RIVER ENCROACHMENTS.

Mataura Ensign, Issue 1146, 10 February 1903, Page 2

RIVER ENCROACHMENTS.

THE OTAMA BRIDGE. A deputation consisting o{ Messrs T. B. Carroll and A. Wayte waited on the Southland County Council at its meeting yesterday iu reference to the Otama bridge. Mr Carroll said that tbe settlers' vigilanoe oommittee had had considerable correspondence with Mr Fraser, in connection with the matter since the last meeting. Mr Fraser telegraphed on January 80th tbat Mr Wither's report nommeuded tbat grains oosting £750 be put in to protect the bridge, and that the Minister had wired Mr Wither for further particulars. Mr Fraser wrote a letter on the same date stating tbat Mr Wither's report had just reached the Lands Department and the Minister bad not then seen it. He (the writer) had interviewed the Hon. Mr Dunean that morning: he was not satisfied with Mr Wither's report and wired him for further particulars. The Minister expressed himself disinclined to make any grant, and said the County should do the work and pay for it The writer was hopeful, however, of securing a subsidy from the Government and had communicated with Mr MoNab requesting him to urge tbe Minister to help towards the work. Mr Carroll said what the settlers wished to know was whether the Council would give £ for £ if the Government made a grant in aid of the work. The Chairman (Councillor Green) said Mr Wither recommended groins costing £750 which would go a long way up the river and would protect the iand on either side rather than the roads and bridges. Mr Carroll said Mr Wither wanted to direct the river in a straight line for the bridge. Whether land was saved or not was immaterial to him.

The Chairman said it was a question whether it would be cheaper to take the bridge to the river or the river to the bridge. He stated that on the 3rd inst. he had received a telegram from Mr Carroll stating that the Otama bridge had collapsed, in consequence of which he sent the surfaceman up to stop the traffic, and the surfaceman returned at three in the morning and said two of the piles had sunk about six inches and that traffic was not stopped, as a mob of sheep were passing over when he got there. The speaker then proceeded to get a report on tbe bridge, and as Mr Howorth was sick, Mr Hamlyn went out and made the following report:—" I beg to report having inspected the Otama bridge on Friday evening and found that the pier of piles in the second 40ft span on the south side of the bridge had scoured out and sunk about 12 inches. Tbe bridge is not dangerous for ordinary traffic, but if a flood occurred moßt likely the two spans would collapse and cause an expenditure of at least £250. I um loading up piles to-day to repair the damaged pier and will send a gang of men up on Tuesday to repair the'dumiige. I would recommend that two other piers on the south side be strengthened by driving three piles in each pier. The current is now setting very strongly on to them, and the chances are that the first heavy flood will scour them also. Also the work can be done cheaper now than by waiting until the piles are scoured out and the bridge sunk. The cost would be about £125." —The material had been sent away and the work was to be proceeded with at once.

Mr Waite asked it the Council would give a subsidy.

The Chairman said in any case a subsidy would have to come out o( the Mataura and Hokonui ridings. In the absence of the member for Mataura riding he could not give a direct answer. The people were making too much noise about the bridge. The traflic had not "been stopped for five minutes so far. When anything happened the Council had always repaired the bridge, and was now going to spend £125 on it. The bridge was good for another ton years, and if it was washed away the Council would put up another. It would be a question for experts to decide before they spent £750 on groins—to say whether it would not be better to put a new bridge on a new site at a cost of £ISOO. The speaker concluded by stating that Mr Carroll was one of the most valuable men in the district, as he always informed the Council when any damage occurred. Mr Carroll having replied in characteristic terms, the deputation withdrew, and the inspector's report was adopted. A LUM3BEN DIFFICULTY. The Engineer reported that a serious encroachment of the Oreti river was taking place at a point about about one mile above the township of Lumsden, and threatened, if not checked, to come down tho tlat and through thn township. When at Lumsden recently his attention was drawn to the matter by the residents with a request that he should lay it before the Council. Tho easo was very similar to that of Dipton, where tho Government laid oit a township considerably below Hood level, and in order to protoet the township from the inroads of the river, granted money for protective works. In his opinion a similar course would have to be followed in the Lumsden case, and he rcoommended that Mr W. Fraser, M.H.K., be requested to interview the Minister of Lands on the matter, and ask that a Government export be sent to report. It was resolved that a copy of the report bi sent to Lands Department, with a request that an engineer be sent down.