RIVER ENCROACHMENT AT WAKANUI.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1694, 25 October 1887, Page 2

RIVER ENCROACHMENT AT WAKANUI.

The river Aehburton has, during the laßt fortnight, overflowed its banks to an alarming extent jiut below the Wakanul paoteatlve woik*. Daring the period nemed a great deal of coantry haa beea under water, and laudnwnera In the lina of overflow have suffered much damage. A meeting of paraona int«rea»ed m stay- j iug the ir.curaiona of the river was held i at the Wakanul schoolroom laßt ovenlDg There was a large attendance, the room being well filled. Mr 0. 0. Fooka, the j Wafcanui Road Board engineer, waa | p;eieDt. ; Mr James Brown stated that he had oonveued the meeting. Aa they all knew, the river had lately assumed a moat threatening aapeot, and it wa» desirable that the farmera affocied ahould meet together Bnd a»e what could bo done to cope with the difficulty. As a raorabor of tha Road Board he felt that some Beaponnibility attached to him, and there- i fore he had called the meeting. He invited those presont to select their Chairman. Mr Jamea Brown waa voted to trio ohalr, and briefly expUlned the reaaous why the raaeting had been oalled. A great deal of damage had been cauaod by the ovoiflow of the river, and that damage would be greatly increased wore the over- ; flow allowed to continue. With a view to expediting buaineea bo had prepared a few propositions to be discussed, and it *as open to the meeting to adopt, amend, or rtject them He might mention that Mr Oompton, a gentleman who had a gieat deal of exparlenoe of our rivera, had told him the other day of a aydtem of river protection. He (theChairman( had imformed Mr Oompton that it would be aa well if he amended the meeting and explained hia system to those present Mr Oompton, he notioed, was In attendance. They were all, doubt.leas, aware that the Oonnty Council had served a number of settlers with notice to remove oertaln lineß of fence and had sent lawyer's leitera to aevaral threatening legal proceedings if the notice were not at onoe compiled with. In regard to this matter ha had a motion to propose which he would divide in!o three parts, each to be considered m ita turn j That motion was : " (1) th..t this meeting ia of opinion that the courses taken by the last ovoiflow are nt>t such aa tlu* overflow would have Uken had there been oo fences m tha way— (2) th*t to remove he fanc;B m the more natural linea would at the present time very greatly increase the danger by causing the water to maWa fresh ohannela through land In crop— (3> that the County Council did not give tbie matterthe careful consideration it deaorvd before it sont its Uwyer'B letterß demand, ing the removal of oertain fenaaa forthwith" The sections of the motion were conaidered seriatim, and after dipcu*Bion wore adopted, and it was resolved that copies should be sent to tbe County Oouno'l The Chairman then moved, "That this meeting ib of opinion that tbe best way to prevent further damage from the overflow of the tiver would be by oonfining the river to the riverbed where it has a well-deßned channel, instead of trying to confine it within bounds on the flat whero 1 there is no channel. " : Mr D. Wilßon thought it would be better i if the latter part of the motion were left [ out, and the feeling of the meeting taken as to whether the river should be kept within its bed. Tha matters of keeping ' the river within its bed and making ■ provision for overflow were two diatinct : questions. i The Chairman bad no objection to the suggested amendment, and he struok out a 1 tho words m his motion after " defined ' channel " 1 Mr D. Wilaon seconded the motion ' which was carried.

Mr D. Wibon Baid that he thought it would be a pity if the matter just struck out of *K« resolution should come forward, as it might cause aiscova. jlu« uuiy chance they had of coping with the river was by acting unitedly The Ohnirnian then moved that a Committee of fire be appointed to carry out the resolutions of the meeting and to take aDy steps they might deem neces3arj to deal with the ove:fl>w. Mr D. Wiloon said that the present overflow was not of very much conaeqaenoe. Ha and others had arranged to atop it temporarily, bat permanent works wou'd coat a graat deal of money, and he thought It would be aa wull to take the oplnioa of the mcc log In regard to o. instituting a River Board. Tha Chairman was pleased that Mr Wilson and the others Interested had arranged to temporarily atop the ovei flow as it dtd away with the necessity foe his motion. A deauUory discussion followed. Messrs D. Wilson, W Jamison, S. Brown and J. Brown agreed to help to temporarily stop the ovoifbw, and it was intimated that the assistance of two or three other gentlemen was almost sure to be given. The Chairman than moved that the Governor be {petitioned to constitute a river dlatriot to be oalled the Wakanol River District. He pointed out the advantages that would accrue from »h» establishment of a River Board. Tae only question w»b m regard to the bouDdarles. It might be desirable to extend those of the present special rating district a little, so as to take m a portion of what waa ooce Dudley and Nirthey'sUndbeciuae the River Bond might decide to send the river down an old channel on the south side, as had been reoommended by the County OauQcll and Koad Board engineers when they first reported on the matter. A long diaousalon arose, la reply to a question Mr Fooka said that if it was deoided to lead the river to the south Bide It would be necessary to purchase 200 or 300 acres of land. With a little oare there waa no fear of the river working ltd way back. A discussion here again arose as to the temporary work to stop the overfljw, and thy Chairman was requested to bring forward his motion, which bad - been withdrawn, m regard to the appointment of a Committee to boo the work carded out. Motions to the following effect wore ultimately oirried : - That a provisional Committee of five be appointed to take such aotion aa Is necessary to stop the overflow ; that a aubaouption list bo opened to provide funds to carry out the neoeasary work and to procure requisite material ; that 6i {per day be paid eaoh mau and 12a each man and pair of horses engaged on the work and that the labor be chosen from the subscribers. Meßßra E 1 Thomaß, G. Ooe, S. Brown, W. Jamison and M. Wilson, were appointed the provisional Committee. Mr D. Wilson was appointed Treasurer ! to reoe've moneys subscribed. The meeting then came back o the question of river district and it was reflolved that the boundaries of the proposed district be those of the special rating district and also some of the low lying land on tht> other Bide of the river. The Chairman undertook to preparo the petition to the Governor praying for the constitution of the tiver district. A subscription list to provide funda for the temporary works waa thon opened and £62 was subscribed. A vote of thanks to the ohalr concluded the proceedings.