The Oroua River.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8051, 31 March 1905, Page 5

The Oroua River.

At an informal meeting of the Aorangi Drainage Boatd, held yesterday, Mr B. J. Armstrong pres?nted the following repoit on the hUte of the bed of the Oroua river as affected by a flaxmill erected on Section 6a.

"The mil ia erected immediately on the bank of the river at about the centre of a Bharp curve of the bank line of that river. The launder discharging the waste water from the stripper is sq6 on a sharp slope of discharge,, terminating well in tbe bed of tha stream, corse" quently the waste waters in thete escape convey tha smaller wastes from the stripping and ether insoluble matter freely and discharge aueh into 'he rivor. Further, the tow and waste from the scQtoher, owing to the immediate proximity of the flaxmill to the river, freely pis 9 into the river, both aa regards the liner paricles discharged outwards by blest; jroducei by tbe cen rifugal force from tha ecuccher and the or Jinary wind action upon the tow wastes oatside. A bank constituted of these various waste products combined with rher silt has been established aronnct the outer curve of the band some three chains in length, from 10 to 20 feet in width, and varying in thiokness from a few laches to aever.U feet Immediately below this artifioial bank a serious erosion is being produced in the true bank by the action of th.6 stream. I cannon attribute nay portion of thi3 action to the pr«i36ooa of 'he osforemencioned aitincial baak, bat funtaer augmentation in its B>ze will affect it. It is aw 11 known fict that no tuoßiaocea ate more powerful and efficient factors in producing obstructions and banks of a parm'iuent nature in river beds than toyy and kindred fibrous Rnd insoluble waste prodaota produced m the proea^s of flaxmuling, these, in the once of tbe uver in question, are evidenced ai formed for over; one mi/e in extent) from one mill alone. Tho rising of tne bed ot the O ova river is tbe most dmgarous and far-reaching of all the difficulties which tb.9 Drainage Boards have to contend with, Anything, therefore, outside of natural causes tending to accentuate the; t rising must be drasticßUy dealt with. In respect cf the flaxmill now in question, owirg to the short time it has henn cs'abllshed, the negligent method in' which its operations hive bean carried oa has not yet produced any Herioua result*. Such results are inevitable unless procautianary measures are adopted, and I would advise the Board to at onco insist that every kind of insoluble waste product be tfficiently prevented from obtaining access to the liver either through the agency of water or air.''

Action was deferred pending a full meeting cf the Bo»rd,