TAIERI DRAINAGE BOARD.

Otago Witness, Issue 2905, 17 November 1909, Page 21

TAIERI DRAINAGE BOARD.

The ordinary monthly .meeting of the Taieri, Drainage Board was held at Mosgiei on Monday, and was attended, by Messrs J. T. Gibson, R. A.. Keinpshell, A. Moynihan, F W. Furkert, H. Macandrew, R. Cullen, N. Reid, C Findlay, and B. H. Wilmot. — ' ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN.

On 'nominations .being called for the position of chairman, two were put forward — Messrs Gibson and Findlay. On a show of yhands being called for, Mr Gibson was i declared elected.

Mr Fincfiay was subsequently appointed deputy chairman.

A SLOCKED CTCE^.

Messrs Charters, Blackie, and Renton waited on the board as a deputation to ask that provision be made for the disposal of water that had been dammed up in the bed of .the Silverstream. , Mr Charters said that they had a pilot drain -near the GladSeld road, but the latter was not long enough. The land was wet below and above it. In consequence he was suffering much inconvenience, and he considered that he was losing £5 a week, as the water was on 50 acres of land he could noif use. He suggested that- the pilot drain" might be continued for 10 or 12 chains, which might allow the water, to get away. It was imperative that -something be done quickly. The Chairman said, that if £hey lengthened the draini and it jfaa to carry away more water without adequ'ajte--t)rovi-sion being made for the disposal " of . that water, the people lower down -would raise objections to the proposal. Mr Blackie said that this "block"—composed of loga, willows, and general rubbish — had dammed up the stream since the board had come into existence. / Some chains above the block the water was flowing over the banks on .to his own and Mr Charterers property. The position was very bad, and unless they got some redress they would have to try to protect themselves in some way. He hoped that something would be done during the forthcoming month.

The board resolved to visit the locality and ascertain the exact position of affairs.

When the board resumed at 3.30 p.m. it was resolved bhat tho board's workmen at once proceed to have the stream cleaned out, and to also clear up the Gladfield road, in which work it was resolved to ask the assistance of the County. Council. -

GENEBAL.

Miohael Hackett waited on the board, and pointed out thac he was being charged rates on a section ' of land in the Otokia district which had been specially exempted from the rating area by the Otokia Drainage Board. He derived no benefit from the 4.ramage scheme, and thought it most unfair that he should be charged rates in

respect thereto! •.---_ The 'board decided to ascertain its legal position. On the motion of Mr Macandrew, the chairman^ and Messrs Findlay and Furkert were appointed a Finance Committee.

xkghteke's bkpobt.

The Engineer (Mr M. Elliot) reported as follows : —

Ariangements have been made with Mr Callander* to erect a bridge at Mr Thomson's property at As 6d per hundred feet, the board to supply material on the ground. The works on the east side of the river have been suspended in the meantime owing to wet weather, and tue gang has been paid off. The cut from the Gladfield road down to the swamp is complete. The old-course outlet and the straight-cut outlet have not boen cleaned, as the district has been under water during the last month. At present the cut commences at the Gladfield road, and is useless so far as carrying water is concerned, as the Silverstream is blocked for 15 chains higher up. The water escapes from the existing channel and flows over the ground on either side of the channel. There is a large accumulation of silt and timber over the 15 chains above the Glad* field road, which has lodged during the past winter. Mr A. Douglas writes asking that provision be made for the large quantity of gravel that is likely to be washed down. The gravel and silt will come down auJ. fill up the present cut. The finer particles will be carried to the lower end of the drain", and probably past it into the swamp. The gravel and silt lodging in the channel will have to be cleaned out. The material from the present cut has been put well back, so as to allow room for depositing the material on inner side of banks. It will be advisable to clear the timber and other growth from the line through the swamp, and keep the silt deposit to a defined course.

Arrangements should be made witE Mr Douglas to gain access to the work. A letter has been received from Mr J. M'Gregor (Otago Foundry) offering to supply dredging plant to remove earth at less than j 3d per cubic yard; and another frcm Mr , Griffen offering, under certain conditions, J to excavate material by New Era grader at j 4Jd per cubic yard. John and William Lee - write objecting to the culvert "being lowered I on Outram-Allanton - road.

