TAIERI DRAINAGE MATTERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2955, 2 November 1910, Page 38

TAIERI DRAINAGE MATTERS.

(Communicated.) I Tlie proposed Taieri Drainage Bill, with. I the amendments made by the. Lands Com--1 mittee, has now been circulated through- | out the Taieri Plain, and by this time the I settlers should have a good grasp of the ' proposals contained therein. As was i pointed cut in a recent issue, "it is pro- ; posed that the Taieri Drainage Board, as at present constituted, shall be dissolved, ; the Taieri drainage district abolished, and ! a Ttow board created to control drainage ; matters in that portion of the district soabolished as ie situated on the western side of the Taieri River. As regards the East Taieri, it r,vas proposed that (the existing assets and liabilities of the preLsent board should be transferred to the Taieri County Council. The Lands Committee has now added a clause giving the County Council the powers of the Drainage Board in respect to levying rates for the purpose of discharging the liabilities of the present board. A new section has also been added to the bill, which reads as follows: —"The Governor-it* Council may from time to time appoint two fit persons to be commissioners, whose duty shall be to construct such works as may be necessary for the opening up of the Silverstream to the Taieri River, and for checking the travelling gravel therein." The commissioner:; are to have all the powers of a Drainase Board as if constituted under " The Land Drainage Act, 1903," for the purpose of carrying out such works and to levy rates, subject to classification, over the Silvers! ream and Owhiro subdivisions, as heretofore constituted and subsisting under "The Taieri Land Drainage Act, 1907." and to secure interest and sinking fund on the money eo expended. In other words, a new Drainage Board is to be constituted in East Taieri to carry out one of the most important works for which the present Taieri Drainage Board was created. The fact seems to lx> ignored/ that the work of the present board is carried on by nine capable gentlemen, four of whom are ejected by the ratepayers of West Taieri, two by the ratepayers of/ East Taieri. and three are officers of the j Crown who hold responsible positions in' Dunedin, so that the board is particularly strongly constituted; whereas if the proposal in the present bill is made law, the ratepayers of East Taieri will have no voice in the matter, as the commissioners \ —otherwise the new beard—are to be appointed by the Government. The mere fsrfc of the Government making the ©TGQosals it

'-, has submitted is an acknowledgment that * a Drainage Board for East Taieri is an ' absolute necessity, and why the Government wishes to dissolve a public body so strongly constituted as tho present body ' and substitute another body, to be appointed by the Government, to carry out the same work is beyond comprehension. Moreover,, there is no manner of doubt that the Taieri River presents a problem which will require, to be dealt with at no distant date, and if the bill now before Parliament is passed- the opportunity of dealing with the river will probably be lost. Under all the circumstances the inteersts of the plain will be best conserved if the present Taieri Drainage Board is left to carry out the very important functions for which itwas created. If any alteration is desirable .it is probable that it should go in the direction of making the district larger by including the watershed of the plain in the drainage district.