, Wood's, Case's, Glover's, McGill's, Blackler's, Minchin's, Moody's, Rainey's, Habgood's, Mangel's, Larcombe's and Mahnke road. Further timbering repairs have been done on Blacklefs drain, some 130 stakes from five to ten feet long being used, all of which were made out of timber salvaged from the old culvert at Taumutu. Sity is being shovelled out from the lower end of Minchin's creek and a few slips removed from the upper end.

Salvage of Timber: During the early part of the month further quantities of timber were salvaged from the old culvert at Taumutu, amounting to some 13,000 ft. Most of the smaller timber has been brought up to the board's yard at Tai Tapu, and permission was obtained from the Ellesmere County Council to leave, in the meantime, the heavy bearers on the side of the road near the Maori Church. There is at present about 12,000 super feet of timber at the Tai Tapu yard.