LEGACY FROM PAST

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 373, 7 November 1932, Page 2

LEGACY FROM PAST

. V ... blocked drain makes HUNDREDS OF ACRES IDLE. OPOTIKI COUNCIL TO A'CT. The faet that the blocking of a large drain was causing several hundred acres of good flat land to lie idle in the old Huntress Creek Drainage Board area caused some discussion at the last meeting of the Opotiki County Council. The matter came up through the prasentation of a petition from ten settlers in the area affeeted by the conditions. The texf of the petition! ran: "We, the und'ersigned ratepayers having property adjoining what is known as the main eastern drain (late Huntress Creek Drainage Board's district), ask the council to .assist us by cleaning and deepening this drain. It is beliaved that quite two feet of fall could be gained if the deepening were commenced from wiaere the drain crosses the main highway, and this would help us very materially in increasing production from our lowlying lands. It is suggested that the work is a very suitable one to be undertaken under the unemp'loyment relief scheme, and we trust it may be possible to hava the work done by this means. — Yours faithfully, James Dunlop, John T. Glark, W. H. Lambert, J. B. Armstrong, J. Armstrong, M. McMillan, J. 'E. Woodside, F. Isaac, J. T. Tabbs, L. V. Fairweather. Cr. Powell said that the drain was in a yery bad state, for some of the people in the middle stages had not cleaned their drain out, thus blocking the upper settlers' drainage. He thought that the council should take some action to enforce the cleaning out of the drain. The chairma-n (Mr. J. H. Reid) said that it opened up a very big question. The drain was the legacy of the defunet Huntress Creek Drainage Board, and if the council started cleaning the drain and accepted this responsibility, it would perhaps need a special rate over the whole county. Cr. Black agreed that it was a serious question, for the drain would be an expensive one. However, if unemployed labour could be utilised it would help1, for if the di'ain was not kept open it would result in some hundreds of acres being left idle.

Cr. Martin said that as the matter was in his riding he had investigated it. The settlers concerned had been under the impression that unemployed labour was available and had made no mention of helping in the payment. However, the council had called upoh the settlers to clean out the drain on a previous occasion, but the middle farmers had not done so. The council could enforce this and should do so. He instanced a drain at Taneatua which was in a similar position. In that case the settlers requested th'e council to clean out the drain and it did so and apportioned the cost to the ssttlers individually. The same could be done here. At the suggestion of the ehairman, the council decided to inform the settlers concerned that if it could do the work by unemployed labour it would do so, but otherwise the council would enforce Cr. Martin's plan. The settlers would have to clean out the drain within the next three weeks if th'e council could not handle the matter.