H._43

12

and it is on the lines strenuously advocated by the various local bodies who appeared before me last year in the Ghristchurch district drainage inquiry. This scheme would give four members for each end of the valley, and it would thus equalise the balance of power. (3.) The Boroughs of Maori Hill, Mornington, Roslyn, and Green Island, and the Taieri County Council, should be left to arrange for the reticulation of drains in the roads and streets in their own districts respectively within such time as the River and Drainage Board may determine, and they should also be allowed to dispose of their sewage by septic-tank, filter-bed, and sewage-farm, or on any other principle that the Board may approve; but the septic tank, filter-beds, and sewage-farms connected therewith should be constructed and maintained to the satisfaction of the Board or by the Board, at its option, and if done by the Board, then at the expense pro rata of each local authority concerned, and if more than one district drains into the same septic tank, then in proportion to the annual rateable value of so much of the area of each local body concerned as is within the limits of the Kaikorai watershed. The Board also should have power to compel the various local bodies to reticulate their areas and to connect the drains therefrom with the septic tank or with any main drain or sewer which the Board may construct within such reasonable time as it may determine, and if the work is not done within that time the Board should in such case be authorised to raise a special loan without poll on the security of a special rate over the district affected, and to construct the necessary works and to maintain them out of the proceeds of such a rate over that district as may be sufficient for the purpose; and, if any dispute arises as to whether or not the reticulation or the septic tank, filters, and farm are or are not properly constructed and maintained, or as to the sufficiency or otherwise of the rate, then any such dispute should be referred to Your Excellency, and Your Excellency's decision should be final and conclusive and without appeal, and the Board should have power to obtain an injunction or mandamus of the Supreme Court to enforce such decision. (4.) If after due trial of the septic-tank system in the case of any of the boroughs the Board is advised by the Minister of Public Health that the effluent therefrom is prejudicial to health, or that it pollutes the stream so as to make it dangerous to health or unfit for manufacturing purposes, and Your Excellency directs that the sewage or effluent be placed in a sewer and not in the stream, or if at any time or from time to time a resolution is passed at a special meeting of the Board convened for that purpose that a sewer or main drain should be constructed throughout the whole or through any part of the length of the Kaikorai Valley, then and in any such case the Board should have power to construct and maintain such sewer or main drain and all necessary works connected therewith, and for any of these purposes to raise a loan over the whole district or over such part or parts of the district as may be concerned in such sewer or main drain and as the Board may determine, and to establish and maintain a sewage-farm on the sandhills near the ocean in the manner set forth in Hay's scheme, including pumping machinery and all necessary appliances; and in such case the Board should have the right to enter upon and use without payment of compensation any portion of the sandhills that may be required; and when any portion of the sandhills shall have been rendered fertile and productive the Board should have the right to lease the same and apply half the rents in reduction of the expenditure or liabilities of the Board and to hand over the other moiety to the Domain Board for the improvement of the rest of the Domain, and the Board should have power to lay its drains or sewers through any land on payment for surface damage only. (5.) The power to raise special loans referred to in the two preceding paragraphs should not be exercised unless "at a special meeting of the Board especially called for the purpose, but upon resolution passed at such meeting the Board should without any poll of the ratepayers be authorised to raise the loan and strike a special rate or rates in the manner provided by the Local Bodies' Loans Act as security for the loan, together with a general rate sufficient for the main-