DRAINAGE MATTERS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5501, 15 November 1929, Page 2

DRAINAGE MATTERS.

THE WAITAKARURU AREA. EFFORT TO ALTER CONDITIONS. The burden of the drainage rates by the Government on those parts of the Hauraki Plains not administered by a drainage board has steadily increased until it is now over 4id in the £. This state of affairs, the prospect of further increases as the area under the Lands Drainage Department’s control is reduced by the extension of the Elstow drainage district to include the Awaiti basin, and the fact that drainage boards are limited in their general rate to IBd in the £, has caused great dissatisfaction among the settlers of Waitakaruru. This resulted in the Ratepayers’ Association inviting the lands drainage engineer, Mr E. Taylor, to discuss the matter with the settlers of the district. The conference took place on Monday last, and lasted two and a half hours, but was quite friendly. Much information was given by the engineer in reply to questions, and at the conclusion it was acknowledged by many settlers that much good had been accomplished, and that Mr Taylor “is not a bad sort at all, and is certainly not like what he is generally supposed to be.” Decisions arrived at were to invite the chief drainage engineer to confer with the settlers on the question of rates, and to ask the Hauraki Plains West Drainage Board to extend its area over the Maukoro canal to include the district south of Boom Road as far as settlement reached, say, Gubb’s outlet, and hcunded on the west by the watershed.