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The discharge-capacity of the Whangatane Spillway is being reduced by silting and growth in the bed of the channel. This has been the cause of some local flooding on the farmed land between Douglas Road Bridge and Quarry Road. The clearing of the spillway will be necessary in the near future. Expenditure and Rates.—Maintenance expenditure charged against the Rate Account for the year amounted to £2,208. Rates struck : Special, £2,732 ; general, £2,229. Rates collected, including arrears : Special, £2,098 ; general, £2,263. Rebates (33J per cent.) allowed on special rates on account of prompt payment amounted to £6ll. Maori rates struck (gross) were £324. Of this amount, £2ll has been paid, and rebates allowable amount to £5B. Hikurangi Drainage Area (50,000 Acres),' Whangarei County No work was carried out in this area. Waihi Drainage Area (20,000 Acres), Tauranga County The flood-pumping station at the western end of the Waerenga Road was completed during the year. This station is designed to serve ultimately an area of approximately 800 acres contained in a figure formed by the Kaikokopu Stream, the Waerenga Road, the Wharere Canal, the Tainui Road, and the main highway. As at present constructed this station contains one 5,000-gallon-per-minute, electricallydriven, automatically-controlled flood-pump, and is designed to serve only the lower part of the above area. Provision is made for the installation at a later date of another similar pump when it becomes necessary to pump the drainage from the whole of the area. The principal work carried out during the year has been the installation of the pumps, motors, and electrical equipment, the construction of the necessary intake drains, and the cutting-off of the area not to be pumped at present, including provision for bypassing hill-water discharging on to the area. The pumping-station was completed and brought into operation at the end of June, and the final isolation of the area from the upland water discharging down Tainui Road was completed in February last. It should not be assumed from these remarks that the drainage of this area and the 400-acre block to the north of Waerenga Road is now complete. Further work and the installation of additional pumping facilities will be required. It would probably be advisable to defer these undertakings until the settlers take advantage of the legislation passed last session and petition to have the whole 1,200-acre block classified as a special rating area to enable capital and operating costs to be recovered by way of special rates. At the request of the settlers of the Upper Pongakawa River Valley, the straightening, widening, and deepening of the Pongakawa River southwards from the railwayline was commenced during the year. Detailed engineering surveys of the river, and topographical and soil surveys of the peat-covered valley-floor, were completed, and in August tenders were called for the improvement of a stretch of one mile and a half extending southwards from the railway-line. A contract was let to a firm of excavating engineers who in November started work with a drag-line excavator. By the end of the year the first cut over the whole of this length had been completed, and the machine was returning down-stream removing accumulations of silt. A second contract has now been signed with the same firm for the improvement of a further stretch of 55 chains, and this work will be commenced in the near future.

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