THE WAIMAKARIRI AND THE CITY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17389, 9 September 1924, Page 6

THE WAIMAKARIRI AND THE CITY.

The City Council apparently wasted a good deal of time last evening attempting to decide whether it had received a rebuff from the Waimakariri River Trust. The point is a trivial one. What really matters is the construction of protective banks, made necessary because of the increasing danger of an overflow. If this work is not treated as a matter of urgency*, the rebuff to the city will very likely come from the Waimakariri itself. At last week’s meeting of the trust, the chairman stated that the river bed had risen two feet in seven years. In his opinion, the construction of groynes should be gone ou with immediately, because the planting of willows was having no effect on erosion along the river bank. One or two city councillors have also become aware of the extent of the menace, and they were able to persuade the council yesterday to invite a representative of the trust to a conference, so that the dangers might be explained. When this occurs, the bodies concerned should waste no time before getting to the heart of the matter. The position is that the chairman of the trust proposes to spend £25,000 on groynes. It has now to be decided whether that amount is too much or too little, whether there is not some alternative cheaper scheme, and whether the north or the south bank is to receive the larger share of the expenditure. The wisest course for the conference would be to call in expert advice straight away.