THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 1923. RIVER CONTROL.

Wairarapa Age, 10 March 1923, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 1923. RIVER CONTROL.

The deputation from the Ahiakouk.* River Board to the Featherston County Council yesterday emphasised the very unsatisfactory position which exists in regard to the control of this important work. A considerable area of dairying land in the southern portion of the /Wairarapa valley borders on the Rua ncahunga and ?is tributaries, and is liable to floods at various periods of the year. These floods have in the past materially assisted to enrich the soil, but with the increase of settlement and the higher prices now ruling it is a great drawback to the landowners to have their property inundated. The various protective bodies in the past have done their best to save the land adjoining the rivers, ani their efforts have not been entirely unsuccessful; but there is much to be desired in the way of co-ordination of effort. It was mentioned yesterday, for example, that the Ahiakouka Board had expended between £6OO and £7OO in the Waiohine Board’s area, owing to the boundaries not having •been properly defined. The system which has to be followed whereby one board proposes work and then waits upon the other for assistance in carry ing it out is obviously a weak one. In view of the attention which is nowbeing directed towards the protection/ of the land about the lake and the obvious necessity for improving the system higher up, it is to be hope ! that some more comprehensive scheme will be arrived at for centralising control over larger areas than at present and so producing co-ordination.