PLAINS DRAINAGE.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4402, 12 April 1922, Page 1

PLAINS DRAINAGE.

POSITION OF HILL LAND, / EXEMPTION OF RATES REFUSED. ©• The Minister of Lands (Hon, D. H. Guthrie) wrote to the Hauraki Plains Council as follows' “In further reply to your letter of the 10th March, asking that provision be made in'the amendment to the Hauraki Plains Act tc exempt an area of-land from the d?ainage rate on the ground that such land is all hill land and derives no benefit from our drainage operations, I have carefully considered the matter and regret I dp not see my way to comply with your request. “I am advised that the lands in. question .receive both direct and indirect benefit from our works. For instance, the Piako River has been well snagged, and the drainage of t!fre Plains has made possible the construction of. roads, bridges, and jetties, which are used and enjoyed by the settlers pn so-called hill landsIt should be noted that the lands in question have not in any way been charged with a portion of capital utilised in providing such facilities. The only means the Department has of getting some little return from the lands is, therefore, to make them contributors to the maintenance rate. It is considered that it woiild be bad policy tp exempt these lands at present, and they are in any case in a differential, class, • i.e., the lowest class, ,‘C.’ Granting such exemption would sim.ply call for similar treatment in other areas.i The treating of the swamp lands alongside the lower hill country has naturally enhanced the value of the latter, and consequently an indirect benefit has been received.”