| Show STRATFORD WATER commissioners FOR THIS COUNTY ARE NAMED boyd of county commissioners act in the interests of irrigation the matter of the appointment 0 the water commissioners tor weber county was settled late yesterday at hernoon by the board of county commissioners ners appointing frank W stratford of allson for district no 1 and benjamin chadwick of for district no 2 these two appointments were made after considering the following to the honorable board of county commissioners of weber county dear sir the state engineer having stated that the appropriation made Is not adequate and that other conditions exist that render it impracticable for him to appoint a superintendent so that a district supervisor could be appointed as provided in the law of 1903 and that the appointment of a water commissioner by this board would be of great utility as an arbitrator and mediator and especially in conferring with like officers in other countries to procure for this country the water necessary and proper for us to have now I 1 would state that it the board take this view of the situation then their declaration of such tact would be sufficient finding of a necessity I 1 do not think the question of expense would cause any trouble after the disposition of the other point such commissioner of course under the circumstances in order to be effect lva would have to be a man of good judgement jud gement practical experience peri ence and entirely and absolutely without interest in the distribution of water this statement is made after conference with A F doremus state engineer and J E bagley attorney for petitioners petition ers at your request and direction and Is concurred in by them yours truly E T county attorney the matter has been before the hoard for about a week and their reason for not making the appointment at that time was due to the fact of the opinion given by the county attorney which follows fol lowi my opinion ia that such saving clause is not sufficient to carry with it the power formerly exercised by such commissioners and further that it be bard to point out any necessity tor the appointment of new water commissioners a year after the passage of the act requiring the state engineer to appoint superintendents and supervisors there are some glaring defects in the said chapter in laws of 1903 in irrigation that will have to be cither amended by further legislation or judicial interpretation before they will be of any practical use the water commissioners would in my judgement jud gement it appointed merely be an official mediator or pacifier without any particular legal power or authority at the meeting held in the morning and continued until afternoon state engineer who was presented claimed it was impossible for him to cover all the counties at once as the appropriation made by the last legislature was entirely inadequate to cover the expenditure where there was the greatest necessity for this work being done it was being done there first and that was the reason an adjustment was being made of the weber river watershed where in morgan county he found farmers using three times the amount of water the farmers were in this county the other counties had appointed commissioners and raised no question and it was only to have the bridged over until it could be reached by legislation that the appointment was asked on behalf of the irrigation compan ise judge john E bagley urged the commissioners to act on the necessity of the case pointing out that the law eald that the appointment could be made it necessary district no 1 la defined as north of ogden river and all the territory arri batel by ogden river district no 2 is defined as all south of ogden river and the territory irrigated by weber river |
