THE WASTING COAST.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 229, 27 September 1929, Page 6

THE WASTING COAST.

New Zealand is not without its problems of coast erosion, similar to those which are giving the local authorities and landowners much concern in England, as mentioned in cable messages. In this country the encroachments by the sea have been mostly on the west coast, assailed for most of the year by strong winds across the Tasman Sea. Along the east coast of Auckland Province, even within the Hauraki Gulf, there are proofs of erosion, but these are small by comparison with the denudation which has taken place on the west. The places most affected by ancient erosion are the entrances to the Kaipara and Manukau Harbours, thence the sandy foreshore to the Waikato Heads; the South Taranaki coast; and in the South Island the coast near Hokitika. Some years ago a farmer neal- Hawera showed me the extent of the ravages the ocean had made on his land. He lost several feet every year by the falling in of the high cliffs under the stress of the waves beating at their base and undermining the land. This was a short distance south of the mouth of the Waingongoro River; the erosion continued more or less thence to the mouth of the Patea River. There were the remains of fences jutting out over the cliff edge; and sometimes cattle had been lost through grazing too close to the grassy edge. Down on the Westland coast the ocean front of Hokitika town—to which most of the houses turned their backs for protection from the westerly gales—has been subject now and again to violent attacks of erosion, and some buildings and backyards were torn away a few years ago and toppled into the surf. In England, the cablegrams tell us, schemes are to be concerted to prevent erosion, but what form these will take is not given yet. It would be extremely difficult to do anything that would counter the attacks of the westerly gales on our New Zealand coast. Even Taranaki land would scarcely be worth while the cost of providing rock breakwaters in the open sea at the cliff bases. But what erosion does occur here is not really very extensive; probably it is far more than compensated for by the areas won from the salt water and the swamps along the eastern side of the island and converted into land of agricultural and commercial value. —TANGIWAI.