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FLOODING OF PLAINS.

PREVENTIVE MEASURES. EXTENSIVE WORK PROPOSED. A largely attended meeting of the settlers from that area between the Willow Tree drain, Turua, and the Wharepoa-Kerepeehi road was held at the Huirau Road factory on Wednesday ■ morning to discuss drainage matters. • It was agreed that owing to the lack of sufficient outlets the country became flooded after continuous rain, and that the only way to save farmers from being ruined was to provide more outlets. It was pointed out that under present conditions the drains were unable to cope with anything above a normal rainfall, with the result that water flowed across-eountry. Settlers who had gone to a lot of trouble and expense in draining their sections were penalised in that the water came on to their farms through the drains they themselves had constructed, and would not flow away until the flood had lowered generally. ■lt was agreed that at least three more outlets were necessary, and to that end it was decided that a special rating area should be formed to work in conjunction with the HorahiaOpou Special rating area, for the purpose of raising the necessary loan The area should roughly be from the Willow Tree drain to the WharepoaKerepeehi road. A committee, comprising three settlers from the Crown lands, three from the Hauraki Drainage Board’s area, hud three from the outer area, was appointed-to go into the matter and to wait upon the Lands Drainage Engineer and ask the Department to undertake the. necessary work for the settlers, just as it was doing for the Horalua-Opou settlers. The work suggested was : To open up the Te Kauri No. 1 drain and divert it into the Thames Valley outlet; to construct.a direct'diain down Orchard East Road and through Mr J. Hamilton’s property to the Thames Valley outlet; to widen and deepen the Thames Valley outlet sufficiently to deal with this ; and to increase the Wharepoa-Kerepeehi roadside, drain (or drains) to enable it (or them) to cope with all the water from the Kerepeehi corner. The committee waited upon Mr E. Taylor at the Wharepoa Ferry corner *on Thursday morning. There were present: Messrs F. L. Hamilton, J. C. Mijler (Junr.), W. McCombs, J. Nq.wniaii, R. Shilton, A. C. Ansitord, R. L Davies E. Hunter, J. M. Thompson, and J. Hamilton. Mr F. L. Hamilton was the .spokesman* and explained the proposals to the engineer. Mr Taylpr said that the settlers were working on the right lines. The Department, however, had as much work as it could handle at present, and could not give the matter the attention it required. He was not antagonistic to the scheme in any way. end fully realised that more drainage 1 nas required. He would strongly advise the .settlers to engage an independent engineer; who could give the matter his whole attention. In his opinion" this would be more satisfactory K to the settlers, add would not cost more than if the Department undertook the work. He pointed out that at present his Department was too understaffed to give the proper attention to the work it had in hand. He would give an outside engineer air the assistance possible, and also permit him to use the Department’s data. He would also lay the question before his superiors, who might in-struct-him to.proceed with the work. 1 iowever, he did not hold out much hope, and advised the settlers to obtain the services of another engineer. The details of the proposed scheme were then discussed, and in the main were approved by Mr Taylor. He finally agreed to have rough data obtained and go into the proposal and give his opinion and advice oh the scheme, though it was a much bigger undertaking than the settlers realised. The proposed rating area was also discussed, and finally it was left to Mr Taylor to fix as he thought fit. It was thought that it would, roughly, include the Hauraki Drainage Board's central and Te Kauri areas, and the rest of the land from the Willow Tree drain to the' Wharepoa-Kerepeehi mad, including also the sections fronting this road ami part of the Kerepeehi towmship. After receiving Mr Taylor’s report, the next .step would be to approach the County Council in regard to the raising of a loan. As the settlers ' seem unanimous, a petition would be preferable to a loan poll. A vote of confidence and thanks to Mr Taylor for his offer was carried unanimously. lir discussing the cause of the flood in the area it was pointed out that the crux of the position was near the Kqrepechi corner. Storm water from the high land of Kerepeehi flowed to to the roadside drain, from where a S large proportion passed through culverts under the road and up settlers’ drains on to the low land at the back of their sections, and then aerosscountry towards Turua and Kopuarabi. It was contended that other ouHets should be provided for the ’ upland water, and that it .should not be aliened to cross the road. The drain to the Wharepoa ferry could be made, to take much more water than it does at present, and this appeared to be the easiest solution. A flood-ga-t&.at-the corner was advocated, so as to block the water from Wairau Road and compel it to go by the drain behind the showground to the Awaiti canal. If the suggested flood-gate was put in and settlers on the KerepeehiNgateg road fitted flood-gates to their drains the water from the Kerepeehi hillside would be kept to the roadside drains. If, however, the volume was such tnat it still flowed over the land, some other solution would have to be found. The opinion was that the flood-gates would be worth a trial, r ami many of the settlers agreed to , fit them if the Department did so at ''-the corner.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HPGAZ19240602.2.15

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4706, 2 June 1924, Page 3

Word count
Tapeke kupu
976

FLOODING OF PLAINS. Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4706, 2 June 1924, Page 3

FLOODING OF PLAINS. Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4706, 2 June 1924, Page 3

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