RIVER BOARD’S DEBTS

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1062, 28 August 1930, Page 9

RIVER BOARD’S DEBTS

government grant is PETITIONED FOR WAIKATO DISTRICT FAILURE THE SCSS Parliamentary Reporter WELLINGTON, Wednesday. All with the same request, namely, that the Government make a grant of £3,780. as promised in 1928, for the liquidation of the now defunct Waikato River Board, several petitions were presented by Messrs. F. Lye (Waikato), J. N. Massey (Franklin) and W. Lee Martin (Raglan) in the House of Representatives today. Altogether the number of signatures to the petitions was 243. In the petition it was stated that in about 1910 an association of swampland owners south of Mercer was formed with the object of lowering the level of the Waikato River at Mercer, and thus enabling a large area of swamp land to be drained. From the Government the association had received a grant of £3OO, and expended the money on taking levels from the Waikato Heads to Mercer, a report then being prepared on the scheme.

In 1911 the Government fell in with the request of the association, and declared the area the Waikato River District, so that the improvement scheme could be carried out. The Waikato River Board expended a further Government grant of £2,000 on part of the scheme, and with the past encouragement raised a loan of £6.000 from the Australian Mutual Provident Society, expending that money and other sums on river work. The river works, however, carried out by both board and Government, were a complete failure, and the board ceased to function in 1923 or thereabouts. Because of this, and because of default in the payment of interest to the A.M.P. Society, a majority of ratepayers in the river district petitioned Parliament with a view to having the river district abolished. That was done by proclamation on September 9, 1926. Through an award made under section six of the River Boards Amendmen* A . ct - 1910, certain liabilities of the Waikato River Board were to be taken over by the Franklin County on February 28. 1927. the conditions being that, the Waikato and Raglan < ounties should contribute toward the

discharge of the liabilities. In the year 1928 the three county councils approached the Government for a grant toward the liquidation of the liabilities of the Waikato Board, and j® September of that year, after the beads of various departments had furnished a report on the whole quesflon - the then Prime Minister, the RE Hon. J. G. Coates, had promised that a grant of approximately £3,780 *ould be made by the Government. In May, 1929, the Minister of Internal Affairs. the Hon. P. A. de la notified the chairman of the cranklin County Council that Cabinet ™ u ‘d n °t see its way clear to making the grant. In April, 1930/ the chairman of the Franklin County Council made further representations to the rnme Minister, the Hon. G. W. orbes, and submitted to him offers / A.M.P. Society to write off and the National Bank of New Zealand to write off £599, provided the Government would make the Srant promised by Mr. Coates in 1928. In June the Prime Minister had rePied regretting that Government assistance could not be favourably considered. Therefore the petitioners ? raye< * for relief as ratepayers in the te river district, and sought the irant of £3,780.