WAIKATO RIVER COMMISSION

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 315, 2 October 1917, Page 1

WAIKATO RIVER COMMISSION

At the -sitting of the above Commission at Waiuku on Thursday last, Mr n E. R L. Wily deposed to having been appointed by the Aka Aka and Otaua people to proceed to Mercer with. Mr Hull and interview tho Kivor Board. The Board refused to pay any attention to protests against tho groynes. Later oa he became a member c f the River Board- and moved that a conference of three members of that Board and the Chairmen of tho two Drainage Boards should meet and endeavour to suggest a remedy. Tho motion was not agreed to. Mr Wily next referred to the history of the Waikato works and gave it as his opinion that the scheme was the development of the desire of certain up-river owners of swamps to drain their land. Navigation was not considered in the scheme.

In reply to Mr Glass, Mr Wily said that although, no coubt, both sides dejired an enquiry at the time he proposed the motiou for a conference, he was not aware, and did not believe, that that was the reason the hiver Board refused to meet tlie two chaiimen of the Drainage Boards.

Mr Wily then stated that with the exception of the Chairman of the Otaua Ibainage Board, whom he proposed to call later in the day, that corcluded the evidence he in- j tended to call in Waiuku, though Mr Ashly Hunter and perhaps others would be called in Auckland. | He understood the Commission would call Mr J. B. Thompson, the Government Diainage Engineer. In opening the case for the River Board, Mr Glass said they had had I a meeiiug of the ratepayers of the i Boa d's i istiitt th i pre\ i diy and . had decided he was to represent the ; district as a ratepayer only and not j as Chairman of the Board. They ; Uok up that p >. ition hecaiue they did not wish to be saddled with any I of the costs. The Chaiiman of the Convuission j said that the rede in which Mr Glass | appeared had no bearing upon the ! question of costs. The Commission ' had power to awaid costs against either of the parties whether they were represented or not. Mr (:'l.:ss again protested against l the enquiry unless it took into eon- : sideration the whole que tion of the I Waikato and its tributaries. FJo , asked that the Commission should call Mr Kennedy, ihe River Bojkl's j Engineer. The Chairman said they did not propose to call anyone but'the Gov ernment Engineer. If tile River j Board wished Mr Kennedy to give evidence they had had plenty of time to get him there. He thought Mr Glass had better proceed with the witnesses he proposed to call Mr Alfred Henry Lapwood, launch master, of Tuakau, then gave evi- | dence. He stated that since the groynes were put in the northern . channel was better than it had been for ten years. Twenty yeais j ago it was impossible for a launch to I get down ic at dead low water. The main channel was no worse, probably a little better and the water was not lower. The shoal called the j sheep padlock was decreasing, j From where the channel had been dredged it had started to scour. The eastern draiu and the Mawhituwhitu draiu weie delivering as well as ever. La.it summer tho Manga - whero drain was as good as ever and the gap in the groynes was a benefit. It had done no harm to the channel but was better. If the new dram was put through it would not be any improvement. At any stage of the tide he could biing 10 tons up the northern channel. If the south channel was lowered three feet it would improve tho navigation in both channels.

Under cross examination Mr Lapwood said when his launch went through the passage of the groynes at low water lie was not steering but directing it. Pressed closely as to what ho meant and wheie lie was, he siid ho was at home in bod. (Laughter). Mr Thos. Lapwood, launch mastor, deposed that ho had had 20 years' experience. Prior to the erection lit' the groynes the usiiil course going from M'-rc r to Otaui was through tiie cutting of the Motitieke Isl ni'l and the noith cliann I, hut he would now go down the A lea Aka i h una 1 Up to throe in nfiis ago tin' north channel was as go d lor navigation a- before the groynes win put in. Ho inaiutaine i tli t the gap hetweeu the gro-jue.s was hotter than it used to !>". TheTu ingr.ui reach used to he letter; i,t [iresent it was :iot so good, but he exj ected it to w ..sh nut if llic lloud-i went down, lie recoil, cted the Mansi i anal ah iut 1 a yeais ago. I was liilli'li liannwcr then than it was now. It Ii id he..n i uhirgi d 'M-riujj the last ti'.e yi'M'-i. i )., tho «):■■[>■ I Innavi ■ i : in hetwt-i n tin 1 ', vii' ■ JJ how and ih» ilea l< v is much a l , u! til" s.'ime. lie In ii n-d i), ..:•!• -ii.as well as groyning Mr (' Koose, lunmli li.-t'i. stated that he ); id iiad o> ... from I '1 years ;.go t > ia-i \ > ai and in ' livd on the riv i ah hilife. He knew thi uoitlu'in ch n.m I and was not üble to get ihroiiji at low water during the hn-l ten yeais. Ho, 1 al got s<o' k near the eastern

