EXAMPLES OF EROSION

Press, Volume C, Issue 29513, 15 May 1961, Page 16

EXAMPLES OF EROSION

Tour By Air Hanan

(N.Z. Press Association) GISBORNE, May 14. “It is not very often that one sees the dared and conclusive evidence of erosion on such a scale as this,” the Minister of Maori Affairs (Mr Hanan) said after a district tour.

Mr Hanan had penetrated deep into rugged country where Mangatu Blocks, Inc., has more than 100,000 acres, of which about 85.000 acres are under production. The Minister, on his first official visit to the district, was taken to a point 16 miles beyond WhatatUtu, and about 47 miles from Gisborne, where he saw the badly eroded Te Weraroa valley. Mr Hanan, who was accompanied by Mrs E. I. Tombleson, member of Parliament for Gisborne, the assistant secretary for Maori Affairs Mr B. E. Souter, and the district officer, Mr V. Holst, was told that this was the most serious erosion problem facing the Mangatu blocks. After saying that he had now seen evidence of erosion cti a large scale. Mr Hanan added tha‘ the visit had been of considerate value to him. The Poverty Bay Catchment Board’s engineer (Mr A. D Todd) explained that negotiations were being made for approximately 16 000 acres of land in this eroding country to be taken over by the New Zealand Forest Service. If the scheme went through the forest service would plan* trees in an effort to prevent erosion.