NO LEGAL LIABILITY FOR SPILLWAY DAMAGE

Chronicle (Levin), 22 December 1947, Page 3

NO LEGAL LIABILITY FOR SPILLWAY DAMAGE

A 'demand by the Manawatu County Council that the Mana-watu-Oroua River Board take action to allow water from Wall's spillway to get away instead of running across the Foxton-Shannon road, is to receive a reply from the board disclaiming that the erection of the spillway involved them in any further legal liability. This was a decision of the board yesterday when a letter from the council alleged that at present the water from the spillway was held back by a bank and ponds on the roa'd. A draft letter was submitted to the meeting by the chairman, Mr. J. Chrystall. "In reply to your letter we wish to point out that this section of road was in existence for at least 50 years before the river board took control of the Moutoa stopbanks," the letter stated. "During that period numerous floods crossed the road at this point. We have yet to learn that any action was taken by your council to accelerate the discharge of floodwaters. In 1941 the river board constructed a spillway opposite this portion of the road. In July, 1942, a very large flood came over the spillway. Surely, if the discharge of floodwater is seriously retarded at this point prompt action should have been taken to remedy the position. It is a well-known rule in law that where any work done by a localj body is liable to cause damage ; action must be taken within 12 j months of the completion of the i work. The first complaint we re-! ceived from your council was in { September, 1947, more than five 1 and a-half years after the spillway was finished." Engineer's Report The engineer to the board, Mr. H. R. Farquhar, reported as follows: — The stopbank at Te Maire I has • been reshaped, graded and ! cracks consolidated; formations of j gravel 20 chains from the junc- j tion of the Mangaore Stream with j the Manawatu River are causing i bank erosion which threatens both! stopbanks. Willow protection has j been strengthened and extended on ' the left bank 10 chains below the ■ Te Maire breach; deepening of 10 ■ ' chains of the Mangaore Stream from the junction with the river j ppstre'am has caused the over- j hanging willows to slip into the partially blocked waterway. These ' had been removed; an inspection i showed that 100 per cent. of -the j low level flow now passed through ' all three of Croad's cuts, all three; loops being heavily silted to nine i feet in some places; after inspecting Taupunga Cuts No. 1 and 2 on November 22 it was decided to 1 recommend constf uction ' df a de- j fleeting groyne on the right bank I two and a half chains upstream ' from the end. of the breached per- j meable groyne. It was understood that plans for the work had been confirmed by the Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Council, to ' safeguard Oroua River banking | above Kopane bridge it was pro- ! posed to provide spillways on both banks.