FLOODING IN THE MAKERUA.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 27 November 1935, Page 3

FLOODING IN THE MAKERUA.

Settlers Anxious to Get Relief. Government Help Urgently Needed.

Over 50 settlers were present in the Opiki hall last evening for the purpose of discussing with members of the Makerua Drainage Board the question of relief from flooding that occurs in the lower portions of the Makerua area. The financial difficulties of both board and ratepayers were extensively reviewed and the general opinion expressed was that the land was unable to carry a burden heavier than the big one now imposed upon - it; that anything that needed doing could only be accomplished with Government assistance. It was finally decided to ask the Drainage Board to send a deputation to the Public Works Department in an endeavour to seek help both by way oi engineering advice and monetary grant.

Mr H. Seifert, chairman of the Makerua Drainage Board, presided and stated the Board desired to do ail it could to assist the ratepayers as far as it lay within its power. When land was flooded, values were affected and in turn the Board’s rates. He hoped that whatever claims were made, would be fair and just to all concerned. Mr Aizlabie asked if the Board had anything in mind to relieve the water that was lying about. One-third of his land was still under water and mud, the result of the old main drain not being cleaned for two years.

Mr Robinson said u deputation had gone to the Board with the request -that the old Main drain be deepened and pumps installed to get the water over the bank into the river. The lower end was holding water which had come off the higher ground and they still had a lot of hooding to contend with. Mr Robinson referred to the effect the flooding had on ,his dairying operations, which had been curtailed very considerably. It seemed the Board had no money to do things with yet the property-owners couldn’t very well pay any more rates than they were at present. Mr Seifert said levels were taken of the drain and there was just a little fall. However, to his mind, it wasn’t want of fall that was the trouble, but rather that the water backed up it. Even if the drain was cleaned, the water would still come up it. The intersecting drain had been made very large to act as a storage drain so as to give the pumps a chance to act. The pumps already in operation could never cope with the water as it fell unless very largo pumps were installed and the ratepayers can’t afford the added expense. Ho didn’t mean that the Board would not clean the old Main drain, but when it was done not much relief could be expected.

Mr A. Seifert said he was of opinion that Campbell drain and flood gates should be taken over by the Board. There would never be satisfactory drainage of the Makerua until the | main outlets were taken over by the Board and properly maintained and kept in order. It was a serious matter to neglect cleaning a drain ana where the Board had failed to do that in respect of its own drains, it had been lacking in its duty to ratepayers. Did the Board have control of sufficient drains to give relief? That was the all important question. The chairman: Why do you think the Board should do that? Mr A. Seifert: ‘'Because very often •where-settlers share a drain, one or another fails to do his share and that means trouble for all.” The Board, he thought, should take action against a settler who failed to do his duty in tho matter of drain upkeep, because there had been disastrous results in the past The speaker was in favour of a pumping scheme, although it might cost money. At Taiero, 19,000 acres were being cleared successfully by pumps. H would be a very serious matter if a settler whose land was subject to continual flooding, should get a revaluation and so throw n greater burden on to the others, Mr Seifert referred tc the value of the Makcrvm land and thought it well worth while protecting. Mr T. D. Lynch asked Mr A. Seifert if he thought the present Board had been more neglectful than the Board in the days when the latter was a member.

Mr Seifert replied that he had seen ' drains that had not been cleaned. ■ Mr Aislabie said Alr Simpson’s house , had been in water .11 times this year. t Mr Lynch thought the whole trouble ; was that the Makerua had undertaken ; the control of too large an area to j manage successfully. Ihoy could not pay | any more rates, so it seemed a case of j being flooded off )f they didn’t want | to bo rated off. Mr Lynch was also >f ; opinion that a Government subsidy ! should have been secured for the work j in the initial stages of the venture. Mr Irwin: The scheme should either be made a national one or shipped on | to the mortgagees. , (Laughter). ; Mr A. Seifert said the scheme could ; never have been reduced in size. Possibly it was unfortunate that interest , was as high as 6 per cent, when started but nobody realised that interests and costs would come down? However, if -left the land would have gone to black- , berry, Mr Seifert said he had suggest- . ed the obtaining of a report from Public Works engineers on the merits of a pumping scheme. Mr IL Seifert said the Board was most concerned with the question as tn where the money was to come from for the pumps. Did anybody want to see the rates go up? Mr Spiers said the Board was flumping all the water from the higher levels into the intersecting channel and from