Mr M'Leod has asked for two small boxes to be put info the Lee Stream from his property in the West Taieri district. I inspected the property, and find that the Lee Creek takes ft bend across the property, /and in so doing cats off the drainage from his property, and also part of Mr Reid's' property. The alignment of Lee Creek and the embankments' of the stream at this point are defective. There is a culvert passing under the Outram-Berwick road which lets the water which escapes - from Lee Creek into the plain. The bed of Wyllie's Creek where it crosses .the Outram-Berwick road is 2ft above the bed of Lee Creek.. There is a swtunp in the 'paddock at the junction of Dow's drain and Wyllie's drain. So that to make Wyllie's drain effective it should be lowered at and . above the crossing of Outram road. Th« Lee Creek and Wyllie's Creek, immediately above the Outram-Ber-wick road, "are situated in flat, swampy country, with an elevation of about 10ft above low water level, the bed level of Wyllie's Creek being, lower 3 than, the Le© .at a , pojnt opposite the .boundary of ' Mr Beid's property. ,On ..the Outram-Woodside road, Wyllie's Creek is 17ft lower than Lee v Creek. ,The -valley" at Mr M'Leod's is 20ft lower than the natural banks of the. Taieri River at - Outram. So that the dxaloage from, the hills and district around Outraon concentrates to Wyllie's Creek. The water ' from Wyllie's Creek creeps down the plain and out into the river at Duck Creek. Tho ■ channel' having little or no fall, it heads up ■ and spreads out over the plain. On Friday, ; 22nd lilt., a-nd on the following Saturday I aud Sunday, considerable rain fell. On Monday afternoon there was no water in Suck Creek at the outlet, but there was a flood at the Momona dam. I followed the course of the stream down on the Monday, and could discover no velocity in the stream from the point where it is proposed to erect the new bridge at Mr Robinson's down to Duck Creek. The grade of the land is so small that it took three' days for the water to travel four miles. The same feature was noticeable in the Lee. Creek. To effect proper drainage the Lee Creek should be made the main carrying drain, and Wyllie's Creek turned into it.

I have made" an examinat'oa of "Waipori and Little Waipori Lakes. The bed level of Waipori l*ke »i the deepest put, -which is opposite Bull Greek! is llin below datum — i.e., 2ft llin below the land. There is aconsiderable portion of the lake above the datum. This extends for some 30 chains from the point where the Waipori Rivet eaters th» lake. The^ low r water level , ofj the lake, "so far as' we have observed from the tides, is 1.2S above the datum, and the tidal range 1.30. The bottom of Little Waipori Lake is 3in be!ow datum. There is a oar and narrow channel between , the two lakes. The channel is in places narrow, but is deep, 'and. the , ebb tide passes with considerable velocity. ' The bar between the lakes is , 1.29 above datum. The low water level of ' the Little L«ke is 1,75 above' datum. At present Lake Waipoari has a free outlet, 'and the lowest- level I have discovered the lake to be is 1.2 a, and th 4 chancel leading from it to be 1.18. It has been frequently J mentioned to me that if the tides were kept out of Waipori a great benefit wou.d be; gained. I think the greatest reduction that' could be made would be to keep the lake down to ' the 2ft level instead of* a.n occasional tide rising to the 3ft Sin level. If -any tide-regultfticm works were undertaken 'they would probably raise the level' of the- lake during floods m the Waipori River. '

A considerable advantage Would be 'gained by keeping the tide water out of tha Little Lake, **by constructing an embankment along the bar and deepening a small portion of' the laice to act aa a catchment basing into which,' the drainage of the district could he run. and from which it could be pumped. Ji thi*. could be attained the Dunedin power' could be used during the slack load hours — from. 12 midnight to 6 a.m., — when -it could be obtained ,*t one-sixth of a penny per unit, which would be at about that price f per horse-power effective work. That! means power could be obtained for a 50 horsepower pant at £60 per annum. To accom- : plish this the Lee Creek would have to be j got out of the way, and I am still convinced that the proper ccurae to deal, with the plain is to secure Lee Creek. I have j made an examination of the streams before* they leave the hills, and it appears to me that as soon as the creeks leave the hills the loss by percolation is considerable. Last Friday we- were at the bridge which crosses the Lee Creek for some time, and there was no perceptible flow in the creek until low tide level. At the same time there wu 2000 cubic feet per minute flowing into the creek from the hills. It has been said to mo that, if the tide is kept out of the Little Lake, th« owners of the district' -would be, satisfied. This may possibly be true, as the Lee Creek in ordinary flow would have little effect on the lake. Ik Victoria we have had instances of the percolation, varying from 6 to 34 per* cent, of the initial flow per mile. These channels had ' to be protected with concrete to carry the water. | If the water coming from the hills is caught and carried down to the lake the drainage

of plain would give little or no trouble". Mr Gibeon telephoned to in© on the 28th •alt stating that the pump on Duck Creek ■would not cope with the water, and that the district was in flood He knew of a pump tTiat was new, and cou!d be purchased for JB2O. As the matter was urgent, I considered it was advisable to get the pump on the ground. The embankments of the Taieri River near Outrun are in a bad state, and in places broken down ; also, the banks between Allanton and Henley require attention. I propose to put the West Taieri gang on this- work as soon as the cleaning of tne drains is finished.

The report was discussed a£ great length', and ultimately adopted.