HORAHIA DRAINAGE.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 4942, 22 February 1926, Page 3

HORAHIA DRAINAGE.

meeting of board.

The monthly meeting of thd Horahia Drainage Bpard was held on 'Thursday Mr F. A. Kneebone presid“s Messrs W. MoDut J. C. Miller, S. S. Murray, R. D. Davies, J. M. Thompson, and W. E. G. Willy (clerk). ALTERATION OF BOUNDARIES. The Department of Internal Affairs forwarded a copy of the N.Z. Gazette ' containing the'special orders altering the boundaries of .the three subdivisions of the district. / PURCHASE OF LAND. • The Cdmmissioner of Crown Lands wrote in regard to the proposed sale of a portion of section 24, block IL, “"■Waihou survey district, to the board and advised that the matter had been further investigated. In view of the information obtained the board would not be prepared to sell a portion only of the area. The Land Board would therefore be glad ,to be advised whether the board was desirous of purchasing the section and hut for £l2O. Members expressed the opinion that the proposition would be a good one. The hut could probably, be let fQ r much more than .the interest and rates. '■ It was • decided ,that| the section should be acquired if it coufld be secured on terms. La. . ‘ LOAN MONEY., Letters were received in reply to the board’s applications for a loan pf £15,500 or any portion from the Government. Life Insurance Department, Public Trustee, South* British Insurance Co., N.Z. Insurance Co., A.M.P. Society, and the Auckland Savings Bank declining to do business. ORCHARD EAST MATTERS. Mr J.‘C. Miller, junr., tor and on behalf of the settlers concerned, (wrote drawing attention to the state Kf the Willow drain and. the damage . tha,t has been done to .the same through Mr Norman Davidson not having fenced his portion. . ' The water table, on the east side of Hamilton Road had no outlet, so t e Water had to soak through "to the big drain, and this was; likely to cause slips; ( . Another matter was .the grant or approximately £2BO made by the Minister for Lands on the Te .Kauri No. 2 drain- It was thought by the settlers that unless the. money was spent v the grant would automatically lapse. ’ , Mr McDuff Sjuggestbd asking the County Council to.provide a piped outlet for‘the Hamilton Road watertables, and this agreed to,' In regard to the fencing of. Davidson’s land, .the clerk said that the matter was still in the hands of the Commissioner of Jlrown Lands. Concerning the" unexpended Government grant, Mr McDuff said that. \ he understood some of this, was to be transferred to the No. 1 Te Kauri ■ drain. z - ; . The clerk sajd he Was of .the opin- • ion that ’ the whole' matter was in the hands of the. Lands Drainage Department. It was decided to ascertain the position from the Lands Drainage engineer. RIVER STOP-BANK. Mr J. Sloane, having applied to the board to take over .the control of the stop-bank on his river boundary, the matter was referred to the Lands Drainage Engineer for his comments. A letter was. received from Mr E. Taylor enclosing a sketch of the ptopbank. He had pointed out .to Mr Sloane that his bank was not up to the standard of those constructed by the department, apd it was, in his) opinion,, too close to the river at) • some points. It was decided that the board inspect the bank, and there decide what improvements,/Were to be made before the control was taken, over.

PT AKO RO AD BRIDGES. <■ The\Turua Town Board wrote asking the board to contribute one-third of the cost of replacing the bridge at the corner of Piako and Hajiraki Roads with, a concrete culvert. The Town Board would contribute onethird of the cost* and .the .Hauraki Board would be asked to find the other third, each share being estimated at £33-odd. The matter was discussed at great length, it finally being agreed ,to. discuss the matter, with the other contributing authorities. ANNUAL CLEANING. - ■ ' Tenders; for the annual cleaning of the 56-odd miles- of drains in the board’s area were considered in committee, and many were accepted. On. the'whole there was more.competition for the. work thajn at the- previous! cleaning, and the prices were Satisfactory. In cas.es where no tenders were ' received the. board members concerned were authorised to act. Mr E. Flavell-was appointed overseer on the'same terms as previously. OUTSTANDING RATES. Discussing the question of the outistanding ratec. it was pointed out that the 10 per cent, penalty would be imposed on the 25th Inst, apd that the clerk had instriictioins to sue after that date. A NORTHERN OU.TLET. 1 After much discussion on the relative merits 1 of the two routes and the comparative costas it was, decided, subject .to the consent of the owner of the land traveled, that the outlet previously adopted, through the Hauraki Board’s outlet known as Taylor’s, be’ constructed straight .through the Hamanaka block to the river. WILLOW DRAIN EXTENSION. The following recommendation of the board in committee at its November meeting was, adopted: “That the loan proposals be pushed on, and immediately the poll has been taken tenders be invited for the three approved specifications, and thajt financial arragements be made to push these works through.” The specifications referred to were fo the zig-zag drain (Willow Drain extension), the McDuff-Louch drain, and a flood-gate at Shelly Beach. It was decided that the £l5O Government grant be transferred to the zigzag drain work if possible.