COUNTY COUNCIL

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXVI, Issue 9511, 5 September 1891, Page 6

COUNTY COUNCIL

ASHBURTON. The usual monthly meeting of the Ashburton County Council was held yester-' day; present—Mr W. C. Walker (Chair- 1 man), Messrs Harper, Qrigg, Friedlander,, Brown, Cameron and M'Millan. INTERVIEW. Mr S. Burnand interviewed the Council respecting diversion of water from the; Wakanui Creek. He asked the Council toenlarge the race and take it over, as ho had done the work under a misunderstanding. The Council censured Mr Burnand fot l acting without authority from the Council, and the matter was left in the hands of the Chairman to arrange. engineer’s report. The Engineer’s report stated that the I .' Plains water-supply was satisfactory. The Pudding Hill stream had run short for a, ;' time, but, rain coming, it had not been ! necessary to augment it from the south: branch of the river. Mr Chapman applied for a short length of race, which was ]t granted. Some additional races had been!, applied for from small settlers, the con-i. sideration of which was deferred until! next meeting. Pull particulars respecting; the irrigation scheme had been supplied! to the Irrigation Committee, who would! lay their report before the Council. Tenders had been called for enlarging;. some of tbe main races, and would be laid ", before the Council. Ploughing and fencing of the new reserves had been completed,:! and the planting was being carried out. A memorial was presented from the , - Hampstead ratepayers, asking for a water supply. Consideration was postponed until next meeting, the Chairman in the meantime to report. NOTICES OF MOTION. The Chairman apologised for Mr Coster’s absence, and Mr Coster’s notice of motion 1. was held over until next meeting. Mr Brown’s notice of motion, referring' to the proposed differential rates in the different ridings, was considered. The Council agreed to rescind the motion! referring to differential fates passed at last! meeting, Messrs Harper and Grigg stating; that they had proposed the motion on the; understanding that the same rates would !., be required again as in previous years,; and had no idea of favouring any one; particular riding. They objected to the. somewhat strong feeling that had been!' shown in tbe matter. " . The Chairman also explained that-the-motion had been passed in error, and that i the Council had no desire to impose upon'; Wakanui, or any other riding. FINANCE. Mr Grigg proposed and Mr Friedlander seconded—“ That inasmuch as itianecea-! sary to pay off the Bank overdraft and: adjust the accounts between the Ridings, a; Committee he appointed to prepare a' statement of accounts showing the amount' of rate or rates required to be raised inj each Riding. The Committee to consist of Messrs Brown, Walker, Friedlander' and; the mover. The Committee’s report to go to each member.’’ The motion was carried. Accounts amounting to .£3lB were passed ; for payment, as was also a contribution of .£2OO to tbe Charitable Aid Board. IRRIGATION. The Chairman read the report of the. Irrigation Committee, Which was as fol-’ lows;—The Committee is strongly con-: vinced that it would be unwise to deal; with this question, except as a whole, as it; is impossible to give increased water! supply to any particular district without affecting the adjoining ones. The Committee has endeavoured, therefore, to draw up a scheme which wiU; include nearly. all the irrigable land in the county at a moderate cost, and give i the settlers thereon the advantages of irrigation at a reasonable cost, if they approve of the proposals. The following are the districts that the Committee recommends,; the area in each, and the cost of works’ proposed; — 1. Winchmore, Rakaia and Wataaui—• (Sources Late Heron and Rakaia river, opposite Block 5, Rakaia village settle?' ment.) —148,000 acres, .£23,500, 3s Sd per acre, annual rate per acre 4d. 2. Rangitata and Coldstream—(Source Rangitata river at Cracroft)—Bß,ooo acres, £17,600, 4a per acre, annual rate per acre sd. Besides these two districts, for which new supplies of water will be made available, the Committee points out that by adopting these proposals the Council will have at its disposal a great portion of the water now supplying the present waterraces through these districts, which will be applicable to (1) The district between the Rakaia and Ashburton immediately above No. 1 district, according to the above-mentioned scheme. (2) The district between the South Ashburton and Hinds andHinds-Eangitata above No. 2 district. ‘ The settlers in these districts should be invited to undertake the .distribution of this amount of water thus set free for the benefit of their lands, and should be charged an annual sum, which would bear a fair proportion to the amounts annually chargeable in the new districts now proposed to be supplied. If, however, the settlers in these two last-described districts are unwilling to avail themselves of this additional supply, the water can bo run as at present through the lower districts, and ; go to supplement the water which will be at the disposal of the contributing settlers. The Committee feels sure that no proposal of a less comprehensive nature will give irrigation to the dry lands of the County, nor would it be advisable to propose the Lake Heron scheme without the support of the other two. The Lake Heron supply, from its limited nature, would not of itself be sufficient to afford irrigation, except to a limited area ; but along with the above two proposals would be available as stated above, and be a great assistance to the general scheme. A large number of applications for water were received and considered, and the meeting terminated.