THE WAIPOUA ENCROACHMENT.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1790, 17 September 1884, Page 2

THE WAIPOUA ENCROACHMENT.

A public meeting called by advertisement was held in the■ Institute yesterday, afternoon, Mr Je&se Herbert the chair and stated thai the meeting ygjk called to devise ways and moans to taw the Waipoua back .into its cdtirae at tho - L Miki-Miki where. it bad■ broken ,out 7? during the last flood io the. detriment of property holders on llie Opaki, the railway works and tho main line .of road, At a preliminary meeting held last week at the- Club Hotel it has been decided to write to the bodies interested ana notify them of this meeting asking them to aond their engineers to iuspeot. and report upon the cause of t(ie out-break of the Waipoua and the best method of turniug it back to its regular course, and preventing any futuro outbreakif possible,

In accordance with the aforesaid resolution Mr Bromner, the Engineer to the Road Board, had visited the ground and submitted to that meeting, a -full report upon tho best steps in his opinion to be taken to remedy the evil, (this report was published m yesterday's' Daily.') Mr Beetbamhad also been written to but ho had wired an apology for his inability to atteed and had also written to say that he was taking all possible stops to further the wishes ot tho settlers and local bodies interested and stated that the Depart- ' ment's engineer would inspect the damage and danger to the railway lino and report thereon. The County find public .Works had not sent a reply to the mealing.. , A sketch plan showing the outbreak and districts endangered accompanied report of Mr Bremner and «a&submitt<!® .to the meeting. . ..

Mr R. Welch said this new '.departure of the Waipotia riw had injured him to fcke extent of-£4OO or £SOO. His feoces had been destroyed and his land washed ■ ■ away, and if steps were not immediately taken to arrest the overflow and turn the stream back into .its course before any further injury was done, it would become perhapß a matter of .impossibility to. do so. • Mr'Bremner said it was liiteoded.to . torn the Btream back into its'r.ooWße ■'■■■ where it had broken out at the baok of "the Pairau pah. Mr'Loweß asked if the course the river was now taking was the natural oourße according to the conformation ..of the country, As Sir Benairhad pointed out. ... at a previous meeting on rivers, , it "wae diffioutt to make'a river run up hill, : ' Mr Bremner Baid as the. river did- no* run up hill before hB did .not propose to attempt to make it do so now. : His-pro-poßal was to forco it-back into its natural t course, : ,;i •

Mr Caaelberg said when Buobalargo question as this, had to. be .dealt with, he * thought it became tho duty of the County Oounoil to take cognisance of the matter It waß too large to be dealt with by eSB individual road board; Jhe County CounciT - should take the initiative. It might be disadvantageous and,jeopardise property ' in Masterton to turn the river baok to its oourie, but it wouldybe the . duty of Masterton lo protect Ksriver banks,

The Cbairman tbonght a report (from the County and Railway Engineers shouid first be given in. It waa.for the benefit of the oonntry at large and not for an individual Road Board that immediate action should eventuate. ; Mr McGregor said a question of the

present magnitude n fleeted a great many, united action ought to be taken, and the settlers should assist the local bodies, The Public Works Department and the County should be interviewed, and no doubt, if they all worked harmoniously together there need be but little difficulty in raising the sum required, riz.: ±'2oo. • He did not consider tile County would be jwlified in taking the control of a river jttotection scheme, but he had no doubt Mhov would do their best to help the settlers, He would like to rpb that meetinff bring forward some definite proposal that could be submitted to all the parties ■ interested—the settlers, Road. " Board, County Council, and Government —and ask tbem each to vote a specific sum. No further report was required by them than the present one.they had from Mr Bremner, Of course the Government would send their Engineer to look after their own interests on the railway line. Mr Meredith said he would not. tales ! the liberty of. making a proposal, but ■would suggest their hating an area subjected to a special rate for the proteotjjLsf their properties. If allowed to tfjfits prepent course the Opaki would become as bad a 6 the Taratahi plaius, covered with stouca. Mr Lowea suggested the meeting should adopt the report ot Mr Bremner and appoint a committee to allocate the cost, v, and'niter view the bodies ititeroeted as suggested' by ' Messrs McGroger and ' Meredith, Mr Renall moved, and Mr R. Camphell seconded, the adoption of Mr. Broui: ner's ropoit. Some considerable discussion ensued as to who should be allowed to vole upon the question. Mr Lowes, speaking in the intorests of tho residents of Maaterton, said it was decidedly better to run the Waipoua into the Ruamahunj'a near its new deviation. Mr Chamberlain contended no ono had aright to say the water should not be turned back into its proper channel. The residents on the banks of tho Ruaroabunga had quite sufficient to contend with without turning more water on to them. Mr H. Welch said it wasnot a question of a new chatmel, they were discussing only the means of turning the river back to its proper course. If it continued to °«a°w the fat lando,'as now doing, the * roaoandrailway would require bridges A two miles iu longth. Mr McGregor said the difficulty they had to contend with was the money. If the eettlers would raise—say a fourth part of the money they could wait upon the local bodies and' Government for a subsidy, but unless the initiatory steps were taken nothing would be done. The Chairman proposed, That a Committee be appointed, to cousist of Messrs R. Campbell, Jno. Cameron, R. and H. Welch, T. Brown, and the niver to wait upon tho East County Council nnd the Masterton Road Board, aud couunuuicata • with the General Government with ,> view to immediate action in the construction of protective worka on the Wuipoua river, Opaki. That the same committee be authorised to ascertain what proportion of the cost the settlers interested will contribute—Carried. A vote of thanks to the Chairman concluded the tneetinu