D.—B

2

gentlemen showed that the value of about 5,900 acres of this land (which they specially dealt with) was nearly £37,000, it will be seen that the value of the 7,000 acres was then about £43,700, or £6 ss. per acre. If we add these two areas together it will be found that at the time the reports were made there were about 28,500 acres of land, valued at about £339,700, seriously affected by water from the Taieri and Waipori Rivers. This gives an average value of all the flooded land as being then a little under £12 an acre. From these figures it is very easy to see that if this land could be effectively drained its value would probably be greatly enhanced, considering its fertility and Close proximity to railways and market. It is probable that it cannot all be drained at reasonable cost; but it is certain that a very great deal of it could be freed from all but very exceptional floods at a moderate expenditure. The Taieri River divides the plain into two portions, but the portion known as the West Taieri is about twice the size of the other portion known as East Taieri. The Waipori River passes through a portion of the plain between the point where this river leaves the hills and the point where it falls into the Waipori Lake. The whole of what is known as the Taieri Plain is in Taieri County, but a small area of land in Bruce County is flooded by the Waipori River and is included in this report. East and North Taieri District. No organized effort has been made to cope with the floods on the east or north side of the Taieri River. Individual settlers have erected banks from time to time to keep out the river from their properties, but the greatest damage to land on this side arises from the Silverstream, which takes its rise in the hills to the north of the plain. The evidence on this point is conflicting; but we have reason to believe that originally the stream, after entering for some distance upon the plain, lost itself in a swamp, part of which may have tended towards the Owhiro Stream. The main body of the water, however, originally found its waj' by swamps or otherwise down the plain into a lagoon, and thence into the river by no properly defined channel. The facts connected with this stream are detailed further on in this report. On the west side of the river a high bank, referred to later on, has been erected, and this bank has the effect in high floods of throwing the water over on to lands on the east side; and the action of the settlers on the west side in thus raising this bank is bitterly resented by settlers on the east side; and it is, in our opinion, the root of the antagonism that unfortunately exists between the settlers on both sides, as will be referred to hereafter. Several works on the east side, mentioned later on in this report, were suggested by witnesses as necessary, but Your Excellency has no power to order them to be done. The parties appear, moreover, to be too disunited to set up a Drainage or River Board to deal with these things, as their interests are very conflicting, and the County Council either will not or cannot assist the settlers. West Taieri District. This district is severely damaged by flood and other waters that lie upon it, and a great deal of such damage arises through the divided control that exists. There are four Drainage Boards and two River Boards exercising control in this district, and the boundaries of the River Boards' districts overlap and embrace the drainage districts in the manner indicated on the plan attached. The existing districts are the West Taieri, Otokia, Maungatua, and Berwick Drainage and the Henley and West Taieri River Districts. The Drainage and River Boards appear to have got on fairly well together, but there has been and still is considerable friction between the Drainage Boards. This has principally arisen by the action of one Board throwing water from its district on to the adjoining district, or else by blocking or otherwise dealing with the drains through its lands to the detriment of other districts. There is no comprehensive scheme of drainage. The main channels through which the water should escape are more or less neglected or choked with weeds or silt. Some years ago the County Council raised a loan of £3,000 for the drainage of the plain, and works were then constructed that were of considerable benefit; but these were not afterwards maintained, and the benefit of the expenditure was largely lost. Then the settlers formed several Drainage and River Boards, and the principle of draining known as the "block system" was adopted. Under this system drains were made across the plain at right angles to the Taieri River, and each block was then supposed to get rid of its own water by gravitation or pumping into the Taieri River. This principle is no doubt a good one if it were carried out in its entirety, but it is not and cannot be carried out in this case. The Drainage Boards do not pull together, and there exists a depression in the centre of the plain which is generally lower than the outlet of the block drains into the river, and a great deal of water comes on to the plain by drainage from higher levels and by a deviation of the upper waters of the Lee Creek, and in some instances by the settlers in the upper part of the plain letting river-water into the drains for the purpose of watering stock in dry seasons. All this extra water does great damage. It is either not caught by or it escapes from the block drains, and flows in an irregular manner down the centre of the plain. The damage has been accentuated by the Lee Creek. This is an important creek on the northwest side of the plain, and it empties itself into Waipori Lake. The stream itself is banked to some extent, but it is full of weeds and rubbish, and consequently does not carry all the water it ought to carry, and its waters overflow its banks in many places in times of flood. The outlet of this creek is also blocked, partly by matter brought down by it, and partly by the silting-up of Lake Waipori, which is now very shallow, so that, instead of the waters from the creek getting a free outlet to the lake, they overflow the adjacent land. The drainage districts are strangely constituted, and in some cases the boundaries leave out lands which ought to have been included, but which were apparently omitted because of the opposi-