PUBLIC OPINION.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 1, Issue 4, 3 April 1912, Page 3

PUBLIC OPINION.

[We do not necessarily identify ourselves with the opinions expressed in this column.—Editor.]

The Waikato River Board.

[To The Editor.] Sir,—l have rend with no little interest your last report of the proceedings of the Waikato Kiver Board. The doings of that brdy are of such grave importance to a large portion of the district in which your paper circulates that I have no hesitation in asking for a little space to draw attention to. its aims and lay bare the methods by which it is labouring to attain its end.

The Board is a corporation of so recent a creation that no doubt many of your readers are scarcely oven aware of its existence. A word, therefore, as to its excuse for existing at all will not be out of place. It is the outcome of the efforts of an association of owners of swamp lands situated mostly on the right bank of the Waikato, south of Mercer, and its mission is the deepening of the bed of the river sufficiently to allow of the draining of these fens. This is, no doubt, in itsulf a most laudable undertaking though doomed to failure, I fear, owing to the underrating of the difficulties to be faced, and the consequent inadequacy of the means proposed to be employed. However, it is not the end sought that at present concerns me, but the methods by which that end is endeavoured to be attained.

The swamps it is proposed to benefit lie on the same level as the Waikato, and are now practically useless, as every time it rises a foot or two they are turned into lakes But if the river could bo lowered ten or twelve feet they would at once become valuable, and if it could be donu at someone else's expense the owners would have excellent reason for congratulating themselves. Those of your readprs who have patience enough to follow me will see how much cause the members of the association have to feel complacent.

Near the mouth of the river lie two of the most fertile and productive dairying districts in the province—the Aka Aka and the Otaua. Abandoned at one time to the pukekeo and the bittern, twenty years of work and the expenditure of tens of thousands of pounds have turned them into the richest meadows in the North, and their value has increased from a few shillings to thirty or forty pounds per acre. The drainage system is practically complete, and the only enemy is the tide, which affects some, small portions. Here was a golden opportunity for the owners of undrained and nearly valueless swamps. These highlyvalued lands, though they could receive no possible benefit, and would most probably be seriously damaged by the proposed interferences with the river-bed, were capable of being taxed to the extent of seven or eight shillings per acre every year, and were accordingly roped into the rateable area. By what surreptitious wire-pulling the Order-in-Council effecting this was obtained lam unable to say, but the first intimation that they were included the owners received was a demand last January for payment of rates to the Kiver Board. On the 28th of last month, in company with Mr Hull, the Chairman of the Aka Aka Drainage Board, I waited on the Board at Mercer. We were assured that deep regret was felt that any should be unjustly taxed, but our request that the Board should undertake not to oppose any steps we might take to get out of its area was unanimously declined by resolution. A further request that the Board should refrain from collecting our rates until we had had an opportunity to get outside the area was similarly declined, and the only grace we got was three weeks to consult the ratepayers who had sent us before we were sued for our rates. Clearly the Board was out for pluuder. One little privilege we obtained, however. We were permitted to see the draft Bill the Board proposed to try to get through the House next session. It gives the .Board extensive borrowing powers, but does not even hint at any pi »vir>* allowing uubenefitted landf • > ; , . , from taxation. loui ..'v.>;, '. now tells us of a draft i .'i' apparently confers no b..rrn« • rs, but creates an exemp l *>. ' ■ nieh of these Bills uth«- '".oard ;••• « > try to put through ? I said just i.u- Mi ■ ■ lands of the Aka Aka , I Hum >' 1 probably be serionslv ■! mriijY'l by the operations of lie hVv: i ii, and I do not thin 1 i !•••!' wh. i be any difficulty inn, mg g«»»-i contention. But ;1 -.■■ i-t i'"'• already reached an ■ , iitr so I must leave that irtoi t>, ii present. Perhaps up u -me i.it"i iccasion I may beperruitT'u ■> *i> ss a little further upo >'•' - ' Lam, etc., BKM ,T . 1' K. I WILY. Mauku, M ii■■!! ■■''! - '•''-•