HUTT RIVER CONSERVATION. TO THE EDITOR OF THE EVENING POST.

Evening Post, Volume XVI, Issue 283, 29 November 1878, Page 3

HUTT RIVER CONSERVATION. TO THE EDITOR OF THE EVENING POST.

Sir— An advertisement appears in your paper, signed by six of the moot influential of ' the settlers of the Hutt district, requesting the ratepayers of that district to meet at the school-house, to-morrow ovi ning at 7 o'clock, to consider the advisability of having a Board of Conservators established for the Hutt River. It is, of course, impossible to predict what , plan of proceeding may be decided on by the majority of those who may attend the meeting. It is, however, a matter of notoriety in the district that the encroachments of the river, • and the uncertainty of the nature and dimensions wliich these may assume in the future, have of late attracted much attention, and in fact, serious apprehension. The past long and severe winter, which appears hardly as yet ' to have terminated, has tended very much to increase the uneasiness felt by those roost i interested in the preservation of the river banks. 1 Qn the side of the loss account must be set the washing away of valuablo land, the gradual '. diminution of the area of purchased and improved property, the dread entertained by would-to settlers in the fertile valley of the : floods, and the constant expense and drain of capital caused by the works erected to resist the incessant assaults of the destructiveelement. On the profit side of the ledger will be found the actual amount of property preserved from destruction in the shape of land, buildings, crops, fenced. Sec, the increased value of the properties liable to attack on each bank of the river, from the confidence gained by prudent safeguards, and the far greater benefits which will be derived from the expenditure of capital in the shape of material and labor in a united, welldigested, and well-sustained effort, and a homogeneous plan, thnn in the spasmodic and nscessarily only partially successful efforts of individuals. What is required is, "a long pull, and a strong pull, and a pull altogether." The Wellington Rivers Act of 1876 affords, a ¦leans of enabling those interested to take decisive and strong measures to carry out the end contemplated. No doubt the machinery of this will be explained fully to the meeting by the gentlemen whose nanns appear in the advertisement, and who are so competent to do so. Itis unnecessary tosay moreon that subject now, but it is hoped tb'at there may be a goodly muster of those interested present, so that it may be fairly discussed and decided whether such a scheme shall be canied out at nil or not, so that in the event of the proposals of the originators appearing satisfactory to the meeting the action taken may be unanimous, and be heartily responded to by those who will undoubtedly reap the benefit of so desirable an undertaking if properly taken in hnnd, and energetically carried through. 1 a in, Sec, Alpha. Ipwer Hutt, 29th Nov., 1878.

The Last Man — Among the many surmises as to wh^t will become of the last man, it is queer that nobody has discovered that he is tftstined to be talked to death by the last woman.