The Motueka Star PUBLISHED TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS. “Te Ora Mota Iwi.” FRIDAY, JULY 4, 1902.

Motueka Star, Volume II, Issue 93, 4 July 1902, Page 3

The Motueka Star PUBLISHED TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS. “Te Ora Mota Iwi.” FRIDAY, JULY 4, 1902.

In view of the late encroachment of the Motueka River, and the liability to farther inroads, the advisability of forming a River .Board for the protection of property on both sides of the river is being seriously discussed. , As bearing upon the question it may be remembered that on the 15th of November, last we published an extract from the New Zealand Mines Record from the report of the River Commissioners which was laid before the last Parliament. The report was a valuable and reliable one the Commissioners having gone into their business very carefully tm account of the applications made to proclaim the river a sludge channel for mining purposes. For the information of the public we reproduce a portion of the report bearing directly upon the question of the establishment of a River Board : —- “The river after passing the Whakarewa Orphanage traverses a large plain, comprising an area of about 9,000 acres, all occupied in small holdings. The most of this land is highly cultivated, and a of it is in hop and taspberry gardens and'orchards. The river has in the past been continually altering its course and gradually cutting away the banks, until some of the settlers have now very little of the alluvial soil left on the land they originally purchased. It has in place cut through the sections, and in some instances left a portion on each side of the present channel. average fall in the river from junction of the Rocky River to the ocean, a dissance of eight miles, is about 9 ft. per mile, and from Rocky River to the junction of the Baton River, a distance of fourteen miles, it is over 15 ft. per mile, while above the junction of the Baton the* fall is considerably greater, the effect being that gravel debris from the erosion of the banks in the upper part are cai ried down and deposited in the lower reaches where the fall is less. This has so raised the bed below the junction of the Rocky River that in largo floods

the river overflows its- banks and spread in every direction Over the plains where the Townsihps of Motueka and Riwaka are situated ; indeed there are now so many old channels and by washes in this plan that it is impossible to predict'what course the river may take in the future.

“Some landowners have protected portions of the banks at great expense, by the construction of groins, fascineembankments, and willow planting, but in several places, where no such work has been done, the river is rapidly catting away its hanks. At every flood some of the willows are washed out and deposited on the beaches and in the bed of the stream, where they ultimately take root and cause serious obstruction. As the river-banks are low, and the ground falls away on both sides, unless some systematic protection works are carried out, and the willows removed from the bed of the river, it is impossible to estimate the extent of damage to property by the rivor, whether a Proclamation is issued or not.

“Your Commissioner’s are strongly of opinion that a River Board should be formed for the purpose of carrying out a comprehensive system of protection, with the object of confining the course of the river and preventing the destruction of adjoining lands.” For the information of the public we publish the following clauses from the River Boards Act, 1884, which refer to the formation of a new river district :

. The Governor may if he thinks fit by Proclamation declare any part of the colony to be a district under this Act from and after a day to be named in such Proclamation and may divide such district into subdivisions subject to the following conditions :—(1) t hat a petition is presented to the Governor signed by not less than twothirds of the number of the ratepayers in any part of the colony intersected or bounded by any river or rivers from the overflow of which damage may be apprehended praying the Governor to constitute such district (2) That such petition describes the boundaries and area of the district proposed to be so constituted (3) That such petition is publicly notified not less than one month before presentation. In every Proclamation constituting a district the Governor shall fix the name by which such district and hs subdivisions shall be known. The Governor may cause- inquiry to be made in snch matters as he shall think fit into the subject matter of any petition as aforesaid and may alter the proposed boundaries ot any district and proclaim the same in its amended form.

Every borough ane town district comprised within a district constituted under this Act shall respectively form a separate subdivision of such district.

In every river district ther shall be a River Board consisting in districts not divided into sub-divisions of not less than five nor more than nine members in the districts divided into subdivisions ot the members for each subdivision but so that there shall not be less than five nor more than nine members of the Board nor less than one nor more than three members for each subdivision.