OPPOSTION TO RATING

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXVI, Issue 146, 5 June 1936, Page 6

OPPOSTION TO RATING

Case for Hastings

FLOOD IMMUNITY

Borough Content with Ward Boundaries

COUNCIL STATEMENT

Opposition to any alteration in the present system of Hawke’s Bay Rivers Board rating that will cause an increase in the Hastings borough’s apportionment will be made by the Hastings Borough Council, according to a statement released for the consideration of the Government Committee of Inquiry into Hawke’s Bay Rivers Board matters.

The Hastings Borough Council’s statement sets out Hastings’s case in the following terms:— “We are definitely of opinion, so far as Hastings is concerned, that—•

“1. No alteration should be made in the boundaries of No 5 ward—that is, tho part that constitutes tho Hqst ings borough. “2. The Hastings Borough Council does not desire or urge any altera tion in its representation or in the number of members representing the respective wards on the Hawke's Bay Rivers Board. “3. So far as the Hastings borough is concerned, we will strenuously oppose any alteration in tho present system that will cause an increase in tho borough’s apportionment of rates-

“As a matter of fact, and in a de tailed survey of the proceedings of the 1918 Rivers Commission, we failed to see why Hastings should have been included in the Rivers Board district, or been mulcted to the extent of the apportionment laid down in the delibera tion of that committee.

No DANGER of flooding.

“It was argued during the proceedings of that committee, and proved, that the Hastings borough was not in danger of flooding from any river except, maybe, from the spill-waters of the Ngaruroro river at Roy’s Hill. It is significant, however, that in the evidence produced at that commission by laymen and by eminent engineers, this did not constitute a danger to Hastings, and in the 1897 flood the flood waters from Roy’s Hill (which were supplemented .by the waters from Te Aute and Poukawa lakes and swamps and drainage area) caused only a shorttime flooding of not more than 50 to 60 acres of the low-lying part in the southeastern portion of the borough at that time. However, no part of the borough has been covered by flood waters since that date.

“However, the borough realises that in common with other centres of population and other activities, even such as Government railways, it has perhaps a general and indirect interest in the immunity from flooding of areas contiguous to the borough, but this is a matter that cannot be measured. Nevertheless, the borough, while being op posed to any increase, would not dis pute the retention of its present allocation.

“So much has been attempted (unsuccessfully, in our opinion) to main tain that Hastings is menaced by the Ngaruroro river breaking its banks at some time at Roy’s Hill; but we maintain that the protective works carried out there are definitely adequate to face up to any situation that may arise in any flood, and in this regard we are informed by Mr C. Lassen, chairman of the Rivers Board, that the Rivers Board has expended £2400 in works at Roy’s Hill over the past two years, and in that period Hastings has contribute! to the Rivers Board £5960. A GENEROUS CONTRIBUTION. “Consequently, as it has been contended that Hastings is concerned only with Roy’s Hill, then it is also logical to maintain that our contribution to the Rivers Board is a particularly gererou.s one. “We are also informed by Mr Lassenthat the board does not contemplate any further capital expenditure in works at Roy’s Hill; consequently any future contribution by the borough would be used in Rivers Board works concerning more intimately the areas in other wards. “However, the borough does receive a service from the Rivers Board, inasmuch as the whole of the drainage of the borough in the northern and east ern wards empties into the tributary of the Ngaruroro river. “In the 1918 commission it was con tended that Hastings should contribute to the income of the Rivers Board for a further reason, and that was that 1L sewerage emptied into the Ngaiurorc river. That is correct, but tenders have already been called for a new sewerage outlet to the sea. and consequently, when that is completed, the sewerqge system of the Hastings borough will *be quite independent of any action the Rivers Board may take, or of wherever the rivers may flow.’’