DAMAGE BY STORM WATER

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2056, 6 February 1889, Page 3

DAMAGE BY STORM WATER

i ♦ Some time ago Messrs John and Gordon j Holmes sent In a claim to the County Council for damage caused to their properties through scour and deposftlon of shingle by a Conn oil storm water ohannel. A Committee was appointed to enquire Into the matter, and at Friday's meeting of the Connoll they submitted tbe following if port, which was adopted: — In reference to the claim made by Messrs Jobn ».nd Gordon Holmes for compensation to the amount of £70 for the damage done to their re«peotive properties by the soourlng action of the flood wat~r channel, constructed by this Council, your Committee report as follows : By an examination of the Council's minutes they find that the construction of the channel m question was authorised by the Council on February 2, 1881, subject, however, to the land required for the purpose being conveyed to the Council, whioh tbe County Engineer m a report dated February 2 1881, stated the owners were prepared to do. Your Committee find that the instructions of the Ooancil upon this Important point were noto»rrled ont, and tbe ohannel made without obtaining the conveyance of tbe land as directed. The onannbl was made about 9 feet wide and 18 Inches deep, and has now been aooured out to a depth varying from 3 to 8 feet, where it passes through the land of Mr Gordon Holmes. The damage from soour has been bat trifling m the land of Mr John Holmes, but he suffers from an accumulation of gravel waahed down from the higher portion of the. ohannel; The construction of snffiolent concrete fails to arrest the soouring action of the water would entail a considerable outlay, with the contingency that the falls themselves might be undermined during some exceptionally beany fiiod. Your Committee, therefore, reoommed that the Council acquire, under the Pnbllo Works Act, a atrip of land, 1$ ohains wide throughout the leDgth of the ohannel whioh they made, and that it be fenoed m and planted on eaoh side with willows? A olanse, proposing to charge two-thirds of the oost to No. 1 water race and tbe remaining third ti the Mount Hutt Riding, was deferred.