drain at high water. The sand-bank stayed there for about four years, perhaps not so long. The passage was always good through the middle channel and the Maori canal. The southern channel I'rcin the top groynes was about the same. He had not noticed any decided improvement fornavigation since the groynes were put in, hut there was more water beside the groynes. The sheep paddock did not appear to be altering and the rio and. fall of tho Hoods appeared to ho .the same. lie considered that it there was a dredge as well as the groynes it w< uid he better as the block really occurred down at tho bay below the groynes. There was still as much water going through into the Aka Aka channel as before tho groynes we;e put in. Mr P. Sellars, the Kivor Board's overseer, stated that ho had had three years' experience. He had made soundings for the Board along tho lines of the different groynes. He went with the engineer to look at the works. The engineer did not make soundings right across the

river. He on-idered that the sheep paddock was decreasing The Aka Alca groynes had been doing good wcrk as far as scouring was concerned. The groynes had lowered the surface of tho river at Kaitangata. Mr A. G. C. Glass, Chairman of the Waikato River Board since its inception and prior to that Chairman of the Association which took the necessary steps to have the River Board set up, deposed that the River Board was set up under the River Board's Act because it was found that the Driioage Association would not cover the whole of the work that had to be done, namely drainage and navigation. The Association was sat up purposely to drain the big swamps in the Waikito. The Drainage Association wis formed into a River Boaid and engineers were employed, Messrs Mouat and Kennedy, between 1911 and 191'2. Mr Mouutt took four to six months on surveying work in al- - to the work of Mr Break ill's who sugared a certain soheme as at present. Mr Kennedy generally approved of Mr Breaka l's scheme. The plan was submitted to the Marine Department and an Order-in-Council authorising the work was obtained with a grant of i'2ooo, and more was promised from the Government on the strength of Mr Breakab's report. The first visit of Mr Kennedv was lei'o e the error was discovered ir: the levels'and lie re ported that what lie had seen of the actmu of the first g r o}ne he wou'd guarantee tli9 settlers at Mercer not less than two feet lower ing of the liver if the work he recommended near Kaitangata was carried out. The wotks he recommended were started. Later he was more optimistic und said he could lower the river four feet at Mercer Later au error was discovered and Mr Kennedy c.'.iuu again at the Board's rnjiest I'h-i error was pointed out to him and ho still thought the 1 u'r feet lower ing could lie obtained at Mi-rcer. Ihey laised £6OOO and parted the w.nk and that mom v has bei n spent Thorn still rem lined to be cm.plot d 100 ti 200 y .rds of groyuing. They pro, is d 1 1 drtdgo lire she-p paddock when the money was availably, Their reports di 1 not diaclo-o a';}' appreciable loweiing of t.'ie « lor in il.e

southern i-hunnei. 'L'l.i-n li id La 11 o repoits for twelve in jntiis, I'l.ej in,ended to have a luh lep >it a'tor t'iu tloods were over. 1.. lore the Board staited the work they did not obtain the consent of the Aka Aka Drui uigc Board in writing and did not have a meeting with the Aka Aka 1 >;aiunge Board as requested bv then;.

j Mr \V. L, West, a .settler in Wai j uku and owner of laud in Otaua, win : then called by Mr Wily. He said : he w.i- Chairman of the Otaua Jhaiuago Board and Secretary to I the Board f-r \2 months. The sympathies and interests of the ! Otaua people had been with the Aka Aka people all along. They had subscribed '_' I per aery towards a lighting fund out of which Mr Euntei'a repoit had been paid for. The silting of the river had not ail'ected the Otaua drainage in any way, but if the outlets were much lower down the river and if silting i ultimately went down they would be | affected. At this stage the Commission ad- ! journod to Auckland.