there on to the lower levels. The Board had been lacking in its duty in not calling in expert advice. The chairman: The Board has. Mr Spiers: Well, it should have been expert advice worth having. Mr Lynch: They all had their degrees. Mr Spiers said they could not afford IJd per unit for power for the pumps. He was in favour of Mr A. Seifert’s idea of getting the advice of the Public Works engineers on more efficient pumps than the one now operating. He realised the Board had great difficulties to meet but the settlers would be behind it in securing Government advice with power supplied at a nominal cost. Comprehensive Scheme Urged. Mr J. Carter agreed that the Board had had to face an impossible task The whole country was sinking and it was quite beyond the capacity of tiie fanners to carry the burden from now on. However, the Board couldn’t bo blamed for the difficulties the settlers were now facing ami the only course left was to try and solicit the Government to institute a national scheme ox relief. The Makerua was also faced with ■ competitive banking and he was linuly of opinion that all the adjacent areas as well as those on the other side of the river would have to bo drawn into a national scheme. ihe Makerua had not finished sinking yet and all the pumps of the world wouldn’t cope with the seepage and surface water that came down in the rainy seasons.

Mr Spiers: Is your idea to get rid of the Hood water in the Manawatu and so help the Makcrua that way? Mr Carter: The only way is to improve the outlet of the river. We are going to bo faced with continual maintenance on the Manawatu and Tokoniaru banks unless the river level can be lowered. The whole of our drainage is useless so long as the rivers are in flood. The Public Works Department should undertake a national scheme. (Applause). Board’s Finances Mr X. I. Nielsen, clerk of the Drainage Board, placed the financial position of the board before the meeting. He said the board had 28 miles of drain to keep clean. This did not inj elude the Tokoraaru and Kara streams ■ nor the intersecting channel. The fol- | lowing amounts had been spent on maintenance of drains and admimstra 1i0n:—1932, £3488; 1933, £2(584; 1934, £1899; 1935, £2542. For the same vears the following amounts had been paid as No. 5 labour on drains:— 1 1932, £2231; 1933, £868; 1934, £748; 1935, £lsßl. Bunk interest had been as follows: —1932, £525; 1930, £<.>6/; 1934, £134; '1935, £127. There were 21,864 acres in the board’s area, of which 20.238 acres were rateable. The rates levied and amounts collected |W ere as f0110w:— 1932, £16,255 levied, £17,639 (including arrears) collected; 1933, £15,883 levied, £12,847 collected; 1934, £13.827 levied, £15,545 (including arrears) collected; 1935, £11,410 levied, £11,523 (including arrears) collected. The total rates not yet pari amounted to £4703 and the public debt to £164,809 16s lid. The loans | ran out in 1959, by which time there ; would be nothing owing (smiles) i.' principal and interest ■were kept pai(. j up. The clerk referred to the savings that had been effected by the conver

sion of the board’s loans. Mr B. Seifert pointed out that while at the beginning of the scheme the higher land adjacent the banks received less benefit than the land further away, now the position was reversed and the lower rated lands were getting more benefit from the scheme than those paying higher rates. Vvhat would, be more acceptable now was the whole area on a tbit rale. Mr Spiers: If Mr Bert Seifert’s farm was \u the lower area, he would have a different tale to tell. Mr Alwright mud the burden of rat ing was not equitable, and those receiving not so iuiUi a benefits would be prepared to accept, a greater burden. (Hear, hear.) Mr Robinson: They can’t allord to do it. We want to see the water oft the land, not those on the higher levels being given a bigger burden. Mr Seifert again urged the national interest and the value it would be to the Dominion if the plains could be m;i de flood-proof. Other national schemes of a similar iiatuie had been carried oat. The chairman said the idea of going to the Government appealed to him. It had to be remembered that the biggest rate paid by the district was for drainage, and yet the Government only gave rebates on county rates. Such

being the case, the district did not get as much consideration as it should. Mr J. Carter moved that all adjacent bodies affected by the flooding of the Manawatu river ana its tributaries be asked to unite in a combince request to the Government for assistance in bringing about relief from flooding as a national undertaking. Mf Carter again pointed out that the Makerua could do nothing on its own and a national move would be wel, worth while because of the productive nature of the country affected.

