MOUTOA DRAINAGE DISTRICT.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 932, 17 December 1910, Page 2

MOUTOA DRAINAGE DISTRICT.

MEETING OF RATEPAYERS

A meeting of ratepayers of the Moutoa Drainage District to discuss banking at Duck Creek and Moutoa, and rating in connection therewith, which had been convened by the Board, was held in the Council Chamber last night. Mr B. G. Gower, chairman of the Board, presided, and the following ratepayers were also present:— Messrs H. G. Hammond, W. S. Carter, F. S. Easton, O. R. and C, Robinson, W. E. Barber, and W. Dudson, Messrs J. G. Doyle, representing Dr Wall; A. Edwards, representing Mrs Edwards ; and W. Smith, representing Mr J. A. Smith, were also in attendance. The Chairman read the notice convening the meeting, and also a petition which the Board had received some time back from property owners in the vicinity of Duck Creek, asking that floodgates be erected on same, or that it be stopped up. The petitioners also asked that stop banks should be erected on the low places on the river bank.

The Chairman said that in addition to those mentioned iu the petition there were also a few bad places along the river bank at Moutoa, particularly on Messrs Smith, Edwards and Burr’s properties, and the Board considered it would be advisable to deal with the lot at once. Levels had been taken at both Duck Creek and Moutoa, and the estimate for the work was roughly Everyone was agreed that the work should be carried out, and the present meeting had been convened in order to get the ratepayers’ opinion as to the best way of carrying it out. There were two ways in which the money could be raised. The first was to raise a loan for the work, the security for which would be a special rate. The loan would be for a term of 32 years, and the interest and sinking fund on same would amount to £5 is for every which would require a special rate of i-24th of a penny in the £, producing £22 4s, to be struck. This would mean that the payments that would have to be made during the currency of the loan would be Bs. Added to this also there must be the cost of raising the loan, about The second way to raise the money would be by levying a general rate of 7-Sths of a penny in the £ for the coming year, which would bring in ,£517, sufficient to cover the cost of the proposed work, and also general working expenses. If this course were carried out the Board could go straight to work and have the banking carried out at once, whereas if it were decided to raise a loan it would mean three months before the money could be procured. That would mean that the best part of the year for working would be gone. The members of the Board were of opinion that it would be better to do the work out of a general rate in order that there might be no delay. Of course, the rates would not be due until April, but the money could be procured from the Bank by the Board members guaranteeing the account. This had been done before, and the members were quite willing to do so again. The Board could, had they so desired, have carried out the work without consulting the ratepayers, but it was thought, under the circumstances, it was better to give them a chance of saying which was the best. One way it would cost payable in one year, and the other £Tio, spread over 32 years.

Mr Smith asked if the banks were erected, would the Board keep them in repair. The Chairman said that question had yet to be decided ; if the ratepayers were agreeable then the Board would do the work.

Mr Carter : If a portion of the bank at present erected should break would the Board repair it ? The Chairman : That brings up the question of jurisdiction. By doing so it would be interfering with another local body’s property. In reply to a question b}- the Chairman, Mr W. E. Barber, member of the Manawatu County Council, said he thought the Board would get some assistance from his County. Of course it was a matter for the ratepayers. Mr Edwards expressed the opinion that all banks should be fenced in. The Chairman said it seemed to him that everyone was agreed that the work should be carried out, what the Board wanted to know was which the ratepayers thought the best way to do it.

Mr Barber asked what the cost would be to individual ratepayers if a rate of J6ths of a penny in the £ were struck. The Clerk said that the present general rate was in the £, so that it would mean roughly that next year a ratepayer would have pay about three times the amount at present paid for the general rate.

Mr Edwards was of opinion that it would be better to pay the cost of the work by general rate.

The Chairmain here found that the currency of a loan would be not 32 years, as stated earlier in the evening. This would mean that nine additional half yearly instalments on account of the loan would have to be paid, bringing the amount payable during the currency of the loan up to about £BOO,

After some further discussion it was unanimously decided on the motion of Mr W. E. Barber, seconded by Mr C. E. Robinson that the Board of Trustees be requested to proceed with the banking as proposed at this meeting, and the cost be paid out of general rate.

Iu reply to a question by Mr Barber, the Chairman said the Board was quite within its powers legally in having the proposed work out.

As there was nothing further to discuss the meeting terminated.

MEETING OF TRUSTEES

At the conclusion of the meeting of ratepayers an informal meeting of the Board of Trustees was held.

The Chairman said that at the last Board meeting iu the figures supplied by the engineer the hire of the dredge had been omitted. This would make a considerable difference iu the total cost of the drain. Then there was the question of the being additional ten per cent, on the loan of To get this it would be necessary to again go through the whole of the proceedings taken in connection with the original loan, and he did not think it was worth while. If the size of the drain was reduced to 30 feet the work could be carried out without the extra

It was decided to advise the engineer to instruct the overseer to immediately reduce the size of the drain to 30 teet. In connection with the banking at Duck Creek, it was decided to instruct the engineer to immediately proceed with the specifications, and to have tenders close by the next Board meeting, three weeks from date.