Friday's Sitting

The Co :.mission resumed its sitting in the MinUteis room at tlio ; (jovcmiliont li'llllllllL's im Fnl'iy evening. Mr Ashley Hunter, U.E , eonsult- ; ing engineer, ,s,iii| ho hull rlll I»* two j reports upon u.utters relating to iho j ijuestioiis at it-sue. Tlie lir*t was iu 1 August, !'-».-, lit tli" instanc i.i the aKu A', i and < Haiu .-.i-ttl.T'. inn! the , i- t.e-L. i'i ■! : i i- .' i '"', Til-.' 1 - I ilistl It' • ; t;-- I;- i li 1.i1.-i- ]» i ;:• ■! Ii I ','■ .\..- ■ ! i.j r.ieu that ti. vwiiks o! ; i 11... I:,. : i;.:.n.l hot m i , niMI ill 1 .vu ) iig ilii \\ a;i-;:i ■.■ ! • „i.\ ;ijij r. (!.;!.:•• . \ti at. 1...V,- ;;i g tin i ivi.'i \\ i.u'i'l In [ii' in;il.■~ ii in ii i\ i;:a lion. 1 Ii i m heme oi ilm Unci Uuar I ill I iH-t t.i >•■ navigal inn iiiti (•■otisitli la lua, 1! w .is s .Ii I\ ii I.iin drainage -i In mi'. Hi> ilii! not thin! ;|i ! SV.K'ln of gioytie.S WO'.lld lllli

mately help navigation. For the time they might be slightly beneficial in their own immediate neighbourhood. He anticipated that the result from the presence of the groynes would be shoaling near the mouth of the river, and that it would ultimately have the effect of bringing tho bar further up the river. The present river slopes should be maintained as far as possible if tile best results for navigation purposes were to bo secured- The reason for this was that the Waikato presented features that made it impossible to bo dealt with in the manner usually adopted in other rivers. He estimated that not less than two million cubic yards of sand came down the Waikato every year. Dredging under die circumstances would be fruitless. The natural effect of the Kaitangata groynes would be a certain amount of bottling up owing to the narrowing of the outlet. This would raise the .surface of the water altering the hydraulic gradient. While this condition of things laited it would impair the efficiency of any drains discharging into the river above the groynes. When he last visited the Aka Aka channel he found some of the injurious effects he had formerly anticipated were existing. There was considerable shoaling in the channel which he attributed to the groynes at Kaitangata. Before the erection of thoso gioynes that channel was the best for navigation but was not now. The drainage of the land was threatened. He could not see that the Aka Aka settlers had benefited in any way by the erection of the groynes. The improvement of the navigation was a work of material importance. At this point there was a discussion between Mr Glass and the witness as to whether the latter had been unduly influenced by anyone in making his last report. In reply to Mr Wily, Mr Hunter said that ho had not been approached for that purpose by anyone. The removal of the Kaitangata groynes w /iild probably benefit the Aka Aka channel as the river would have a chance of sweeping out the sand deposited there. He would recommend they should be removed at <>«ee.

In reply to Mr Olass, the witness said it would be possible to dig the (anal through the Maori cut but it would be dillicult to keep it clear of shoaling.

Mr J. B. Thompson, Drainage Engineer to the Lands Department, deposed that he was thoroughly acquainted with the lower Waikato. Under his supervision a moat thorough system of cross checked and closed levels had been established. He was satisfied they were correct. The river had not been lowered three feet at any point, nor did he believe it was susceptible of appreciable lowering. He had found no lowering since the Board's operations began. The Aka Aka channel had been considerably silted, which he attributed to the action of the groynes. The liver required to have all its lower channels open. An attempt to make the south channel carry all the water would end in disaster. The removal of the would improve the northern channel.

Mr Wily said that in view of Hie !a" en ess of the hour he did not propose to review the evidence tint had been given. The Commission had it all before them and could at any time refer to it. Mr Glass leiteratfd his protest agiii st the sitting of the {JomniUsion and demanded that Mr Kennedy should be culled. The Chairman of the Commission stated that if the Kiver Board had desired to have the evidence of their engineer th-y should have had him present. If the Commission found that Mr Kennedy's evidence would lie essential they would examine him. The hearing then concluded.