120 Transactions. — Miscellaneous, 



Navigation, drainage and water supply, the prevention of pollution, and 

 the improvement of the rivers of the colony, greatly interest all residents and 

 property-owners, and the system which now obtains of making the centre 

 of a river-bed the political division of counties, road districts, and municipali- 

 ties, is one eminently calculated to render impossible any systematic method 

 of carrying out works connected with these subjects. 



The rivers of the Colony are, as a rule, but little else than mountain 

 torrents, in some cases navigable, with difficulty, a few miles from their 

 outlets ; and therefore greater reasons exist that the control of such 

 navigation should be placed under a central administration ; the whole 

 country, in fact, should be mapped out into watershed districts, each 

 containing one or more river basins ; — 'this would appear, at first sight, to 

 involve a large amount of work, but the information requisite for the pur- 

 pose already exists, and in mapping out the country for local government 

 and representation purposes, the ridges would form the natural boundaries 

 in place of the river-beds which, as a rule, are adopted. 



Drainage and prevention of floods could frequently be dealt with, and 

 great improvements effected at a small cost, were it not that local jealousies 

 (from each river bank being under a separate system of government) pre- 

 vent anything being done. 



A general system of water-supply could be decided upon, — and erected 

 at such times as might be required to supply the population, — without 

 incurring the excessive outlay now required to supply each small village 

 and district with a separate water-supply system of its own. 



The central authority of the district could undertake the removal of 

 obstructions to the navigation of rivers, protecting the banks, and such-like 

 works, without the necessity of the creation of Harbour Boards, whose chief 

 object is to spend borrowed money in the district, whether required or not; 

 and, as a rule, interfere with, and quarrel with, the neighbouring authorities, 

 and do more harm than good. With the exception, perhaps, of the Lyttelton 

 Board, the works carried out under their supervision have generally had 

 the most mischievous effect in place of effecting improvement — the Timaru 

 ■works being an example. 



The present County Councils could, by a slight amendment of the law, 

 become the governing authorities of the watershed district, so far as all 

 works affecting the surface of the ground are concerned. Eoad Boards, 

 Municipalities, and Harbour Boards should only be allowed to carry out 

 such works as might be approved by the central authority ; and in sparsely 

 populated districts these last-named governing bodies could be dispensed 

 with altogether. 



The election to such a body would be sought after by men of the highest 



