A CRY FROM LOWER HUTT.

Evening Post, Volume LVII, Issue 32, 8 February 1899, Page 2

A CRY FROM LOWER HUTT.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir — I have tto ask your permission to bring under the notice of a discerning public through the medium of your columns the position of affairs in regard to the proposed River Board for this district, because, although Nature has made this a veritable paradise for beauty and fertility, yet our present state is so bad wd the outlook so hopeless, that at no listant date you will see the miserable remnant of what was once a numerous and thriving population — a few strong swimmers escaping for their lives. We are a long-suffering lot of people in the Rutt Valley, but when the place is being rapidly transformed into an inhospitable waste, and we have to wade knee deep twice a week on the highway in getting to the morning train, we cry out loudly, and perhaps curse loud and deep : and the cause of all this is nothing but the ■neptitude, the venality, and the base methods of those in high places. Let m.c state briefly how we stand in regard to the remedy. In June of las'-, year we had what was the highest flood which had occurred for forty years, and which brought loss and disaster to many people. This' woke up some of us, who presented a numerously-signed petition to the Governor, which means the Government for authority to form a River Board, with power to act in the matter. Then the Colonial Secretary, Mr. Carroll, and Chief Engineer Hales, went over the whole course of the proposed protective works, and they were so satisfied with the feasibility and urgency of the project that Mr. Carroll told the deputation of promoters he would advise the Governor to grant their request. Then came the worst flood, of all, on 18th November,

when scores of houses were inundated to a depth of three or four feet. I should say here that the promoters of the River Board project proposed to have a differential system of rating to defray the cost of the necessary works. — that is, that those rUte~payers least affected by the floods should pay a very small rate compared to those who suffered most, although the enhanced value would come to all aliko, if the work was successful, which surely was fair enough. But the bucolic mind is everywhere naturally .slow and sordid, and of course there were some objectors to any rating whatever. These made up in persistency what they lacked in numbers, and although Mr. Carroll had told the promoters that he had actually sent the necessary authority to the Government Printer, which would be gazetted in the first week in January, just past, nothing has yet been done— and why? I will tell you. Because the objectors had in the meantime got speech of that disinterested and high-souled patriot, the Premier, and assured him that if he (the Premier) allowed the project to go on, he would lose their political support. That was enough, the project was stopped ; but, of course, although tho rentpayers are flying in despair, the freeholders have still the privilege of cursing loud and deep. You do not wonder after that indefensible action of the Premier that even the newly-elected Mayor of the Hutt, who is also Manager of the Assets Realisation Board, should telegraph an indignant protest to that great man that his action was both unjustifiable and contemptible. The truth, Sir, is slowly but surely being borne in on the minds of this community that we are being bestridden by a colossus, to whom nothing is too small or too great to be controlled or "bossed," fron\the "billeting" of charwomen and telegraph message t boys to the " burking" of a banking bill' or river board. And what in this local matter of moment and urgency have that pair of autocrat-worshipping, invertebrate political nonentities-Messrs Wilson and Field — been doing? Nothing — absolutely nothing ; although they were elected primarily to look after the interests of the Suburbs and Otaki respectively. I do not presume to give any opinion, on the engineering part of the project, although it is preposterous to say it is impracticable in view of similar works successfully carried out elsewhere; but any observer can see thousands of tons of boulders in the river-bed between the Hutt Bridge and the sea. lam assured that these arc of better quality than Wellington City Council is at present paying 7s 9d per yard for, brought from Paremata, and could be laid down in Wellington streets at 4s per yard, and that source of revenue alone would go far to defray the whole j cost. In conclusion, I would gladly acknowledge the valuable assistance you gave this project in June of last year in your leading columns, and I again bespeak your further aid in a matter of vital importance to this district. As I have dealt freely with persons, and you can depend on the accuracy of my facts, you will observe also that I am writing over my own signature. — I am, etc., B.OBEKT STEVENS. Bloomfield-road, Lower Hutt, 6th February, 1899.