Land Drainage.

Manawatu Herald, 13 July 1893, Page 2

Land Drainage.

. ♦— _ The Land Drainage Bill introduced by the Hon. Mr McKenzie -appears to be one of much use in this district and which we trust may. be passed. To settlers it is well known the many difficulties which exist in getting rid of surplus water on their properties, and, in many instances the Roa4 Boards have had the rates entrusted' to them for other purposes, diverted to drainage. There was some excuse for this " winking the other eye " business when there was no machinery to carry out a work of use to many, but such misappropria-tiohj-i af the funds' Very often acted unfairly fo those who were independent of public drains. This Bill if carried will stop such proceedure for the future, and Road Board funds will have to be devoted to road formation. < The general provisions of the Bill are concisely these : — A majority of those, who would be ratepayeis, in a district may petition the Governor to proclaim the area a drainage district. The Board will be termed " Trustees ". and shall consist of not less than five nor more than seven members. The Board may from time to time divide the district infco subdivisions,,, and it is proposed they shall have the power to levy rates up six farthings in the pound. This amount is liable to alteration and will probably be redqoed to the amount fixefl , for. Road Boards. They are given power to levy rates on a uniform scale or on a graduated scale according to the classification of the lands. The Board classifies

according as the lands receiving direct benefit, less direct benefit, or indirect benefit. Appeal against the classification is provided for. The Board lias power to enter on private lands to make drains and to keep wator courses clear. 'A further addition to the Acfc empowers its provisions to be used for the ratepayers in any limited area of the colony to declare such 'area to be a district under part II of this Act for the purpose of the maintenance and construction therein of witter rattes for the supply of water For irrigation of land and otherwise for the use and convenience of the public in any manner other than for domestic use. Part 111 of the Hi 1 provides the power of privato owners to procure outfall. The neighbours disagreeing can take their case before a Resident Magistrate who if of the opinion that no injury will be caused to the adjoining owner, can order the applicant to proceed with the proposed drain ; if >he decides than an injury will be caused he shall assess the compeJsation and on payment of the same can order the work to proceed ; but, if he decides the injury will be caused to the adjoining owner, and such injury is not of a nature to admit of being fully compensated by money, the applicant shall not be entitled to make the drain.

