HORAHIA-OPOU DRAINAGE AREA.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5113, 11 April 1927, Page 3

HORAHIA-OPOU DRAINAGE AREA.

(To the Sir—Abuse is no argument, and I do not wish to lower myself to attempt to wash dirty linen through your paper, but I cannot refrain from penning a few lines concerning a paragraph, accredited to the chairr <naii of the Horahia Drainage Board, which appeared in your contemporary, the Thames Star, enlarging on parochialism and comprehensive views. Having, with others, been associated with Mr. E. Taylor, Lands Department engineer, in creating the Horahia-tOpou Special Drainage Area, now to trace drainage matters in this particular area for the past seven years. Regarding the abovementioned area, and the difficulty of fixing the boundaries of same, we discussed matters with settlers on Piako Road and the Kerepeehi-Kopuarahi road on that part known as Horahia. These latter claimed to be more or less drained, particularly in the western portion of the then Horahia Riding of the Plains County Council. The boundaries were eventually fixed by Mr Taylor, who carried out the, work with credit to himself and satisfactory results to the whole of the special rating area. In due course the Hauraki Drainage Board ratepayers in the central and Te Kauri areas, who required drainage, were prepared to form a rating area with the Hora-hia-Opou special area to provide fur‘""Ther drainage, and the Te Kauri No. 1 and Thames Valley outlet in particular. The committee appointed waited on the Hauraki Drainage Board, and though receiving a sympathetic hearing., were advised to await the advent of the, Horahia Board, when, with two boards, the personnel of which were more or less bound up in the progress pf the district, it was hoped that parochial barriers would speedily vanish. But, sad to relate, all that vanished was the hope.. The first works of the Horahia Board in this locality was the spending of a grant made by the Minister of Lands to Mr Thompson and others, this being spent in the Zig-zag drain, overloading the existing system with disastrous results at this end, and failing to gain the result desired by M “"“Thompson and Co. I am here prompted to again make the statement which I made before the Commissionthat any benefits received here Xvere the result of the special loan works, and not from anything the Horania Board has done. When the Horahia Board’s loan proposals came along they were found to include considerable. drainage for the drained area which I have mentioned earlier. These works stand as a credit to the central area members, Messrs McDuff and Kneebone. Unfortunately, in their parochialism, they forgot the eastern portion pf their area, and this has been the cause o£ all the wrangling, it seems to me that in their construction they formed a light bark canoe with the plimsol mark on the full rating capacity of their area. once in the canoe themselves, they decided to push off, quite forgetting that they had not as yet got a clearance from the neglected portion of their area. They attempted then, and are still trying, to divert moneys allocated to -the Te Kauri No. 1 drain to the Willow Drain, thereby fulfilling their obligations to that part of their area at the expense of the southern area. Had it not been that Messrs Hale, Miller, and Murray (together with Mr Kneebone at that time) took a comprehensive view of matters, we would have had no allocation of loan moneys whatever, this owing to the apathy of the southern area members, one of whom has apparently wakened up since to the necessity of further outlets, and I can now thank the " -above-mentioned three gentlemen that now, although late, things ’ are moving. I do not object in any way to the Willow drain improvements, provided the Kauri No. 1, which is a primary benefit, is not penalised. Although the Kauri No. 1 is at my front door, I would draw the attention of the area dissenters to the fact that ... when my front door (or, rather, the first mortgagees) is dry, the back door is automatically the same. To these I wish also to point out tha’t over £3OOO has been spent on Price’s drain. This, on a basis of per capita per acre per failm would show their quarter has not been neglected. Now the chairman’s slogan, “The greatest good for the greatest number,” is no doubt right in principle, but is not worth power unless pro-i—-perly applied. In the face of these spasmodical changes of programtae prospective candidates should at least give their views to a public meeting of electors. FENWICK L. HAMILTON.