THE CLUTHA RIVER BOARD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22833, 18 March 1936, Page 7

THE CLUTHA RIVER BOARD

TO THE EDITOU Sir, — I notice from the report of the meeting of local body delegates at Stirling on the 13th that no delegate from the Balclutha Borough Council was present. Anyone who has made a study of the forming and endowing of the Clutha River Board must come to the conclusion that the transactions of the board must at some time bo of vital interest to the Borough Council. Who can tell that we may not an even worse flood than the flood of 1878, when the town was in,danger of being carried out to the .sea ? In reading the speeches of members of flip Legislative Council in 1874 when the Bill to create (lie hoard was before Parliament, f believe that some of (he speakers stressed (lie fact that if (he River Board kept (he hanks and the river open for traffic the town of Balclutha would benefit greatly. One speaker said that the river had suddenly deflected from one side to the other, thus forming a great bend in it. the shape ot n horseshoe, and that at (hat time the river was eating the toe of this shoe away, and so in time would destroy 900 acres of good land and endanger the bridges and the town of Balclutha. Now, Sir. it was finite clear what was in the Legislature’s mind when the Bill was passed —namely, that the river hanks were to he looked after by the. River Board, which was to use the revenue derived from the endowment lands in rn-der to nroteet the lmyl-j and keep dio river oner for traffic riots (be River BonH wa,s to he responsible for the hank and the cor faction of the river above the town of Balclutha. It would seem (o me, Sir. that the councillors of Balclutha must look to the interests of the town and people of Balclutha by sending a dele-

gate to any further meetings of delegates to inquire into the working of the River Board—l am, etc., Interested. Alarch 10.