✨ Provincial Government Report
THE NEW ZEALAND GOVERNMENT GAZETTE,
(PROVINCE OF NELSON.)
Published by Authority.
All Notifications which appear in this Gazette, with any Official Signature thereunto annexed are to be considered as Official Communications made to those Persons to whom they may relate, and are to be obeyed accordingly.
ALFRED GREENFIELD, Provincial Secretary.
VOL. XVII. NELSON, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1869. No. 7.
Superintendent's Office,
Nelson, 10th February, 1869.
THE SUPERINTENDENT directs the publication of the following report for general information.
ALFRED GREENFIELD,
Provincial Secretary.
MR. BALFOUR'S REPORT ON THE BULLER RIVER.
January 28, 1869.
SIR,—I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your letter requesting me to report with as little delay as possible on the works I would recommend for the accommodation of shipping, and the protection of the town of Westport from the encroachments of the floods, and enclosing for my information copy of Mr. Blackett's report, and sundry illustrative tracings. I have also received a plan and report on the Buller from the Chief Marine Surveyor, prepared, I understand, at your request; and am consequently as well prepared to report on the subject as is possible without a personal visit to the locality, if not a more extended residence on the spot.
My duties to the Colonial Government have prevented an earlier reply, and even now I am unable to go into the matter so much in detail as could be wished; but understanding that time is of consequence, I shall shortly state the opinions I have been able to form, and shall be glad to enlarge upon this preliminary report when I return from Auckland, should it seem necessary, or should any further ideas occur when the subject is studied more at leisure.
There would appear to be two general views as to the best method of controlling the Buller River, and two ideas as to the best manner of carrying out these views.
Mr. Blackett on the one hand recommends the protection of the banks of the river as they are, while another party seems in favor of turning the bulk of the water down the channel behind Garden Island as a necessary preliminary to works of protection or improvement.
Again, Mr. Blackett is in favor of constructing the principal protective works of stone mainly, if not entirely, while others are in favor of timber work.
With regard to the channel behind Garden Island, I am certainly of opinion that it would be desirable to cause it to return to its old condition of an efficient flood water outlet, if that can be done at any moderate outlay; but it seems equally clear that it would be unwise to attempt to throw the main stream, or even to turn a large portion of the water, down that channel. Rivers carrying heavy boulders, like the Buller, are notoriously capricious, and it might not improbably prove that the result of such works, if successful at all, would be to cause the whole of the water to take the south channel and desert the present course, leaving it much in the condition of the present backwater behind the Island.
If, however, an expenditure of £2000, or less, should prove sufficient to remove the snags and so
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Nelson Provincial Gazette 1869, No 7
✨ LLM interpretation of page content
🏗️ Publication of report on Buller River
🏗️ Infrastructure & Public Works10 February 1869
Buller River, Westport, Report, Infrastructure
- Alfred Greenfield, Provincial Secretary
🏗️ Report on the Buller River
🏗️ Infrastructure & Public Works28 January 1869
Buller River, Westport, Flood protection, Shipping, Engineering
- Balfour (Mr.), Author of report on Buller River
- Blackett (Mr.), Author of previous report on Buller River