STOP-BANK WORKS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4586, 13 July 1923, Page 2

STOP-BANK WORKS.

KAIMANAWA AREA. PLANS WELL IN HAND. Some weeks ago a deputation headed by Mr A. R. Robinson, Chairman of the Ohinemuri County Council, waited on the Minister of Public Works (Hon. J. G. Coates) at Waihi to ask that work be put in hand to safeguard the interests of the Kaimanawa settlers whose lands are, and will continue te be subjected to floods as long as the existing gaps in the bank on the lower portion of the Waimarie bend remain unclosed. Last week Mr Robinson received a reply from the Minister, who states, inter alia, that to carry out the work re quested and to provide a measure of safety the present stop-bank must needs be extended to higher ground, while provision must, be made for interior drainage behind the stopbank between the Waimarie bend and Alexander’s drain. The plans for the former work, so the Minister states, are complete, and a scheme for the latter portion, now in course of preparation, will be completed shortly. The cost of a temporary flood-gate at Alexander’s drain, as requested by the settlers, should,-in the opinion of the Minister, be borne by the settlers themselves.

Mr Robinson is very pleased with the promise of the Minister, as the completion of the stop-bank, a work of considerable magnitude and proportionately costly, will afford the needed relief from flood waters, and will render useful that part of the bank where the incomplete state precludes it from doing the work it was expected to do. The provision of a flood-gate, Mr Robinson adds, will be a matter for settlement by the County Council and the settlers themselves.