CATCHMENT BOARDS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27211, 14 October 1949, Page 6

CATCHMENT BOARDS

By the simple expedient of declaring the remits out of order, the executive of the South Island Local Bodies’ Association was able to avert the embarrassment of a controversial debate on the operations of catchment boards. The decision to abstain from involvement in this controversial 'issue was the most sensible one, the association could have taken, for its members entertain no unanimity of opinion on the subject, and, a contentious debate would have achieved, .nothing towards clarifying an already confused issue. The association could, however, with propriety and accord, .have urged that the allegations of the Royal Commission on Sheep- . farming Concerning the utility of catchment-boards should receive immediate investigation by a properly constituted authority. The criticisms made by the Sheep Farming Commission of the catchment board organisation were "so comprehensive, so categorical, and so completely damning; that nothing "less than a full and impartial inquiry instituted by the Government will suffice to determine which Government sponsored body is at fault—the Sheep Farming Commission or the' Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Council.

The agitations in which certain local bodies, encouraged by the report of the Sheep Farming Commission, have indulged in attempting to bring about the abolition of catchment boards have been ill-timed—though undoubtedly sincere—-and quite divorced from practicable politics. Their counter-proposals, moreover/ do not—in view of the previous disinterest of, and lack of co-opera-tion among, the State departments concerned —convince the majority of the people that the essential work of river" control and soil conservation will be carried out better if shared among the several departments. There is little probability that the Government, having established the Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Council, will consent to its abolition before it has been given a fair opportunity of proving its usefulness, and the immediate problem is that of'providing conditions which will enable the council and its subordinate boards to work at maximum efficiency. These conditions cannot exist while the council remains uncleared of the charges made against it by thd Sheep Farming Commission. To most people it would seem almost incredible that the commission would dismiss so lightly the evidence of erosion which New. Zealand, and overseas experts have regarded with so much concern. Under the system of catchment boards, there least the promise that the approach to the joint problems of erosion and river control will be co-ordinated. There are particular aspects of the catchment boards’ organisation which might not be generally acceptable, ,but these bodies have become the official agents Of a national policy of conservation, and in order that they should be able to function without obstruction the allegations regarding their usefulness should receive immediate and public investigation, v