H.—43.

pure water, such as is required for human consumption, but what is required is water that can safely be used for manufacturing purposes, and which will not at the same time cause any nuisance, or loss, or damage to health; and the evidence showed that it is possible to do this in most cases. If a manufacturer cannot do so, then it is clear that his business is not one which can be safely carried on in the district, and that if he contravenes the provisions of the common law in so doing, then in such a case he has only himself to blame if the law is enforced against him. (11.) In addition to these powers the Board should have the power to take land for the construction of drainage and waterworks and lay and maintain pipes, sewers, and drains on roads, streets, and also through private lands on payment of compensation, for surface drainage only, except in cases where actual land is taken and vested in the Board. It may be that, without, going to any very great expense, the Board could, by constructing a drain or drains in connection with the upper part of the main Kaikorai Stream, or in the upper parts of some of the subsidiary streams, very greatly assist the local industries by storing a plentiful supply of water; and if this were done it might then be possible to allow the effluent from some of the factories to be turned down the sewer when it is constructed, and provision should therefore be made accordingly; but the onus of placing as much water in the stream as is taken out of it should be thrown upon the person who takes out such water. (12.) The Board should also have the general powers of a Drainage and River Board, with power to levy a small rate over the whole district to meet general expenses and maintenance and to improve and cleanse the river and for other necessary purposes, and it should also be empowered to raise special loans subject to a poll of the ratepayers, for the purpose of any additional watersupply or water-supplies in case such are required, and for that purpose it should have power to declare any portion of its district to be a special district in the manner provided by the Local Bodies' Loans Act. (13.) The Board should have power to regulate, and if necessary to prevent, the pumping of " soup "on to any ground. This effluent can be disposed of without creating any nuisance at all —viz., by evaporation, as is done by Kempthorne and Prosser's works, or it can be purified by septic tanks and filter-beds or by chemical processes. (14.) The Board should also have power to make by-laws for the administration of the stream and to provide a severe penalty for their infringement, and also to prosecute criminally any person deliberately placing foul matter in the stream, and it should also have power by its servants to enter upon any premises for the purpose of seeing if any nuisance is being created or if the Act or regulations under which the Board works are being contravened; and, subject to and within the limits of the special work which it is proposed that the Board should undertake, it should have similar powers to those granted under " The Dunedin District Drainage and Sewerage Act, 1900," and its amendments. Division IV.—How the Cost of any Works to be carried out should be apportioned among the several Local Authorities interested in the Matter. It will be gathered from the former part of this report that in my opinion a special River and Drainage Board should be set up to deal with this matter, and that it should have power to levy rates over the district for the purpose of managing and cleansing the stream; and also, if it be found necessary to do so, that it should have power to levy special rates for the purpose of constructing main drains or sewers and water-supply schemes. If this is provided for, then it will not be necessary that any apportionment of the cost of these works should at present be made as against the several local authorities, because the necessary funds will in such a case be collected in the form of rates from the persons whose premises are drained or who are within the proposed river and drainage district. It might, however, be provided that the Board should have power either to collect these rates itself or else to require the rates to be collected in the different

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