BIG DRAINAGE SCHEME

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 951, 19 April 1930, Page 11

BIG DRAINAGE SCHEME

WOODLANDS SWAMP AREA AMALGAMATION OF BOARDS From Our Own Correspondent HAMILTON, Friday. A scheme for draining the large block of land known as the Woodlands swamp, and situated in the triangle bounded by Hamilton, Morrinsville, and Taupiri, was submitted to the Drainage Amalgamation Committee yesterday. Mr. A. E. Gee presided. The committee comprised representatives of the Mangawara River Board and the Mangawara, Tauhei, Eureka, Hillside, Woodlands, L T apoto, and Freshfield Drainage Boards, whose districts are situated either wholly or partly in the Woodlands swamp area. For some months the committee has been engaged in an effort to arrive at a basis on which all the boards operating on the Woodlands swamp could be amalgamated, it being generally agreed that a comprehensive scheme benefiting the whole district could only be successfully handled by a combined body. The supplementary report was submitted at yesterday’s meeting by Mr. R. G. Macmorran, chief lands drainage engineer, and approved by the committee. It was stated that the two schemes, which are supplementary, would cost £212,000, but that the amounts required to be raised would be spread over a period of years, and that substantial Government subsidies could be expected. q After giving details of the scheme, Mr. Macmorran gave the following as the estimated costs of the work: From lagoon to Tauhei junction, £13,200; Tauhei junction to Ohinewai - Tahuna Road, £15,000; enlarging Paranui drain, £5,000; diversion of Orini bend and enlargement of proposed northern outfall, £10,000; provision of new Mangawara outlet, £6,500; enlarging Sludge Creek channel, £1,000; removal of willows and enlarging tunnel in Mangatea Stream, £I,OOO. The following schedule gives a summary of the proposed costs: Mangawara River, £28,200; Paranui drain, £5,000; Orini bend and northern outfall, £10,000; Mangawara outfall, £6,500; Sludge Creek, £1,000; Mangatea Stream, £1,000; compensation, not including fencing, £3,000; extras and engineering, £5,300; total, £60,000. These figures were exclusive of interest and maintenance charges, and that portion of the work proposed on the Mangawara River in the 1925 report. Mr. F. A. Swarbrick, solicitor to the board, said the total scheme, including that embodied in the 1925 report, was estimated to cost £212,000, or from £2 to £3 an acre. The main points in the scheme \yere to provide outlets in the Mangawara River and the Komakarau Stream. Mr. Swarbrick said the ratepayers owed a deep debt of gratitude to the Government and to the Lands Drainage Department for the trouble and expense they had gone to in. carrying out the surveys and in preparing the report. The ratepayers were fortunate in having the expense borne by the Government. It was decided to circulate the principal plan and report at ceatral points in the district, and to convene meetings of ratepayers at which the scheme will be explained by members of the committee. A resolution expressing appreciation of the services of Mr. Macmorran and his officers was carried. It was further resolved to ask the GovernorGeneral to gazette the exterior boundaries of the district as soon as possible, and to gazette the subdivisional areas at a later date. It is proposed to divide the district into wards, with separate representation for each ward on the main board. Preliminary measures for the constitution of a new combined board were also approved.