The rising generation takes a lot of looking after. By the labour returns there are 25 men and 8 women employed in .perambulator manufacturing in the colony. The little people like sweets, so that 3015 men and 87 women are hard at work making jams, biscuits and confectionery for them aud their sisters, and their cousins and their aunts. We find from the Statistics that there are only four trades which give more employment to hands than, fhixinilliug, aud they are, the printing, publishing and bookbinding; sawmiliing; engineering, boiler-making, Ac. ; and manufacture of boots and shoes. When the business people requested the Railway Commissioners to erect, a weighing machine at the station, they wero to.d it would only be used a few times aud then it would lie idle. It happened that better thoughts prevailed and a weighbridge was erected, now some two years ago, with tha result that the charges made for its use has paid the whole oost of the same up to now. The residents evidently put the. Commissioners up to a good revenue 'producing ■ business. At the meeting of the Poxton Co operative Butchering Company Ld., on Tuesday afternoon, resolutions were carried agreeing to the voluntarily winding up of the Company, and offering the business, as a going concern, by tender. A very large mob of cows aud calves left the Motoa estate on Tuesday for the Carnarvon estate. The flood haa left a very large deposit of silt at the Wirokino ferry. The accumulation was bo deep and soft that Mr Stansell was unable to take his buggy over on Tuesday morning. The Horowhenua County Council in its petition to Parliament praying for an alteration in the working of the Hospital and Charitable Aid Acts, points out that local bodies to the north of the County are only i paying three shillings to three shillings and sixpence in the £1000, whilst tha demand ' made on the County this year is nineteen shillings and two pence in fhe £1000, and last year it was fifteen shillings. The Rev. J. J. Lewis has been authoi' ised by the Horowhenua County Council to select sites in the Manakau and Shannon cemeteries for the Wesleyan Church portions. In a letter to the Horowhenua County Counoil we notice that Mr J. G. Wilson remarks, ra the change in the incidence of local taxation, that he has not fully made up his mind on that point, but intends tv bring the matter up for discussion at the Manawatu County Council. The inaccurate editor of the Palmerston Standard and an ancient citizen of this borough have much to answer for. The former for writing statements concerning ourselves wbioh are not correot and the " ancient " for giving them some publicity j by pasting such statements in his shop window. On Tuesday afternoon as we were sitting in our editorial sanctum meditating on the troubles patt and to come, we were interrupted by the entrance of an elderly lady, stern and vigorous, who desired our permission to run Borne cattle, owing to her property being very wet, in some land belonging to a club. We politely assured her shat we had no control over the piece of land and gave her the name of the person* who had. She then desired permission to run her cows upon the county road, so we had regretfully to assure her that also in this matter we were powerless. As a last shot she desired that we would direct the borough ranger not to impound the cattle if he found them wandering at large. Again, with even deeper regret, we informed our visitor that she had come to the wrong official, and that we had no control over, the officer mentioned. " Well " she exclaimed, " I thought you had to do will all these things, you used to. Then it is of no use my coming to you all," to which we calmly assented. It is just these oareless statements, made by irresponsible persons, which inflict pain and trouble on one who has done them no harm, of course, for ourselves, the interview was one not to be regretted. There was a fair attendance at the meeting of the Horowhenua Jookey Club in Mr Franklin's on Friday evening— Mr J. Kebbell was in the chair, says the West Coast Mail. The proposal to establish a Hack Racing Association was fully discussed, and it was decided to communicate with other clubs in the Province and propose that such an association be formed to consist of a representative or delagate from eaoh club joining the same who should meet at an early date at some central town and bring the proposed association into I existence. ■: In Auckland it is said thero is some prospect of a number of Maoris from Waikato paying a visit to America before long in order to be present at the Chicago Exhibition. Twenty-five Natives of the Ngatihoura tribe, residing, at Wbakawbata, on the Waipa river, are anxious to visit Chicago, where they propose to give exhibitions of their skill in the football of the pakeha, and will give illustrations of Maori customs and modes of life, haka dancing, &o. The intention is to get to Chioago if possible, and then go to Eng- 1 land, to give exhibitions at the Imperial Institute. We have to acknowledge the receipt of No. 1 of Hansard.

1 -• ■ . > > Milk vendor*? give notice in another column that the price of milk will be raised to four-pence per quart from Monday next. Mr Smith, formerly ofthe New Zealand Postal Department, and now in San Francisco, has been appointed mail agent there fdr tlie New Zealand Government, lo succeed" the late Mr ft. it. Cvelßhtdß. We notice that the promotion of Miss Ballantine to E4 is gazetted by the Wanganui Education Board. It is difficult, goodness, and the Borough Council, only knows, to get our roads made, so that it becomes exceedingly hard to learn tlidt people are stealing portions df them. This fact Cr Austin brought before his colleagues on Monday, and the result was the advertisement appearing in this issue, warning all persons against acting in such a manner for the future. Quite right too, and the notice appears even more necessary when it was shown that by taking thi? soil these persons were laying pit- falls for Cr Austin. The desire of the burgesses is to preserve him from all harm. The rouseabouts employed on the Tarella station, New South Wales, out west, went on strike.and prevented the shearers from working. A scuttle ensued, during which several of the shearers were injured. A strike at such au early period of tho shearing season is causing apprehension. A meeting of ratepayers of the Manawatu Road Board District was held on Saturday, to consider the claims for damage done by drains cut by the Government in the Kairanga District. It was resolved to petition the Government to assist in carrying "the drains to an outlet iv the Manawatu or Oroua Rivers. Mr D. Grant requested permission to address the meeting on his grievance, but the Chairman ruled against him on the ground that he had not filed a claim in detail. The meeting broke up in disorder Mr Grant addressed those pre sent from the body of the hall, and stated he would tile a claim on Tuesday and allow the Board 24 hours to settle.