THE FLOODS AT THE TAIERI.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 414, 1 March 1877, Page 3

THE FLOODS AT THE TAIERI.

DEPTJTATIGN TO THE HON. G. M'LEAN. A deputation from the Taieri Board of Conservators consisting of Messrs J. Shand, Allan, P. Grant (Gowrie), A. Chisholm, Donald Borrie, and W. Snow, was introduced by Mr. Stout, M.H.R., to the Hon. G. M'Lean, on Saturday morning, Mr. Shand opened the business by saying : We have been appointed by the Taieri River Board of Conservators to wait upon you, in order to see if we can get any assistance from the General Government in doing something to keep the Taieri river within bounds. We consider that we have a good claim upon the Government. In the first place, the Government railways on the Taieri Plain are liable to damage by the floods. Further, we consider we have a good claim, because the ' mining operations higher up the river have brought down immense quantities of sludge, which has lodged in the bed of the river, rendering the water much more liable than previously to come over its banks. The river during the late flood is supposed to have been three feet higher than it was during the flood of 1868. It seems to me that the Board of Conservators by themselves are quite power!*- 0 * to do anything. We therefore apply to the General Government for help ; and, in the first place, we want an experienced Engineer, in the employ of the Government to confer with our Engineer, in order to see if any general scheme can be adopted to lessen the danger fiom floods, Mr. M'Lean : you have never adopted any general scheme for the whole of the Taieri.

Mr. Shand : No. The Board District embraces 10,000 acres on the west side of the Taieri River. Uuder the Act we have to get the consent of three-fourths of the owners of the iand affected to come within the district before we can do anything to it. At the lower part of the river the Henley Estate Company hold a large portion of the Plain, but they have never come in with our Board. Mr. M'Lean': No, but they have done a great deal on their own account; and that is just the difficulty which I see you are in. You have been all acting on your own account; and while one man tries to keep the water off his own land, damages his neighbour's land to an extent twice as great. As far as I know, the Government will be very willing to help you by giving the assistance of some of its Engineers to prepare a general scheme. Mr. Stout: There is no power to compel those who do not join to come into the Board District. Under the Hawkes Bay and Marlborough Rivers Act—which has been brought into force in Otago—before a dristrict can be created, a certain number must agree to join ; and therefore if the Government is to do anything to help the Taieri people to adopt a scheme, an Act must be introduced and passed to force all the people in the district affected to come under a general scheme. - Mr. M'Lean : As far as I can learn from the sufferers, they would not require much forcing at present to make them come in under a general scheme. Mr. Stout: Of course it would not be fair to charge the present River Board District with the whole drainage of the Taieri. That would be casting on a few property owners the expense of providing against all the flood water of the Taieri. Then, again, what Mr. Shand said about the mining operations was of importance. The Taieri settlers did not want to enter into any conflict with the mining interests; but even now there is a provision in the Goldfields Amendment Act, 1875, that the Goldfields Secretary shall pay out of the Goldfields revenue of the Province or District compensation to owners, of property who may be injured by mining operations at the top of a river, if the river is proclaimed. Otherwise the remedy would be against the miners. Of course they do not wish to have any conflict of that sor.t but if the river is silted up by mining operations from which the Government reap a large profit, the settlers are entitled to consideration from Government. Mr. M'Lean : I think it would be pretty hard to show that the miners have any hand in filling up the Taieri, although I have many times heard it suggested that it is so. Mr. Allen: At Mount Ida they are bringing in water to the Taieri Eiver from another watershed. In constructing the Mount Ida water race, they are bringing in water from-the Manuherikia to the Taieri- "Watershed. Mr.. M'Lean : .Even if you have a bank

ort each side the difficulty is to get rid of the flood water.. What you ask for now is that we should lend you the assistance of our engineers, who could confer with your own engineer as to a general scheme. I may say I am pretty sure the Government will grant that. As to any further help we may give, I would not be inclined to make any promise. However, I will bring the whole matter before my colleagues, and as Mr. Reid has a personal knowledge of the whole of the Taieri, the. matter will be fully discussed.—' Daily Times.'