768 



Land Drainage. 



[Nov., 



has been heard of the matter for many years. It is sometimea 

 thought that the Ministry, in endeavouring to establish a 

 Drainage Board, is conspiring to force the carrying out of one 

 or other of these elaborate engineering schemes, and that on 

 the establishment of such a board the district will suddenly 

 be burdened with intolerable expense. It must be stated with 

 the greatest emphasis that this is not the case. A Drainage 

 Board at the outset of its career is faced with the heavy task 

 of preparing the way for its successors, and must necessarily 

 feel its way slowly in the matter of works. Its ultimate policy 

 and the amount of money it spends will depend (as has already 

 been pointed out) upon its electors. So long as a board makes 

 reasonable use of its powers it is subject to no outside interfer- 

 ence from any quarter. The object of the Ministry is to 

 establish on each river system an authority which will view 

 the problems presented by the whole system as a whole, and 

 will have legal powers to deal with them. 



