Waitoa Drainage.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVII, Issue 4419, 3 June 1909, Page 2

Waitoa Drainage.

(T > the Editor ) SIU, —Much has boon said aud written of late on our Waiion Drainage business, and much still remains to be said. There is not a schoolboy in the countryside who does not know and hear more of No 1 and 7 Waitoa Roads than they do of thmr prayers. Some heavy charges have been made against the Drainage Board and its scheme of drainage, and as no member of the Bond la; said anything in defence or otherwise, I crave your indulgence while I make a few scattered remarks.

The Drainage Board is a one man show and the scheme is the product of the same source. If the Chairman and those who vote with him had the game to play over again I think they would pay more respect to its rules. They have lost the confidence of the ratepayers and will find themselves face to face wi.h defeat, at the poll on their loan proposals. Before our Drainage Board came into existence the Piako County Council had under consideration a scheme somewhat similar to that adopted by Mr Henry in the name of the "Waitoa Drainage Board, tut as it did not find favour with them they adop'ed what has since been known as Mr Johnson’s scheme. When the Council adopted this scheme it seemed to give general satisfaction and was considered a boon to the settlers within the sphere of its operations. It merited the pra : se of experts. It gave satisfaction to Mr McGloin, a man who had done battle for years with the Assets Board end the local bodies over the roading and draining of the Waitoa Estate. It had the approval of Mr Henry himself, his only complaint was th«t it did not go far enough. In this I agreed with him, and here was the work marked out for a Drainage Board and to begin where the Council scheme stopped and do the balance of the drainage required. But the Drainage Board was not a month old when its Chairman brought forth a £IO,OOO drainage scheme overlapping the scheme and actually ’taking possession of the two leading County Road dr 'ins, namely No. 1 and 7, and had them surveyed and levels taken, and this without the knowledge of two members of his Board, and without the authority of two County Councils and has made them part of his Drainage scheme.

Perhaps some of our settlers have lost sight of the fact th it by the Council adopting Johnson’s scheme they pledged themselves to spend the money received from the Bank in connection wi h these two roads the sum of £3,287. I might mention that Nos 1,4, and 7 roads bounds Mr Henry’s land on thiee sides, and the money pledged by the Council to be expended in connection with these roads principally on drainage is £3,629, out of a total £3,000, leaving £1,371 to bo expended on the balance of the estate, and let us remember that the Council is spending the money most »'xpedit : ously. Mr Henry now says we must give this block a double dose if the ratepayers vote £6,000. He in'ends to have the greater part of'this sum spent over the same area. I appeal to the intelligence of the settlers. Is it not monstrous that such a policy should be advocated that has neither reason or common sense to support it ? I say straight no\\\ that anyone who by pen oy otherwise would ask the settlers' to hesitate befo-e voting agaipst the loan is no friend of theirs. Xu support the loan would he a huge mistake under the conditions for which it was asked, and if it was oarried there would be a crinin.l waste of public money because it would be spent on the area that is receiving the benefit of the Bank s £5,000. You wi’l notice that Mr Henry has also included in his sacred scheme the Obine Creek, t! e main out et of the whole estate. Does Mr Henry not know that there is an understanding between the Obinomuri and Piako County Councils ? That they jointly keep it as it is the main cutlet for their road drainage and are they not after speiydipg £IOO on a contract.

Are the Councils to be relieved of their obligations, and sit down and fold their hands with their own countryrates to their credit, while the settlers ai e called upon to raise a loan to pay a diainage rate to do this work. This is in line with all the other nets Mr HUuyy has done in the name of the W'aitoa Drainage Board. By acts h,e has made himself ftud }b& Board something for men t°. mock land jeer at, and ebjldyep laugh, to scorn. Thorn is no o, ther course to, my mind for the ratepayers but to reject the loan and to call upon, the fVwwge Board to put its house, jp ordey. t 'J his drainage picture is much ftyerdvawn when the Council completes its programme on the area on which it is operating. Little will remain to he done, and the settlers clearly see there is nothing to warrant a fargfc outlay of public money o,q tlat part of the estate. Unfortunately we have living on No. 1 Jjoad a few old women of both sex, who cannot see beyond the golden gates of their plot, and they do not think a shilling should hi> spent elsewhere, ;although No, \ gets for its portion of the Bai\V% money, the sum of £2,313.

) Mr Rebison tills ns in his letter of 24th that the dry land, irark you, ; he says the dry land botween Eastport Road and the Waitoa Creek is drainfd, be does not tell us when or by what in,eans. The only benefit this block has }\ad for many years is from the Piako County Council turning the w vter on to it f.orn the Eastport Road without making any provision for it. .Although there is one of the estate outlets on this block, it receives none of the Bank’s money. He also tells us that the lam I west of No. 7 and .$ to Piako should not be drained as it has no population, no 1 cultivation, no habitation, ana I suppose no salvation, as it is too far away from No. 1, the source of justice end purity. We are told this area is held in large sections. This does not alter the case. I hold this is the field for the Drainage Board and this is where the most important work for a Drainage Board lie. Have we not had stagnation long enough ? Why not give the sun of prosperity a chance t - * shine thereon. I take it for granted that the owners are quite prepared to pay. In the shape of a drainage tax the interest and other expenses in connection with the expenditure and that they would scorn to have other part of tho community pay for their advancement. I see from a letter in Tuesday’s Mail that Mr Robison bas put on Mr Henry’s small clothes. I hopo they fit him, he says, m i }[ vo on dry laud and have no inte-est in the drainage of Waitoa.” Let me tell him *• 1 havo no axe to gr'nd nor personal ends to serve,” had I joined hands with Mr Henry and Co., they wauld have got their lorn ; and a few adventures on No 1 would stand on velvet. While I am a member of the Board I will take* good care that the settleis will not be taxed unduly for the benefit of a few drones of the social hive, - I am, etc,, H. MaGILL,