WAIPOUA PROTECTIVE WORKS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2323, 17 June 1886, Page 2

WAIPOUA PROTECTIVE WORKS.

The County Engineer, Mr C. E. Breinncr, in compliance with tho requestor 1 ' the Masterton Borough Council, submitted proposals which, if given •effect to, would,, in his opinion, protect, tho Borough properties from further destruction. Mr Brainier premised that the protective works proposed were, regulated by the limited means the Council, lie understood, wet.o' .possessed of' for expenditure on'the-work. ' Tlib report was accompanied by a plan, and estimates nf tho proposed works. Mr.Bromner says: From the Government 'railway bridge to a point 3ome five chains below it, the river occupies a channel on the north of its bed, but from this point it branches into two forks, one of which strikes the south bank, The bank here, as indeed along the whole boundary of the borough, is composed of loose shingle, intermixed with seams of fine sand, and is totally unablo to offer any substantial degree of resistance to, much less to support the action of the stream during flood, It is advisable to protect the portion at present yielding to the action of the water, I would therefore BUggoss that a length of ii chains of the profile of the bank bo ifopad down at an inclination of l£ to 1, and that this face be closely thatched with manuka fascines, and planted with osier willow stakes. Further down stream a strong groin should be constructed and heavily loaded with large boulders.- A series of lap grjoins would, by concentrating the water* in a substantial manner, work the channel over.on to the north bank, by raising the bed on the south side, and force tho river to discharge itßelf into the course in which it formerly ran. The flow of the current is playing with great force upon the concave bank a little above that point, and threatens to straighten its course by scouring off tlio projecting ground to the west. 1 propose here to construct a large groin. securely protected at its junction with the bank, with manuka fascine thatching, pitched with boulders, also to raise the bank across a low depression about 66ft. up stream from the' groin. These works will neutralise the current both on the up and down stream sides of the groin, and cause the shingle to deposit in' the slack waters. The effeet of this lodgment of shingle will relieve the banks to the east and west from' further corrosionby the action of the current. I would strongly - reoqmmend that your Council should; if possible, undertake-the'.per-formance of the whole project, ai 1 feel assuEed that its execution cannot but produce the moßt satisfactory results. In ■ conclusion, • I hope I have made sufficiently clear to your \V orahip and Councillors the general features.of the scheme,which I advise your Council to adopt, and that its feasability may recommend itself to you both in respect of its design, and the probable Coßt of its execution.' ' ''