BAY OF PLENTY BEACON Published Tuesdays and Fridays. TUESDAY, APRIL 20, 1948 ONCE TOO OFTEN

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 39, 20 April 1948, Page 4

BAY OF PLENTY BEACON Published Tuesdays and Fridays. TUESDAY, APRIL 20, 1948 ONCE TOO OFTEN

Saturday night’s cloudburst and the resultant flood are no logger news. Everybody knows they happened. But townspeople are all saying this sort of thing happens too often. Certainly, no power on earth can stop a cloudburst. But there are many in this town who believe that men,- even local men, could devise some way to alleviate its consequences. Wdre a definite proposition v-oth reasonable prospect of success put before the people of this Borough today, it would be fairly safe guessing to say it would be accepted, not regardless of cost, but certainly without much bickering about cost.

Actual damage, though by no means negligible, was not heavy on this occasion when one -looks at the whole picture. It would appear, from the reports available, that the Borough suffered more damage to its services than to the belongings of individual businesses and citizens. That is what makes the matter of the prevention of a recurrence of this sort of thing everybody’s business. Under those circumstances noone can sit back and call it a shopkeepers’ problem. It is everybody’s problem. And to drive that point home, let it be emphasised that the Borough’s slender water supply - was in serious danger of disruption—was, in fact, disrupted, though only briefly. There is no reason to hope at the moment that anything substantial can be done immediately. It looks as though this problem will probably be one of the main, headaches of the new Catchment Board, when it, is formed and its sphere of influence decided.

At any rate, it is a problem for the Borough and the County to consider together in conjunction with and in anticipation of help from the Government. It seems apparent that a good deal of the silt that made such a mess of the town came from the Maori land development scheme block skirting the Ohope road and carrying the headwaters of the Wairere Stream. Reafforestation of the slopes of the valley carrying the stream bed might be a factor in a long distance policy, but the residents of this locality are in a mood to demand something more immediately effective than any longdistance planning. Most people will realise that the flood menace here cannot be removed overnight. They will also realise it cannot be removed for nothing. But removed or alleviated it must be, and that as soon as is humanly possible. Just how, the average citizen does not know. That is a job for engineers.

But what the average citizen was saying-yesterday, is saying today, has been saying for years and will be saying from now on, is that those who handle the public affairs of this place should seek the best advice available, table a plan of practical flood prevention and demand action from the authorities before a real disaster hits the town.