RIVER EROSION

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 7, Issue 11, 1 October 1943, Page 5

RIVER EROSION

SERIOUS COUNTY PROBLEM

VISIT OF COUNCIL NEXT WEEK

Intimation that the Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Committee intended visiting the Bay oi Plenty area on October (>th, 7th and Bth, was received by the Whakatane. Countj" Council at it.s meeting on Tuesday last. The council thereupon decided in view of the seriousness of the erosion question at several points in the county that a special meeting should be. called for the purpose of discussing the situation with the council with a view to checking the worst features. Cr McCracken described the position on the upper Whakatane River reaches as most, urgent. Cr Lux lon dre.w attention to the Tarawera River "which he said had been building up its bed for years and was now a potential danger as far as flooding was concerned. "That's quite right," said Cr Burt. "I can remember before the Tarawera eruption,, when they used to take punts by from Matata to Onepu to bring down sulphur. There was plenty of depth and 3 or 4 feet freeboard all the way up." Cr McCracken mentioned the state of the Rangitaiki which lie said had given rise to the gravest concern. The settlers at Edgecumbe would welcome the closest investigation, as it was intended that the river was likely to give a lot, of trouble un,less carefully watched. The .chairman said that every endeavour would be made lo draw the attention of the council to all these problems when it visited the district.