370 
Drainage of tlie Ujiper Thames Valley. 
district* The total amount of acreage comprised in the drainage 
district is about 2185 acres, divided amongst about eighty pro- 
prietors. The total sums expended by the Board up to the present 
time, including the cost of the works and all repairs up to last 
June, as well as all preliminary and necessary expenses, has 
been 3648/. 8s. 5c?. This sum includes, as will be seen, the 
amount of compensation paid to the single unwilling landowner 
in the district, and the costs of the arbitration which was held to- 
assess its amount. The above sum of 3648/. 8s. bd. was 
expended as follows : — 
£. «. d. 
Preliminary Survey, Plans, &c 240 5 1 
Law expenses (including advertisements) .. 1G7 1-i 3 
Construction of the works, including labour,) o-ia i- o 
building bridges, &c | - < J.4 i - 6 
Surveyor of Works 120 0 0 
Compensation and arbitration 305 8 4 
3548 4 11 
The remainder of the total sum spent, about 100/., has been 
expended in repairs and general expenses of the Board, since 
the completion of the works about three years ago. 
In consequence of the unanimity of the proprietors, the money 
required to carry out the works was not borrowed, as is usually 
the case in works of a public nature, but was provided by each 
proprietor in proportion to the extent of land owned by him in. 
the district, and the benefit which it was estimated would accrue 
to such land from the works when completed. The occupiers of 
the lands so protected from the floods pay to their landlords 
10 per cent, per annum on the outlay ; and although this, 
perhaps, at first sight appears rather a high percentage, yet the 
result is most satisfactory to the tenants. The estimate of the im- 
proved annual value of the land, which was made at the time of 
the constitution of the Board, was 521/. 17s. 6c?., varying from 
^d. to 8s. 6f/. per acre ; and experience has shown that this 
does not represent the actual improvement, although the exact 
amount is difficult to arrive at. 
The works were commenced in November, 1866, and were com- 
pleted about the end of July, 1867, the very wet winter of 1866-67 
having considerably retarded their progress and materially in- 
creased their cost. Mr. Ripley, who, as before mentioned, made 
the preliminary inspection and report, directed and superintended 
the execution of the works throughout. During the latter part 
* For the constitution, general powers and regulations as to the mode of election, 
of Drainage Boards in general, see 24 and 25 Vic. c. 133, sees. C6-71. 
