NEW DRAINAGE BOARD

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5453, 26 July 1929, Page 4

NEW DRAINAGE BOARD

TIROHIA-ROTOKOHU AREA. INSPECTION BY MEMBERS. On Tuesday last the chairman, Mr W. F Johnstone, with the other members, Messrs F. Lewis, A. E. Surrey, H. R. Thorp, and V Young, and the secretary, Mr W. F. North, of the newly-formed Tirohia - Rotokohu Drainage Board, made a thorough an .I systematic inspection of the area under the board’s control. This was done to get ( intimate first-hand knowledge of the drains in the area, so as to aid in the. decision as to what drains the board wjuld eventually take over. Besides this, the opportunity was taken to study the preliminaries of a better system of drainage which it is hoped to introduce.

The inspection commenced at the oiitf all of the Kuaoiti stream, near the Puke bridge, and from thence the party proceeded on foot to Mill Road. The various drains along this road were examined, t?specially Cadman’s, which appeared in excellent order. A visit to the stop-bank on the Waihou was made, with attention to a drain there. It was suggested that an area of land there between the river and the stop-bank in. the. form of a crescent would make good grazing ground.

Being met by the cars, the members wont back along Mill Road, to Te Aroha Road. En route to Cadman Road a stop was made at the Rotokohu drain. Cadman’s drain, on Cadman Road, was seen to be in fair order on the Te Aroha side, but on the other considerable blockage had been caused through a fire in Mr Surrey’s flax last year loosening the banks. A walk to the stop-bank at the end of this r oad was undertaken to inspect last year’s breaks. In order to see the conflux of two subsidiary drains and the commencement of one, a diagonal route was taken along the old disbanded flax tram track to where Messrs W. Nc-ble and F. Handley’s properties adjoin. Water in one of the drains was already spilling over the banks. The ears were entered again at the corner of Mr Handley’s and Cadman Road, the members returning to Paeroa for lunch.

In the afternoon the old Te Aroha Road was taken as far as Thorp Bros., where the party alighted and crossed the paddocks to view this portion of the Kuaoiti and Rotokohu drains. Both were seen to be in good condition. Mr Thorp pointed out the Public Works Department’s portion, and later the commencement of the actual •Kuaoiti stream. This had been dug out to act as a continuation of the drain which from that point followed the meandering course of the old stream, considerably hampering effective draining.

To inspect the Rotokohu drain still further up, a visit was made to the place where Messrs W. F. Johnstone’s and Pippin’s boundaries join. The portion in the former’s property, which is outside the board’s area, was commented on as being a good example of a drain in good condition. One small stretch of the Kuaoiti to which approaching darkness did not permit a visit will be inspected in the morning of Thursday, August 8, after which the second meeting of the b< aru will be held to go into important matters.