THE WEST TAIERI DRAINAGE BOARD.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 15050, 25 January 1911, Page 3

THE WEST TAIERI DRAINAGE BOARD.

TO THE EDITOR,

Sir,—With your kind permiteion I should like to make a few remarks on tho subject of West Tnici'i drainage.;

After a very strenuous light the people who are now known as t.he "dry nvjn " (the rivnl parties in drainage being known as "dry men" and "wet men") managed to get the Taieri Drainage Act repealed. This msant that the East and West separated, tho Government members on (lie board were got rid of, oik! each district goos on its own. What caused the greatest agitation in tho West Taierj was the constniftion of what is known as the contour channel, a large, channel cut along a little above the swamp ground to carry the I.w: Ci'ook and all the creeks that come from Maiinc.itua and discharge thorn into the' Waipori Lake without entering the present cliuniipl. This contour channel is a very largo undertaking. It measures with its banks fiomowherc about two chains wide, and will be eight miles long. With beautiful curves and sinuosities it enters a equiiro field at one corner and co;nes out at another, entirely destroying the working of fhe field for all time. It is enough to mate any farmer through whose land it goes a. raging lunatic. And, mind, it goes through a good few farms that will receive from it no benefit, but destruction only.

It. was thought when the old board was dissolved, and a new one had to be elected that the "dry men" would have a chance to get things altered, but as the result of the election the other day it is a case df "as you were." I do not know who was for the division of tho district into the different wards, but it looks as if some inspired, person had had a hand in it. The district has been carefully laid off into t\vo "dry" wards and three "wet" ones, with the result" that there are three " wet man" on the board and two "dry ones," k> t.hat the " wet men " will have everything their own way as they have had in the past. This is supposed to bo a democratic age, wherein the majority rules, but it is not 60 in this oaie. Take the district as a whole: I venture to say that there are two "dry men" for every "wet" one, but tho " wet men " are too clever for us; in fact, "clover" is not tho proper name for it.

If tho "dry men" had got into power they did not say they would not go on with the channel but simply that they would call a halt, until they got further advice as to the vrobable cost, and tho effect oil drainage,, scour, washouts, etc. Our engineer lias never seen our streams in high fiocd, and does not know what destruction a Maungatua torrent can effect. One. ttag about which the '"dry men " have expressed very strong views is the amount allowed in the engineer's estimate for eompenastion. This is only £101)0. It will take something like 120 acres for the channel, and the land is worth from £15 to £30 pet acre. Say it is worth i>2o. that moans £2400 for the land alone. But destruction of property by cutting square fields into throe-cornered pieces, severance, altering of water courses, etc., Will amount to far more than the price of the hud. 'Mint is what wo ''dry men" used to think, but thanks to Mr Moynihari we now know better. At his meeting at Momona the other night, when he was asked about compensation, he said that, according to the Drainage Act, any benefit the fanners received would be set against their claim for (kinases. He instanced the case of a fanner who had sent in a largo claim for compensation, i do not know how he worked the sum out, but this farmer had a large area of swamp land, and when his claim was settled he wou.d still owe tho Dranage Hoard over £EO. Mr .Vloynilian lias arrived at the, proper way of Retting the channel cut at last: let each man naj according to benelit received! A good few of the fanners along Maun«atua° through whose property this channel passes, own, along with their dry land, a good deal of swamp, and they have been stron" advocates of the construction of tho channel in the belief that it would enhance the value of their property. It did not seem to concern them that the effect would bi to destroy a good few other properties that would receive no benefit at all, but along with the increased value of the:r properties they expected to receive a good fat cheque for severance and damans. I think I see their faces when, instead of a cheque, they receive an account from the board requesting them to pay up far benefits received. I venture to say that had they kr.own tho intention of the board to set" the benefit against the damage the channel would never have bsen started, for they would havo risen as one man against it. The fact is that the people down tho centre and lower end of the plain have simply made catspaws of tho Maungatua folks. If anything goes wrong with the channel they will be no worso than they wojre before, while the Maungatua folks will be between the devil and the deep soa, Mr Moynihan was asked, What about the man whose property the channel did not go through or damage- in any way, but who still received the same benefit as the man whoso property was damaged? Would he get an account from the board for benefit received? (Mr Moynihan said a lot of tho land would be increased in value £10 or £15 per acre). " Oh, no," he replied, "they could not do that." Unfortunately Mr Moynihan's farm is on the east side of Lee Creek, where the motto is "No damages; only benefits received here." If Mr Moynihan is true to his reputation as an honourable man he will try to make the people who are going to reap benefit from this channel pay (or it. It is most unfair that one man should receive benefit only, and that the other should aet his benefit ret against his claim for damages. But that is only on a par with a great deal more. A largo proportion of West Taieri and a good deal of other ground have no more connection with Leo Creek than the man in the imoon, and yet the settlers will havo to pay for it as much as the people who will benefit by it if it is a success. If Mr Moynihan's contention is right that Iho land will be worth as much more per acre, there is one large estato down the centre o[ the plain that will he increased jp value to far more than tho wildest estimate of the cost of the channel. This same estate has two tenants, or I rather think three members, on the Drainago Board, so we all know what to expect. 1 heard Mr Mo.vnihan asked at his meeting if ho thought the way the old board apportioned the rates on the different classes of land was fair. Ho said, ' : Yes, it was perfectly fair." And when it was pointed out to him that tho two gentlemen sent down by tho Government to report >n tho classification said instead of classes B and C being respectively three-fourths and nnehalf they should be one-half and one-sixth, he denied that this was in their report. Ho must havo made a mistake, it is there all the same. But that is just a sample of how the "dry men" have been treated all along. Class C is land that receives only an indirect benefit, and in most cases tlint is no benefit at all, yet it is rated at half what the low ground is rated at, instead of one-sixth, which Messrs Lundius and Buckhuret said would bo a fair rate.

When the people on the dry land flay they are not fairly treated, the people below say, " Oh, but you send your water down on us." Where do they' expect it to go? Water has l'un down hill from all eternity and will continue so to run. I think there is as mucli nonsense talksd about that as about anything. I know tliat if a man buye land at a higher level all the surplus water of his land is bound to flow down. Even if there wns a lagoon on his !«nd if it was at a higher level than the land below, the only extra water lie would send down would be while the lagoon was emptying out. The overflow from the lagoon would always have gone down before. The only difference is that where a. man cuts straight ditches the water goes down more quickly than it would otherwise do. The '"dry" settlers are willing at any timo to help the people lower down, but when the " wet" people, being in power, proceed to cut a channel which before it is finished will ontr.il an enormous expenditure and benefit, only themselves, if it is a kucosss, is it any wonder tho "dry men" would like to call a halt? W<> farmers make a great outcry about

what we would do in cortain caees. but it generally ends in our rmeckly submitting with only a. growl. In any other class in the community Jia<l been imposed upon (ho same us usTaieri farmers havo been these last few yeare they would have risen in open rebellion. If the inward working.; of the Tnieri Board could be laid baro it wouki open the eyes of the vjublic. It ie a clear case of Hie minority ruling tho majority, and getting the better of them every time.—l am, etc., Victim.