THE Hauraki Plains Gazette. With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto: Public Service. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, & FRIDAY. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1922.. RIVERS COMMISSION.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4376, 10 February 1922, Page 2

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette. With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto: Public Service. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, & FRIDAY. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1922.. RIVERS COMMISSION.

The summary of the report of the Waihou and Ohinemuri Rivers Commission which is published in to-day’s “Gazette” makes interesting reading. The most gratifying thing about the report is that the Commission had the. courage to suggest a just allocation of the cost for the Government ; namely, one half. Hauraki Plains County is highly assessed at 33 per cent, of the other half, but this was to be expected, seeing that the stop-bank work is mainly intended for the protection of swamp lands. With 25 per cent. Ohinemuri is. grossly Overburdened, considering thej large amount of practically nonproductive hill and mining areas in the county, but this, too,. was to be expected, as the Council did not put up any fight worth speaking about at the sitting of the Commission. The gross anomaly of the revenue producing part of the Waihou River, from Puriri to Kopu, inclusive, being under the control of the Thames Harbour Board, while the upper portion, upon which much expenditure is necessary, is under different control, was pointed out very plainly. The remedy implied is that the control of the river for the whole of its length should be under one body, and that body should collect dues towards the payment of

river works. Sooner or later a river board will be formed, and if the Commission’s recommendations are carried out such board will control the who.le river down to Kopu. Whether or not the Government will refuse to pay half-cost, as recommended by the Commission, is a debatable point, but it is more than likely that it will decline to shoulder its responsibilities, in which case the Commission will be but another instance of wanton and premeditated waste that fairly consistently characterises the setting up of royal commissions in New Zealand. A CLOSE APPROXIMATION. / . In the light of the Commissiop's suggested allocation of costs, the' reasoning and figures put forward by Mr J. L. Hanna (Paeroa Borough solicitor) indicate very clearly that, despite the opposition of two of 1 the ablest legal gentlemen in Auckland, the Commission paid considerable ati tention to Mr Hanna's summing up address, an extract from which reads as follows:

“In giving the following figures I have dealt only with £50,000 as the estimated annual cost, as I had not Mr Baker’s amended figures at the time, but simple proportion will reduce them to £43,000. Taking/the annual amount required in respect of works from Ngatea north .as 8 per cent, on £166,486 (the cost of same), we arrive at £13,232 ,per annum, anddealing with them in the same way we get Ohinemuri River £4176 pen apnum, upper Waihou £15,468 per annum, and expended moneys £16,960 per annum, or a total of £49,836 yearly. Now, the mining industry is um doubtedly liable for 90 per cent, of the damage in the Ohinemuri, but if we put them down at 75 per cen., or £3132 per annum on this item we are liberal. Add to this one-fourth of the annual cost of works north of Ngahina, £3308, or together a sum of £6440 The method adopted to arrive at the proportion of expended moneys was as follows: The proportions of the estimated future expenditure .as given by Mr Baker were arrived at as stated above, and the proportion each contributory’s share bore to the total of these is the proportion of the unexpended moneys charged to them. Thus £3200 is added to the mining industry, bringing its total liability .to £9640 per annum', or less than the interest at 8 per cent, on the total amount Crushed at 6d per ton, without even touching the gold duty at all. I maintain that the Crown should contribute one-fourth of the Ohins-i muri annual cost as (1) a liability incurred by granting the proclamation. and (2) as a liability for the restoration of navigation in the Ohinemuri, and on this item would pay £1044 annually, as against Paeroa’? annual loss 'of £1650,. Also that the Crown should pay half of the upper and lower Waihdu costs, or £14,350, and their share of the expended moneys adds £BOOO, making a total of £23,394, or about 50 per-cent, more than its annual betterment on the 35,000 acres previously mentioned, and £BOOO a, year spread over the benefits to lower Hauraki Plains lands, and for the keeping open of a national / navigable waterway, let alone the preservation of its taxable, lands and businesses, is surely not too- high. Shipping, in my opinion, could reasonably stand one-fourth oif the annual cost from Ngatea north,, or £3308, plus its proportion of expended moneys, £l6OO, totalling £4908. But I maintain here that Hauraki Plains ■shipping should pay a portion ofi this, as the Piako is being materially protectedx_by the upper Waihou works. The land from Wharepoa south- to and including Matamata, but excluding land drained by the Ohinemuri, T suggest should pay half of the upper Waihou cost, or £7734, plus its share of expended moneys, £4’250, giving a total of £11,984 per annum.” Mr Baker, district engineer for the Public Worfis Department, stated that he considered ' the annual cost could be reduced from' £50,000 to £43,000, and if Mr Hanna had had these figures when he nfade his calculations and worked them, on the basis of £43,000, his figures in the proportion of 43 to 50 would have been as follows : -Mining — £8,290 Crown 20,119 Land — 10,306 Shipping — 4,221 On the £43 000 annual cost basis the Commission’s figures would work' out as follows: Mining — £10,750 Crown 21,500 Land — 10,750 and whereas the Commission does not make any definite allocation to shipment, it is apparently contemplated in the report. Under the circumstances, Mr Hanna’s figures are a remarkably close approximation tp those ’of the Commission. On the basis of £43,000-odd, being the' figures given by Mr Baker, the annual payments payable by the local Authorities would be: Thames County __ £436 Hauraki Plains County 3595 Ohinemuri County (— 2725 , Piako County — — 1635 Matamata County __ 763 Thames Borough __ 327 Paeroa Borough __ 763 Te Arpha Borough — 654