TAIERI DRAINAGE BOARD.

Otago Witness, Issue 2934, 8 June 1910, Page 38

TAIERI DRAINAGE BOARD.

The regular meeting of the Taieri Drainage Board was held at Mosgiel on the 6th, there being present Messrs J. T. Gibson (chairman), Kempshell, Macandrew, Findlay, Reid, Moynihan, Cullen, and Wilmot. An apology for absence was read from Mr F. W. Furkert, who is in Wellington. CORRESPONDENCE. William Thomson, Maungatua, requested that the creek in section 8, block XXX, West Taieri, should be cleaned.—Left in the hands of the engineer and the member for the section. Peter Ford, Allanton, asked that Hewitt s drain be cleared.—Request to be acceded to. . John Gamble wrote requesting that the drain on Duke's road to Gladfield road be cleaned.—Engineer and member for section to look into the matter. William Patrick and others wrote from Outram asking that the drain through block V, West Taieri, should be cleaned while the boards' employees were in the vicinity.—Resolved that the work be done. D. M'Donald asked that the watercress be removed from Lee Creek and attention given to the boxes in the main ditch. —• Resolved that the cress be removed and the boxes left over till the engineer should interview the applicant. THE RECENT CONFERENCE. A special meeting of the board was held on May 9 in order to confer with Messrs Lindius and Brockhurst, who had been appointed by the Government for the purpose. At that meeting the visiting gentlemen stated that they had no definite instructions from the Government as to the nature of the conference, and in these circumstances the conference, which had not been asked for by the board, proved largely abortive, no resolutions being arrived at. The Secretary of the Board forwarded a minute of the proceedings to the Undersecretary of Lands, and, in response, received a reply which stated, in reference to the statement that no instructions had been given, that evidently some misapprehension had occurred, as he (Mr Kensington) had personally given Mr Lindius full instructions, and had also received, since the meeting, a letter from Messrs Lund i us and Brockhurst which recounted the proceedings and made certain recommendations which apparently were the result of the conference. The Secretary replied to this, after consultation with the chairman, that whatever recommendations had been made by the visitors as a result of the conference were made by them individually and not with the sanction of the board, which knew nothing c£ them. Such recommendations would be valueless unless agreed to by both parties to the conference, which had not been the case. The conference had not been in a position to make any recommendation. No discussion occurred on the point, the board's position being plain, and the recommendations made being unknown. engineer's report. The report of the Engineer (Mr Elliott) stated that a conference had been held with the County Council officers in respect to the Kirk's road drain and continuation. The chief objection of the council was to a culvert at the west end of the road. It was desired that certain improvements should be made to this, the cost of which would be about £6O. A question of importance was the proportion of cost to each body. From the drain between Otokia and " B " drain the council was willing to take 5000 cubic yards and allow the material to be spread on the roads; also to allow the board to use a strip of land provided the bridge was removed to the centre of the road from its present position. The drains in the West Taieri district had been cleaned out, and all the main leading drains were satisfactory. It was proposed to use the permanent gang during the winter on Kirk's road drain and other works which, when completed, would make considerable improvement in the drainage of the plain. At present the water from the upper end of Kirk's road had to travel six miles and a-half as against four miles by the proposed system. There would be some outlay during the winter months on pumping, which depended on the weather. Otherwise no further maintenance work would be required till next year. The Taieri embankment at Outram would require attention. Tenders had been called for the Buchanan embankment, but the lowest was 8d per cubic yard, which was refused as too high. In regard to the Allanton drain, to do the work properly with wooden supports for the sides would cost £4O. It had been decided to spend £lO, and the best plan was therefore to deepen the drain and run the risk of the sides falling in. The Silverstream work was in an unsatisfactory state. The work on the old course and straight out route, with the portion immediately above Gladfield road, had cost in wages and contract to date £937 18s 3d. The work done on the stream above the Gladfield road had been sufficient to excavate only to a depth of Ift below the surface of the adjoining land. The channel at present was not sufficient to carry an ordinary fresh in the stream. In. carrying out to Kirk's road drain it was proposed to scoup as much of the material as possible. The best scoop for this class of work was the common skid scoop, and it would be an advantage to secure one.-—A letter which was subsequently received from the > County Council withdrawing the objection to the Kirk's road drain already lodged provided that the road be formed to the same width as at present, and all bridges and culverts renewed, the work to be carried out to the satisfaction of the engineer. It was reported that the private owners concerned had been generous in meeting the board, and it was resolved to accept the council's offer. —The report was adopted. THE YEAR'S HATES. The new rates decided upon show an inciee.se on last year in respect to the main Taieri subdivisions. This is because last year's general maintenance rate- was fixed at too low a figure and loan money was drawn upon. The rates for all lands within the West Taieri Momona, Lee Creek, and Lakes Subdivisions are: Class A, Is 4d per acre; Class B, Is pel acre; Class C, 8d per acre. The rates last year were 4d, 3d, and 2d per acre. In the Silverstream and Owhiro Subdivisions the rates are: Class A, lOd per acre; Class B, 5d per acre; Class C, 2d per acre. The rates last year were 4d, 3d, and 2d in the respective classes. In the Maungatua and Henley districts slight reductions have been made. Maungatua is assessed at one-ninth of a penny in the pound on the capital rateable value of the Eastern Subdivision cf the district for a general rate, as against 3d and Ad last year. In ths Henley district the special recurving rate for :rt?v:>:| o"! n lc.tr. .".'" :?"9"3 i r - (Iv-"!

year. All rates arc payable in one install ment on September 30, 1910. THE CONTOUR SYSTEM. In regard to proeurring machinery to as-sist in the work to be undertaken on the Lee Creek contour system, the engineer laid before the board information which! he had procured from Melbourne about the cost of "excavating machinery. This showed that a crane-scoop excavator of about 25 tone, to operate at a two-cubic yard capacity (about 70 cubic feet of loose earth), at a 40ft radius, or a 1| cubic yard capacity, at a 50ft radius, would cost £1250; or one of one cubic yard capacity, with a radius of 30ft, would cost £IOSO. He submitted alto detailed prices, which showed the coraptrative cheapness of working by machinery. Thb Chairman said that he thought it would be better to call for tenders, and, failing that, then tbey might commit themselves to machinery. The Engineer pointed out that a tenderer could not possibly do the work at the same rate, as the job was not large enough to justify bis putting ort an excavating plant. There was no doubt that what could be done was to soccp a large quantity of the material by the ordinary scoop, and then machinery of some kind might deal with the remainder. The Chairman still favoured the idea of ttndiering. The Engineer, in response to a query, said he would be able to «ive would-be tenderers all information almost immediately. It was decided that the engineer should call for tenders for the work, and submit them to next meeting, when full consideration would be given to the relative merits of purchasing the .machinery or of accepting the tender.