Mr Lynch: Would you include the spillway at Fox tor;? hIT Carter: 1 don’t know anything about that.

Mr Lynch said the deputation that had gone to Wellington in connection with tho spilhvay had met with siveiy sympathetic reception, and engineers were to look into the matter. The reply had not yet come to hand. However, personally he thought Makerua would uot get much relief from tho spilhvay. Would it not be better for Makerua to work on its own and ask the Government just for what U wanted?

Mr Seifert; It will be of no benefit unless it strikes the Manawatu at Poplar.

Mr Carter agreed that the spilhvay would not help Makerua as opposition would be met with. What was wanted was a scheme all in the lower !c\els could agree upon amongst themselves Buckley, Moutoa, ami Koputaroa. Such a representation would bo stiong enough to make the Government rca* iso the urgency of the request. Ihc speaker considered that the only ro lief would come through a scheme linking up the chain of lakes below the junction of the Manawatu and Oroua. There was a natural way out there and the land affected was not so valuable.

Mr A. Seifert; It has already been done.

Mr 11. Seifert thought Mr Hay's scheme the only practical one and that scheme had been turned down. Mr H. J. T. Hume seconded Mr Carter’s motion. He said the Govern ment had offered the Manawatu-Orous River Board a £IOO.OOO subsidy to put Hav’s big scheme through, but it had not been accepted. The only way would bo for the Government to take the river right over. Mr Robinson moved an amendment that the Government be asked to take the river over entirely. At present the various boards were in competition with their various banking schemes.

Mr Carter said it was also his idea that the whole of the area should be taken over by the Government. Mr A. Seifert said they would not get a hearing if they went past the Manawatu-Oroua River Board, which had all the figures and facts of a complete scheme and that board could deal with the whole matter. He agreed a national scheme would have to come, but he reminded the meeting that they had met just to consider getting relief for the Makerua.

Mr Lynch said it was too much to ask the Makcrua board to keep on spending thousands a year on its banks. The Manawatu floods had to be got rid of, but as a first step lie favoured Mr Spiers’ idea of asking Public Works engineers to give adadvice as to the best way of relieving the Makerua of its difficulties.

Mr Spiers pointed out that the Government had subsidised the Moutoa board £1 for £1 for its bank erections and Makcrua should try and got similar help. Mr Carter then reworded his motion as follows;—

“That the Makerua Drainage Board approach the Government to take over the whole of the drain-

age of the watershed the Manawatu and Oroua rivers, and at the same time asks other bodies similarly affected to lend their cooperation.”

Mr Spiers, in speaking to the motion, said already steps had been taken as suggested, schemes drawn up and condemned. It -would be only beating the air. Mr Carter said Mr Spiers had a wrong conception of the motion. The idea was to ask the Government for immediate relief for Makcrua’s own difficulties.

Mr Lynch moved as an amendment: ••That this meeting of ratepayers of the Makerua drainage district asks the Makerua Drainage Board to appoint a deputation to approach the Minister ol Public Works to make a special grant to assist the .Makerua Drainage Board in relief of its special difficulties in the matter of effectively'coping wun the continual flooding of its district, the deputation to reipiest that the Government's engineers report on a suitable schemv. mid cost. Mr Robinson seconded ami the amendment was carried. Mr Wilson pointed out to the chairman that a great deal of relief could be given by lowoiing the level ol the Whitanni lake, whwh acted as a reservoir for Hood w iters. The trouble was the floodgates nud been closed, and not only should they be opened 'but also lowered. Tire lake wouli be a wonderful asset to tae urea ii the level was lowered. Mr P. V. Tucker, the board's fore-

man, said there was no outlet at present and the floodgates would have U> be shifted. In their present position fhev were of no use whatever. Purthcr than that it was not safe to let the waiter out where the gates were at present, owing to the scouring *>i the banks that took place. Mr 11. Seifert informed Mr Wilson

that the board members would make an inspection of the locality. Mr Spiers urged that when the deputation went to Wellington it should work in close co-operation with the member for the district. The chairman: We always do. Mr Seifert proposed a vote of thanks to the chairman and board members for calling the meeting, and .Mr Irwin seconded. The mol ion was carried by acclamation. In returning thanks, the ch:ii |, man said it was impossible to consider any proposal that would increase the rates the settlers hatj to pay,