RIVER EROSION.

Feilding Star, Volume III, Issue 829, 16 March 1909, Page 4

RIVER EROSION.

REPORT OF THE COMMISSION. RECOMMENDATIONS. A NEW CHANNEL FOR THE MANAWATU. SCHEME WILL COST £35,000. NO DIFFICULTIES ABOVE AWAHURI BRIDGE. I THE QUESTION OF RATING. The report of the special Commission—Messrs A. D. Thomson, S.M., Palmerston, W. S. Short (Roads Departmont, Wellington), G. J. Robinson (District Engineer, Roads Department), and Clias. A. Vickernum (District Engineer, Public Works Department) — set up to investigate several important questions relating to the drainage of the Pohangina, Oroua, and Manawatu Rivers was made available for publication yesterday evening. Copies of the report are to be sent on in due course to the local bodies interested for their consideration. The scope of the Commission was to report upon the desirability of instijfcilfcing one or more united Land .Drainage districts, instead of the four now existing in the area, and to fori initiate, if practicable, a coinprehen- , sive scheme of drainage for the Pohangina, Oroua, and Manawatu Rivers, so that they might be made ■ more effective as a means of drainage and less injurious to the lands : thromgh which they flow. Four schemes were considered by the Commission, and it recommends 1 the cutting of a new channel! for the • Manawatu river, starting at Fisher- . man's point, then cutting into an almost straight line for Foxton, , through the flats to the returned bend of the river, which it will cross, then ' cutting through the point at Mata- » karapa immediately opposite the wharves. Crossing the river it will come out a little to the east oi" the 1 wharves, and hugging the foot of ■ the dry land on the extreme west side i of the Moutoa low land, join the river . at the Moutoa Maori Church. The cutting of this eh a mid would reduce the distance from Foxton to the Heads by two miles, and the cost i would be about £30,0U0. The Commissioners' report discusses the question of who should pay for 1 carrying out the scheme. No doubt, • it states, the whole of the 70,000 acres subjected to flood should con- , tribute, but it had also been urged that tho whole watershed and the towns which would benefit commercially from the increased productiveness of the relieved area and the Go- , vernment itself (by subsidy or endowment) might help to bear the burden. The Commissioners consider it would be unfair to levy the owners : of land m the upper watershed, as they only do what they are entitled to do in the ordinary course and the , waters -get into the river by gravitation only. 1 Therefore the Pohangina, Kiwitea, i and Oroua Counties should be excJud- . Ed from tlie rateable area. The , towns should also be excluded, as the benefit derived from the scheme would ' only bo enjoyed by a few merchants. '< -As the works Mould benefit the whole country by increasing tV> prodiic- . tivity of the land and its capacity t|w taxation, the Foxton Railway would be protected from flood and the Manawatu bar would probably be ■ so much improved by the scheme as . to result in increased shipping and . consequent wharfage collected by the Government, the Commissioners are of opinion that the State should bear • some portion of the cost. , _ The report continues that the } 70,000 acres of land affected would be [ enhanced in value by £10 to £12 an 5 acre and would be able to bear an an--1 nual average rate of os per acre. Tho • rating should be upon an acreage, ra- . ther than a valuation basis and the ¥ lands should be classified, as those now of least value will benefit most 1 by the scheme. The scheme recommended deals only with the Manawatu river below the j Longburn railway bridge and tho Oroua below Awahuri bridge, the " Commissioners being of opinion that I the difficulties in the areas above . these points are only those of erosion, t which could be effectively dealt with by Boards set up under the River 1 Boards Act It should be made an i offence punishabl- by a substantial 5 penalty to allow stock to damage either public or private protective works. The constitution of a Lower Manawatu River Board is recommended to 3 control the Manawatu river from the 3 termination of £he proposed cut near Fisherman's Point to Longburn railway bridge and, the Oroua river from t its junction with the Manawatu to b the Awahuri bridge, j ' The excellent character of the land and its severe handicap through floods is noted by the Commission, p which is of opinion that it would am- • ply repay the settlers and the domin- . ion to undertake the straightening, of the river by putting in the first cut from Foxton to Moutoa from the fc three mile to the nine mile point. 5 This would, by considerably relieving the flooded area, give such evidence of its value as to convince the settlerß of the advisability of completing the whole scheme.