CANTERBURY IRRIGATION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22345, 17 February 1936, Page 8

CANTERBURY IRRIGATION

It is to be hoped that the Government has not committed itself to the Ashburton County irrigation scheme simply because labour costs are to be covered by the Unemployment Fund. Such works are certainly a better avenue for relief expenditure than many initiated in the past, and this one in particular appears on the face of it attractive, the estimate being £130,000 and the area to be benefited 25,000 acres. But capital works of the kind should pay their way. Permanent private gain should not be bestowed by the taxpayer. The experience of Government irrigation enterprise in Central Otago has not been altogether satisfactory frOm a national point of view. A considerable number of irrigators have failed to pay their water rates, and last year water was refused to the owners of an aggregate area of 4533 acres owing to the nonpayment of outstanding rates. Furthermore, a system had to be instituted under which many of those in arrears with their payments are required to pay in advance. Plausible excuses might be offered to account for this position of affairs, but it is evident—and statements of the late Minister of Lands, Sir Alfred Ransom, might be quoted in •support—that where irrigation water is directly supplied by the State there is more than average difficulty in collecting rates. In the Public Works Amendment Act of last year the system was tightened up and it is now the law that where no irrigation agreement is registered the Public Works authority of the district may register a certificate against the land to prevent dealings with it except by consent of the Minister. It probably would have been a better plan in regard to the Ashburton County scheme for the County Council to have been made the rate-collecting authority. However, the scheme has been launched and while the Dominion wishes it the greatest success there will remain some anxiety lest the experience in Central Otago is repeated.