ROADS ON DEFERRED PAYMENT BLOCKS, TE AROHA.

Waikato Times, Volume XXI, Issue 1720, 14 July 1883, Page 3

ROADS ON DEFERRED PAYMENT BLOCKS, TE AROHA.

TnE folio wine. is the. report Or tho onpineerttOythi \yaitoa Road Board on the abovp ij&> >i' - h * < In accordance with, instructions I .have viaifced' the- deferred payment sections on bloolw Xland* XII Te Arohn,-,and obtoin^wln^injformatibii I. conld regarding the existing roads, nnd also the requirements of this portion of your district. I 'aaw the crossing which D. Mijrphy wrote about, and find that nothing at alt can bo done until an outfall has been made to take the water off. I accordingly arranged with Stanley to malteadrain six feet wide at the top, and fpur feet at the bottom, for a distance of iroin 12 to 15 chains, and, judging as wojl as X could without a level, I think we "can get.it np 4 feet, or 4ft. 6in. deep. This will "cost 10s per chain, and will also be^ the commencement of an outfall, which must eventually be made right up to Kershaw's allotment, about which I will write further on. When the drain is up to the crossing as described, ti-tree will fee laid down, and an opening left for the water to go through, the total cost not exceeding the amount I was authorised to expend, viz., £10. lie the outfall past the school nnd the pipes in it, I finUthat the pipes are quite unequal to the quantity of "water in tho drain, and as they are also unnecessary, I have in-, s^ructed Stanley to take them up altogether, and leave the drain open. It v«ill> then take off the water which is at present lying almost bank high in tho road drain, and doing considerable damage to the road. A tootpath can then be formed from the bridge along the side ojf the drain for the children to get into the school grounds, and the entrance will be much superior to the present one over the pipes. I have authorised Stanley to take the pipes away and to put them in where a small stream crosses the same road on which Murphy's crossing is, thus enabling the children to get to school dry shod. Stanley mo\es the pipes to this spot, and puts them in gratis. Jic the outfall' down- past Kershaw's, Brokenshire's, and Hawkins, I find that it docs not drain the allotment next the corner (Kershaw's) at all. It certainly takos off a lot of the surface water, but does no rcnl drainage. In fact it is impossible to walk along the drain without getting well over the ankles in water in the low swampy ground at Kershaw's. Neither (loos this drain take off any of the water in front of Mackwood's allotment, No IS, where the drain is at present standing nearly full of water, which does great damage to the road. To drain the place propeny and enable a road to be marie down past Kjm*shaw's, an outfall should be l un dowwhrmigh Mace's allotment, No. 17, to thoToutfali at Murphy's crossing. Into this outfall a small drain could be run from Mackwood's corner across tho road, which would thoroughly dry that portion of the road. The pipes opposite Kershaw'a corner, which aienow useless, could be shifted down to this point for the purpose of carrying the water The proposed outfall, which I will call Mace 'B, would be a very long one, some 80 chains, down to where. Murphy's crossing outfall commences (including said outfall,) and the cost would be say 8s per chain, or about too, (of w hioh £o is already being spent x>n Murphy's, net cost, £30, but it ia a work which will always come in handy for the opening up and making of the road which leads down to the Waiorongomai crossing at the river. It is undoubtedly the natural fall, and must sooner or later be opened up. Mr Mace ia, I undet stand, to give his CO isent in writing to the running of the re juirccl drain. Aa rcgauls the deepening of tho present drain along Lots 22, 23 and 24, I think it is not at all deBirable. It is already nine feet deep in rather treacherous giounrl, and fascined. To go deeper would entail grpat expense, and probably mnke a liuae gully along the road. This road is the one to be used by eight settlers, Messrs Kershaw (who, however, has a frontage to the main road,) Brokenshire, Hawkins, MeSweeny, McKinley, Reid, Bonio, and Woodhead, the last-named seven being unable to keep even a horse, as there is no means of getting one in and out. To make the road to the river would necessitate live bridges or culveits, costing with the necessary earthworks to carry dray traffic^ some £120. I also inspected the means of access to section 10, block XI, (McCabe owner,) and find that he can iust get a horse in and out this weather, having made a crossing for himself on to the main drain on another man's land, but he is, of course, at the mercy of his neighbour. To make an outlet from this section would require about 1«5 oi 16 chains of drain nnd road formation. Swamp is good bottom ; expense moderate. I inspected the road made a year or two ago to Taylors, Taxter's and O'Donoghne'B, and found it impassable for a horse, and Mr Campbells fencing of his property has practically isolated Taxter and O'Donoghue (Taylor can stiU get a horse to his house ) This road has been badly run for drainage pui poses, but I think it possible that when the mnin road drains arc deepened up it might be made dry. I should, however, have to take levels before giving a decided opinion. I have to inform the board that Messrs Farmer and Stanley havo opened a large drain across the two chain road for the purpose of petting the water off their land. It should be seen to that this drain is secured, as being in extremely rotten ground, any heavy scour may cause, seiious damage to the road. They have erected a kind of culvert. 16 feet wide, strong enough as regards timbering below, but not; much on top of the rames. They inform me that Mr Breakell gave them permission to open across the road. Johnson's bridge approaches require making up. They have stood remarkably well, but never were made high enough. Johnson's creek requires to be widened, or rather opened out, through sections four and five up to the cross road next to the deferred payment blocks, in order to allow of the proper drainage of these lands. A new bridge is urgently required over the main road drain to gain access to the deferred payment lands, the present one being quite rotten and dangerous. I have been able to find out that up to December lust the amounts paid to Government by deferred payment settlers are, on Block XI £384 12s (more or less), on Block XII £210 16s (more or leas), total, £598 8s per annum. Block XI settlers have been paying for three years ; therefore, one-third ot their moneys amount to £384 12s. Block XII average about <L\ years, one-third giving £175 13s 4d. They are, therefore, entitled to £560 5s 4d to be spent in their district. Of this the board have received £70, £288 has been appropriated for drainage purposes, total accounted for £358, leaving a Mlance due up to December last of £202 ss4^more or less.) I cannot conclude thisßport without calling attention to the L;t that the Government voted £350 to beridded to the £288, making a total of £638, but the present contract has been let for about £450, therefore there must be a considerable balance which ought to be available for works on these blocks. Deduct for engineering expenses 10 per cent, and there would still be over £14.0 left. This should be looked after. I will also add that whilst the opening up of the main drain may do some little good, the money to be expended on cleaning out the east and weßt drain will most certainly be utterly wasted, as this drain is of no possible use to anybody for more than 20 or 30 chains away from the main drain, nnd very little even as far as that. > The whole of the settlers on these <, lands are certainly in a very, bad plight, .; and. uiiless some steps be taken ere long, t ,for getting .proper and effective .drainage, jXfail jotae'e how; many, of them jqan remain where they are., '-',<- ',"•', ' > . -, • ; T,Gi Sa>'Dbs.,

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