RIVER PROTECTION NOT SANCTIONED.

Shannon News, 16 April 1926, Page 4

RIVER PROTECTION NOT SANCTIONED.

WAIMAKARIRI TO TAKE ITS ..COURSE.' PROPOSED LOAN OF £200,000 TURNED DOWN. CHRISTCHURCH, Night. A poll for a £200,000 loan rpr Waimakariri river protection work , was lost to-day through failure to obtain a three-fifths majority of the ratepayers/. The voting was: Por 3,298, against 2,835. Like most Canterbury rivers, the Waimakariri is subject to floods, owing to the rapid run off of snow and rain waters from the mountains'. The work of confining the Wairijakariri to its bed has offered a perplexing problem to •' the River Trust, wnose existing protective v'orks are considered insufficient owing to the risingbed of the river, due to heavy deposits of shingle. This raising of the bed 1 level is said to constitute a grave danger, not only to farm lands in the vicinity .which have been frequently inundated, but to the city of Christchurch. ■'' ' '

A schem e designed for the Trust by Mr. F.' C. Hay, consulting engineer proposed to give security by making a straight cut in the river's course to the sea to allow the water to get away more quickly and increase the scour of shingly. The scheme also provided additional protective works on the banks. A campaign for the loan had been' vigorously conducted by the River Trust. <