HORAHIA DRAINAGE.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 4927, 18 January 1926, Page 3

HORAHIA DRAINAGE.

: MEETING OF BOARD. > The monthly meeting of the Hoi'ahiaDrainage Board was held qn Friday last; Mi’ F. A. Kneebone presiding ever the following: Messrs W. E. Hale, J. C. Miller, J. M. Thompson, R. ' L. Davieis. and the secretary (Mr W. * E. G. Willy). ELECTION OF MEMBERS:The Department of Internal Affairs forwarded a copy of the N.Z. Gazette containing a notification of the result of the. recent election. Messrs R. L.' Davies and J. M. Thompson were shown as having been appointed for the .southern subdivision. RIVER STOP-BANK. " "Mr J. H. Sloane wrote making application to the board to take ovei and be responsible for the stop-bank along his property adjoining the Piako River. Mr Miller considered that no objection could be raised. The clerk suggested asking the opinion of the Lajids, Drainage Department. Mr W. E. Hale concurred, and pointed out that the board’s demands as to the condition of the stop-bank should be similar to those of the Lands Department ■ ' It was decided to ask the departopinion, and its conditions. • — ’ OPOU OUTLET. In accordance with a notice of motion Mr F. A; Kneebone moved that the resolution of the board to the effect th,at the portion of .the Centra,! and Southern areas’ share of the cost of the proposed McDuff-Louch drain be equal, be rescinded. He pointed out that the alteration of the boundaries o’! the areas had altered the position, which was very, complicated. Mr Davies suggested rescinding all the resolutions on .the subject and starting agajn with a clean alate. At the request of members the clerk locked up all .the past resolutions on tlie subject. The site of the proposed drain had be4n altered several times, and there had been many motions as to the allocation of the cost- With adoption of the comprehensive drainage scheme the route was settled, and with the adoption of a;rea boundaries and the rescinding of the .resolution -mentioned the matter would be cleaned up. The motion was seconded by Mr Miller ,and carried. AMALGAMATION. Matters in connection with the question of amalgamation with the Hauraki Drainage Board, were discussed briefly in committed OFFER OF LAND. . The Commissioner .of, Cro.Wn Lands wrote assuming that th® board desi re d to purchase one acre of land at the corner of Piako. and Kerepeehi-Kopua-rahi roads, and the hut .thereon. He > advised that a report would be obtainjed and the board, advised later. \ ELIGIBILITY OF VOTERSAt the board’s request Mr E. Walton, solicitor to the board, forwarded tlie following legal opinion:— “The question which has been sub- ' mitted for my opinion is whether it is the duty of the returning officer for. tlie board's, district to strike out of the- roll, of ratepayers for tlie forthcoming poll the names of defaulters, as mentioned in section 57 of the Counties Act, 1920. “Section ’5 of the Land Drainage Act, 1908, in plain language imposes this duty in respect of elections of trustees by incorporating the provisions of the Counties Act, 1920. "Section 14 of the Land Drainage Act provides that the board, for the purpose of the administration of this Act, shall have and may exercise, the area of its district, all the ~ powers and authorities conferred upon a county council. “In the case of Henry versus Piako County, 30 New Zealand La,w 'Reports. ' at page 817, Justice Edwards says of section-14 : ‘This section appeal’s to be sufficient to substitute the drainage board for the county council for all; dra'hage purposes; and to confer upon ■ the drainage board, all powei>» and to iinpose upon it all liabilities, with reference to drainage conferred and imposed by the Counties Act upon the county council.’ ■ “Now, if the board were non-existent and the county council were the controlling authority, ,and it took a poll over .that part of the county in the Horahia drainage district, it is quite clear that the returning officer for the county would be compelled by secU.tion 57 of the Counties Act, 1920, to strike out from the roll the names of defaulter A “I think that it is the duty of the returning officer for the board’s district to do the same, apd that section 14 is. sufficient authority for his so doing. ... “I ami supported in this opinion by the language of Chief Justice Stout in his*decision in tlie case of Oroua Land Drainage Board versus Sluggish River Drainage Board, 32, New- Zealand Law' Reports at page 809, where His Honour says : ‘Full effect must be given - to g.uch a, remedial provision as section 1.4 of the Lands Drainage Act, 1908, and I see no reason to limit its application to any special,acts of administration. Where there is no provision for an administrative act E am r Vof opinion that the section should be so s interpreted as to prevent the statute being assumed not to provide Tor an event that is likely to occur. Aftre all, a land drainage board performs administrative work, often, and in fact generally, done by counties.’” In tlie outward correspondence there was a letter from the clerk to the returning officer asking that the napies of 23 defaulter of the Northern area, 18 of the Central area, and 39 of the Southern area, and all; the natives, be deleted from the roll, to be used at the forthcoming loan poll. There were 178 ratepayers in the .board’s territory OUTSTANDING RATES. After discussing the matter in comRmittee the secretary wa,s instructed to advertise that the 10 1 per cent, penalty would be added to all rates outstanding on February 24, and that all Yy'ates'.'not paid by that date would be

sued for, immediately. DATE OF MEETING.

It was decided that in future the regular meeting of the board would be held monthly, on the third Thursday. CLEANING OF DRAINS.

Arising out of .the question as to when the tenders, for the annual cleaning of drains' should be called, it was pointed put by Mr Hale that the loan proposal would not affect .the matter in tlie least, as it was very unlikely that the money could be secured in time ,to have much work done during the coming winter’. It was agreed that tenders be called to> close in time to be considered a,t the next meeting, and that the speci-’ fications be practically the same as. in the previous year.

Tlie question of abandoning some of the lesser drains on account of the lessened income of the board in the future, due to the reduction of the unimproved valuation and the fact that the general Tate wa,s up to tlie legal maximum, was discussed at length, but no decision was arrived at, it being agreed to consider the matter when tlie tenders were received. FENCING OF DRAINS.

Members urged that efforts should be made to get. all the drains fenced before the annual cleaning commenced. Arising out of this discussion, it was advocated that efforts uhotlld be made to reduce the number of s.tock wandering on the roads. It was agreed that members would communicate with the county ranger whenever straying stock was noticed.