FLOOD GATES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 473, 28 August 1909, Page 3

FLOOD GATES.

OED V. NEW.

At the meeting of the Moutoa Drainage Board held on July 23, one of the Trustees expressed the opinion that the old flood gates at the Government drain were more satisfactory than the ones recently erected there.

At the last meeting of the Board a letter was read from the Engineer (Mr T. Ward) concerning the efficiency of the floodgates in which he says:—“The old form of gates at the Government drain is by no means so suitable for the purpose of allowing the top waters in the drain to get away as the tide, falls (which must be admitted is a proper thing to make provision for) as the ones I have erected for your Board. One reason being the greater number of meeting faces to make- water tight and the greater difficulty of making them so. Another reason being that the horizontally hung door naturally hangs more truly hhd shuts and opens more readily and quickly than the vertically hung one and consequently keeps more water out ot the drains, and this form is everywhere adopted for this purpose. I may also remark that the old gates that were taken down when the new ones were being erected leaked so badly that it was impossible to make any use of them. Any form is of course liable to be thrown temporarily out of gear by floating obstructions being jammed into them ; this, however, can to a great extent be avoided, and all work requires to be looked to and kept in order.”