Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 1895. The Drainage Board.

Manawatu Herald, 23 April 1895, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 1895. The Drainage Board.

The Mukaka Drainage Board holds its first meeting on Saturday, when the chief promoter and most energetic member will tender his resignation. We refer to Mr Thomas Wilson whose early leaving the district is bound to follow the alteration in the management of the Bank of New Zealand Assets Company's Estate at Motoa. This will be felt as a loss by all interested in the district. Though there is the old saying that " there are as good fish in the sea as ever came out of it " there is the trouble to catch and prove them. It is evident that the new manager of the estate will not have the necessary qualification entitling him to seek a seat, so that on the Board his services will be lost. The idea of embanking the river though of larger importance to the Motoa estate in consequence of the area comprised therein is still we hold of as much importance to every settler as the Assets Company. Indeed this has been shown by the almost unanimous agreement in forming the Board. We trust that though Mr Wilson will not be at the service of the Board still active steps will be taken to do all that he had proposed to do.

Some persons since the flood, are rather inclined to look upon em«

banking as useless. This should ! not be, as a careful investigation will probably prove that the em- i bankments which have beon built some time, long enough to become part and parcel of the surrounding soil, and have been kept in good order, have stood wonderfully well the enormous pressure brought against them. The story of washed away embankments is again only the old story of neglect, tile putting off of the work that should be done immediately it was noticed, to some other time, perhaps, as in the flood just past, too late. The whole object of the Board is to take such precautions that these oversights may not occur in the future. What heighth it may be necessary to raise the embankment to keep out such a flood as we have had, is a Matter of measurement, but an embankment as high, or not bo high\ but so strotag that it will not wash away, is of such importance inasmuch it gives settlers just so much more time before their land is flooded, to move their stocln If the Assets Company should not view their property in such a hopeful light as they have previously done, is not of much account, as it would be better for the district and for the land comprised in the estate if it was sub-divided and sold to small setfclersi We know the estate thoroughly, have known it for the last twenty-seven years, have seen it emerge from the state of an impassable flax swamp into the ordinary richly-grassed paddocks. We are sure that it would pay any settler to obtain a portion of it if the land was iso arranged that every purchaser had 50 to 60 acres of dry land to, say, 200 acres of low land. This however could not be done until the system of embankment is carried out round the whole river frontage. Occupiers of low lands would have the benefit of the rich feed most times, though at periods, varying according to the rainfall, they might lose the use of it for a space of one week, one month, or put it at the worst, for the winter. The old established settlers at Moutoa take a flood in good part, knowing that what they have to grumble at when they have one is as nothing to what they most times have to rejoice at. " The proof of the pudding is in the eating " the settlers have experienced many floods, but they hold on to their land. With the management of a Board, arrangements could be entered into for reliable information as to the rise of the river at the Gorge, which could be given to the settlers, and they would thus have the time the flood takes to reach us here (twenty-four hours) to remove their stock along good roads to the homesteads they would own on the drier lands. If the flood caused the property to pass into the hands of small settlers, it will have been a blessing in disguise.