WAINUI TE WHARA STREAM

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 25, 20 November 1945, Page 5

WAINUI TE WHARA STREAM

PLANS TO DEEPEN

BOROUGH COUNCIL'S CONCERN

A strongly worded letter of urgent complaint was received by the Borough Council last Monday evening from Air F. Prideaux resident of Douglas Street who emphasised the immediate need of clearing and deepening the Wainui Te Whara Stream bed which flows through lower Allandale, and has twice been the cause of substantial flooding in that area within the past 18 months.

Discussing the the Mayor said that he quite agreed Avith Mr Prideaux that something would have to be done in spite of the almost impossible position Avhich the Council found itself in. He pointed out that a new subdivisional plan in Allandale itself had resulted in numerous section holders buying land fronting Alexander Avenue. These were potential home milkers and would have to be given protection by the council.

The Borough Foreman who was, present declared that lie. was just as worried as the residents. He had done his best to secure suitable machinery to clcar the .stream but there was none available. He could, if the council instructed start on the job by manpower with a but even this was next to impossible with the limited labour available. The stream was. filling up all the time and needed deepening by two or three feet from Valley Road to King Street.

Cr Canning said that little more could be done. He was sorry lor the residents concerned but the stream had always and probably always would. A lot of metal was washed annually down the Gorge 9 and this was the main problem.

The Foreman-Engineer then suggested that it might be by breaking the banks .about every two chain, to put a bulldozer on the and blade the bottom clear, bringing the spoil out the. and on to the adjoining properties. This woultl be very expensive and would cost about £2 10s per hour. Probably, for the distance between Valley Road and Douglas Street the cost would be £200. There was again the prospect of the land not agreeing to such a owing to the disfiguration of their properties.

The council agreed that any cour.se at all was better than, and instructed Mr Henderson to go further into his proposition, draw up a complete estimate of costs;, and interview property owners, lor their permission and report the matter back.