BUCKLEY DRAINAGE DISTRICT.

Shannon News, 23 April 1926, Page 3

BUCKLEY DRAINAGE DISTRICT.

COMMISSION’S REPORT. The Buckley Drainage Board lias received from the Department of Internal Affairs the report of the coinmission which was appointed to com- | sider the alteration of the boundaries of the present Buckley district. The commission recommends that an alteration of the boundaries of the { Drainage district be made and conj sider ably enlarged the area. | The report states that, after r-eview-j ing the .evidence and completing the j investigation of the swamp areas, I the commission is of the opinion that the lands recommended in the petition for inclusion in the existing Buckley drainage district, and such further land as are included in the area described in the schedule and defined on the plan (all such lands forming a continuous area with the lands recommended for inclusion) should be included in the Buckley drainage district. The boundaries have, in some instances, been chosen for the purpose of ready definition and include areas which would receive - no benefit from a drainage scheme and also areas that would benefit in a varying degree. The commission is of the opinion that no rates should be levied until such time as a classification as to benefits accruing to the said lands shall have been made, in accordance with the provisions of .the Land Drainage Act, 1908, and that the classification should embody at least four classes, viz., A., 8., C., D. The commission desires to point out that the present Buckley drainage district does not include swamp lands which would receive mi undoubted benefit from a drainage district. Since ' the petitioners did not include these areas in their schedule, and since they do not form a-continuous area with the' main lands referred to by the petitioners, the commission has not power to include them in the area of the proposed extension of the Buckley I drainage district. In considering the present .position I of the areas in the Koputaroa district referred to' by the petitioners, also the adjoining Buckley district, on the east and the Aratangata area on the west, the commissioners are of the. , opinion tbqt these swamp and dairy lands are so inter-connected that it is in the best interests of the whole community’ of settlers that the areas [ should be embraced in one comprei liensive scheme for banking and j drainage, and, after reviewing and ! taking into consideration the whole of the circumstances, the commission feels that localised efforts of individual settlers or even of small boards, though resulting in some good, tend to an expenditure incommensurate 1 with the protective and drainage results obtained thereby, and further that this feature will be accentuated with the completion of the hanking by the Makeruu Drainage Board, since the aforementioned areas will as a natural result be more subject to floods than previously, and consequently the control of the river frontage and of the matter of internal drainage by one board seems not only desirable but almost essential both for engineering and economic considerations. t The commission, while recognising the importance of the flax-milling industry, considers that the areas now partly in flax owned by the objectors would not be so detrimentally affected by protective and drainage works as to warrant exclusion from the Drainage district, thereby tending to retard the development and productivity, of lands as a whole, particularly so since the yellow leaf in flax, though hot a menace a;t present, may recur at any period.and jeopardise the industry. ■ The commission is further of the opinion that' restricted drainage in flax areas can be provided for which, while controlling - excess surface water, would allow for a satisfactory irrigation of the flax. There is no proof that periodical river flooding is a cure for yellow leaf, in flax, and the deposit of silt and the beneficial influence claimed in the 'increased productivity of flax are offset by the introduction of goatsrue and other noxious weeds, with consequent detriment of any ares not restricted to flax growing: The commission is oi the opinion that the difficulties of the settlers will be largely overcome with the completion of a banking and drainage scheme, that the dairy lands will be afforded a large measure of protection, that the unproductive areas will he workable either as flax or dairy propositions, and that both the interests of the dairy farmers and flax growers can be conserved and that both will benefit.

The commission ‘is of tbe 'Opinion that tbe question of maintenance of the flood gate on tbe Koputairoa stream referred to by the petitioners should be dealt with by. the board.