MAKERUA DRAINAGE BOARD.

Shannon News, 21 November 1924, Page 3

MAKERUA DRAINAGE BOARD.

SOLVING THE FLOOD PROBLEM. WORK DONE AND PROJECTED. The usual monthly meeting of the Makerua Drainage Board was held yesterday, when Trustee J. Liggins occupied the chair. Other members present were: Trustees A. Seifert, H. Akers, R. Tippler, and R. T, Bell. Correspondence. The Poplar Flaxmilling Company wrote drawing the Board's attention to the water level on their property. H was stated tha,t the> banks re- ' cently erected were three feet lower than the main bank. It was stated by the overseer that levels were being taken. Mrs E. J. Sullivan (Shannon) wrote,, stating that th c stop-bank on her property had been washed away in the recent flood.—The.overseer was instructed to attend to the matter. Overseer's Report.

The overseer (Mr W. H. Miles)- in his monthly report, stated that he had boon working on protection work in Williams' property, Shannon, but ow.ing to the recent floods he had to discontinue. All hands would be making another start on Monday. He had inspected the right bank, and found that no' serious damage had been done, but three erosions had taken place and would need the Board's attentions There were several places slowly encroaching on the main bank, but nothing was to be feared. Willoavs would have to be planted at the worst places before too many floods occurred.. It was quite evident that the Board -would carefully have to consider the question of planting willows, or some other means of protection work, to ensure the safety of the present bank. The protection work i?a Coley's property was knocked about a little, but with repairing it would be all right. One* of .the ramps in Mrs Sullivan's property had been partly cut out while the old stop-bank at'the mouth of Akers' drain was cut through. Both these would require attention. Works Committee's Report.

The chairman of the works committee (Mr A. Seifert), in.his report on the 'committee's work throughout the past mo:nth, stated that since last meeting there had been a large flood in the Manawatu River. It was net 'nearly the size of the flood in June, 1902, but there had been only four other floods equal to it since the "old man" flood mentioned above. At the Pi'teherbert bridge the water rose o'a the gauge as follows:—Saturday, November 1, 10.30 a.m., 10ft 9in; 3.30 p.m., 12ft; 6.20 p.m., 13ft 6in; Sunday, 'November 2, about 2.30 a.m.", 15ft lin; 4.45 a.m., 14ft 7in; 6.15 p.m. Bft 4in. V '

Mr S. Jickell and he made a tour of inspection on Sunday, to, observe the effect of the flood water in the Manawatu-Oroua drainage area generally, and the Makerua area in particular. They found the Makeru'u banks doing good -work, but were convinced that to give relief to the whole of the area subject to flood water in the Manawatu and Oroua districts it would be necessary to construct an overflow channel to prevent damage by flood water in "the ease of very large floods. The No. 1 drainage dredge machine was istopped for a short time by flood water, and it therefore constructed only 39 chains of ba"nk to peg two miles 56 chains and excavated 32,634 yards, the average yardage per hour per time worked was 115.7. The dredge was now working in low ground, therefore a very high bank had to b"e made and a tremendous amount of spoil excavated to build the bank to the necessary height a'nd width. The permanent height was 10ft 3in, but it had been constructed to lift llin to allow for sinkage. The No. 2 dipper dredge had had a very good run. The flood water did not stop this dredge from working. During the month it made a cha'nnel 73 chains long and reached peg Bm. 58chs. and excavated 42,916 yards of spoil, the average yardage per hour per time worked was 115.4. The ground was rising very fast and dams have to be constructed about every 40 chains to flood the dredge at working height. A new bucket was put on and the old o'ne sent away for repairs. The dredge reached peg 9m. 4chs. on Tuesday night. Before turning round to come balck it had to construct about 110 chains of channel. Mr Seifert had engaged Mr W. T. Brown as foreman bridge builder. He had started work for the Board preparing a camp for his men near Okuku road bridge over jthe Tokomaru stream. This was the first bridge that would be pu't in hand, but as opportunity offered the concrete piers in the intersecting channel and the Tokomaru-Linton main dram would be built. Madden's gang had been building the piers for Seifert's tram bridge, and also for Seifert's traffic bridge near Makerua railway station. I"n regard to the latter bridge, all the expense of the labour and material would be paid by Messrs A. and L. Seifert. Madden's gang would build the flood gates and help at the bridge.—Adopted. General. The overseer was instructed to make a special^"inspection and report to the Board with a*n estimate of protection work required doing. The management committee and engineer were authorised to procure such plant as was required for the erection of bridges. Accounts amounting to £2091 12/7 were passed for payment.