Hutt River Erosion

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 18, 16 October 1943, Page 4

Hutt River Erosion

Sir, —Mr. James Stellin in his letter of September .30 draws attention, to the failure of the authorities to protect the fertile land in the Hutt Valley from the constant erosion by the Hutt River. Thousands of ratepayers in the Hutt Valley have for years been contributing rates to the river board to insure that their homes are safeguarded from the flooding of the river, and the whole valley is endangered by 'the faiure of the board to take effective steps for control. For years past the bed of the river has been filling up and widening and spreading, and the river has been encroaching on the Belmont side, but no satisfactory attempt has been made by the river lioard to protect the banks or to divert the river to the middle of its bed. The result has been the loss of valuable private and public land, of which the recent severe wash-out below the Belmont station is only one' example. For how long are property owners in the Hutt Valley to be asked to pay river board rates when with every flood additional large slices of their valuable land go down the river, leaving boundary fences swinging in mid-air? Is it that the board is not interested so long as the river is working over to the western side of the valley? Certainly lack of funds is not the cause, for, as Mr. Stellin points out, the board at its last annual meeting “gleefully produced a balancesheet showing a credit balance of £9800.' As the board has the funds and has access to the advice of experts, and the monev being available, the ratepayers in the Hutt Valley are entitled to have the river controlled by approved modern methods and to have a statement from the board upon the subject. There is little hope of the full development of the Hutt Valley till the river board has control of the Hutt River. —I am, etc., RATEPAYER. October 15.