HAURAKI DRAINAGE.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5420, 6 May 1929, Page 4

HAURAKI DRAINAGE.

THE FINANCIAL POSITION. REVIEW OF FOUR YEARS’ WORK The Hauraki United Drainage Board held a special nieeting at Turua on Friday last to deal with the financial position and general business. Mr 11. 11. flicks presided over the following : Messrs J. C. Miller, F. L. Hamilton, R. H. Heappey, S. G. Williams, S. S. Murray, and J. E. Green (clerk). As instructed, the clerk submitted a lengthy statement of the expenditure of loans, subsidies, and grants since the inception of the Horahia Drainage Board up to March 31, 1929. 'This had been taken from the old records, but. owing to changes of system, incomplete records, changes in mimes of drains, and changes in members, it had been extremely difficult to allocate the expenditure from the three area accounts of the old Horahia Board to the four area accounts of the present Hauraki United Board. A .statement was also presented for the Hauraki Central loan account, but none of these items had been allocated to the subdivisions as yet, as it was for the board to allocate the proportions from the Horahia Board’s loan to wipe out the debit balance of the Hauraki Central loan. Expenditure. The board discussed the figures item for item, at great length, and agreed that the expenditure on loan in the various wards was as follows : Northern Area.—Horahia district, £3458 3s 7d ; United district, £2707 Ils 9d ; grant Shelly Beach floodgates, £582 8s ; liabilities, £786 3s lOd ; total, £7534 7s 2d. ■ Central North Area.—Horahia, £3498 2s 9d ; United, £1742 ; liabilities, £156 12s ; total, £5396 16s sd. Central South Area. —Horahia area, £2009 11s 4d ; United area, £1395 4s 3d ; liabilities, £683 10s 6d; total, £4OBB 6s Id. Southern Area.—Horahia area, £2l 5s 7d ; United area, £623 15s lid ; total, £645 Is 6d. Receipts. The clerk’s summary of receipts and payments showed Joans of £6OOO for the Horahia area and £B5OO for the United area. The United area had received £3519 2s 3d as subsidy and £366 12s as grant, while the Horahia area received £1633 as grant. The total receipts from these was £20,019 2s 3d. Payments. The payments were as follows : — Northern Area.—From Horahia loan, £3458 3s 7d ; from Horahia grant, £582 8s ; from Hauraki United, £2707 Ils 9d ; making a total of £6748 3s 4d. Central North Area.—Horahia loan, £3043 0s 9d ; Horahia grant, £455 2s ; Hauraki loan, £1742 Is 8d ; total, £5240 4s sd. Central South Area.—Horahia loan, £1413 13s 4d; Horahia grant, £595 18s ; Hauraki loan, £1395 4s 3d ; total, £3404 15s 7d. Southern Area.—Horahia loan, £2l 5s 7d ; Hauraki loan, £623 15s lid ; total, £645 Is 6d. The grand total was £16,038 4s lOd, leaving a balance of £3980 17s sd. Deduct from this £2370 Ils 4d, Hauraki special loan expenditure, and a balance in hand at March 31, 1929, of £l6lO 6s Id was shown. Hauraki £lOOO Loan. The expenditure on the Hauraki .special £lOOO loan was £3870 11s 4d, a£id a subsidy of £5OO was received, leaving an excess of expenditure of £2370 Us 4d, which was charged in the proportion of £1627 2s lid to the Horahia • district loan and £743 8s 5d to the .subsidy. A long dfs’cussion ensued as to how this x £237o Ils 4d was to be allocated to the wards concerned, and also how the baalnce of the, loan money in hand was to be allocated. As it was getting late in the Afternoon discussion was postponed until a later meeting. Piako Stop-banking. In his report the clerk drew attention to the stop-banking work on the Piako River in the Northern area. The matter had been discussed with the lands drainage engineer, and it had been learned that prior to the formation of the old Horahia Board the Lands Drainage Department had agreed to repair and improve the Piako River stop-banks from the mouth upward on both sides. As the department had insufficient funds available, Parliament granted it a subsidy of £2 for £l. At about this time the Horahia Board applied for this stop-banking to be done, and the Lands Department agreed to undertake the work in the board’s northern area if the board would pay the department’s third share of the cost. This the board did, and its contribution of £333 6s 8d was subsidised to the extent of £666 16s 8d by the Consolidated Fund. Very considerable stop-banking work has since been done by the Lands Department on other parts of the Piako River. It was similar to that done for the Horahia Board, but the cost had and was still being found out of a specially created Piako River improvement fund, with the result that the drainage board was not called upon to contribute. Members considered that the northern’ area had been penalised on account of the fact that its stop-bank was done first, and decided that the position be explained to the Minister of Lands on his forthcoming visit, and that he be asked to refund the £333 6s 8d contribution. Tenders. The following tenders were accepted : — Jubilee drain, W. Johnson, 3s ; Oparia drain, F. R. Geisler, 3s 3d ; Scott’s drain, S. Kostanich, 3s ; Babnall's drain, No. 1 section M. F. Vujnovich and D. Jelicich £l5O, No. 2 section S. Costonich Is per yard on foreman’s measurement ; Jubilee drain fluming, McConnell and Gardiner, £4O. The contracts for Scott-Urquhart drain, Kopuarahi roadside fronting Deacon’s, Soldiers’ drain, Kopuarahi. roadside fronting Irwin’s, and Hora-1 hia Road drain were not let.