The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-08-02
THE LEVEES.
AN INTERESTING MEETING OFF THE
LEVEE COMMISSIONERS IN JET
FERsDN YEsTERDAY,

ttoHs Passed Involving Changes and
Empr0veme ntB I'm our Leyee system.
The levee commissioners Of the First Dis
trict met yesterday in the police jury room OF
Jefferson parish, at Wagner's brickyard
about q mile above Carrollton.
THESE COMMISSIONERS
are officers appointed by the executive, one
from each parish, and their duty is to meet
once q year, on Or about the first Of August,
to discuss the propriety of repairs to leyees
Or the building Of new ones
Such was the purpose of yesterdays meet
ing, which proved very interesting, both on
account of the able report of Col. Hardee,
STATE BOARD OF ENGINEERS,
and on account of the important resolutions
passed by the board
At II o'clock the board was called to order
Present: Fergus Gardere, of East Baton
Rouge; John 9. Dupuy, OF Iberville; Ben.
Gibson Gen. Brant, substitute), of Ascension;
FL. G. Colombo of st. james; B. Laplace, Of
st. John; E. Rost Of st. Charles, and Lucien
Soniat of Jefferson. Surveyor d'Hemecourt
was also present.
Not represented-St Bernard and Plaque
mines.
THERE BEING FULL QUORUM,
the meeting was called to order and on mo-
tion Of Mr.. Emile Rost, Mr.. Fergus Gardere
was unanimously elected president Of the
meeting.
| On motion of Mr.. LapIaoe, Mr.. Rost was
nominated Secretary.
MIR. LAP1ACE's
motion that the above named officers pro
! tenn. be unanimously declared permanently
elected, was carried.
| Col Hardee then, at the request of the
chairman, read the following report, giving
stating the amount Of work to be done, to-
gether with the sum needed to cover the re-
pairs.
ENGINEERS REPORT.
TO the Board Of Levee Commissioners of the
| First District:
ing extract from section 8 OF act No. B, extra
session of 1878 we have the honor to submit
the following report:
''At each Of these meetings, the Board d
State Engineers shall present an estimate o.
the evee work required in that district set
ting forth ct the same time the amount oi
the general levee fund which will be available
therefor"
Careful examinations and estimates have
been made Of the entire river front in your
district from the hills of Baton Rouge to the
vicinity OF Fort St. Philip. Although this
estimate is reliable as to the condition Of the
levees at this date, yet it should be remem
bered that the low water season, which is
approaching, never fails to produce more OF
less cavng at unforeseen points.
In view Of this unavoidable lack Of com
pleteness in the estimates, two precautions
are deemed advisable and, therefore, earnest
ly recommended:
/. That the full limit Of taxation allowed bJ
the levee act should be applied, particularly
as the law provides that "any balance re
naming unez zpended for the year in which il
is raised shall be passed to the credit Of tbs
district for future years"
2. That discretion be reserved by the BOARD
of State Engineers to omit the construction
of such levees included in the list submitted
Us may hold out better than is anticipated
and to apply the money raised therefor il
averting greater dangers that may be devel,
oped later in the season.
The 'tgenenll engineer fund" is not availa-
ble until the first Of January, 1879. At that
time it is probable that it also will be needed
for work now unforeseen. The proceeds
thereof for all the districts will not exceed
100000, after deducting delinquences, the
expenses OF collection and the appropriations
for the engineer and assessors departments
LIST OF NEW LEvEEs NOW REQUIRED IN THE