ABOUT THE TOWN

Chronicle (Levin), 21 September 1946, Page 3

ABOUT THE TOWN

T. S.

D.)

SHANNON SIDE-LIGHTS

(By

Following the tragedy of the yellow-leaf disease in the flax swamp of the Makerua, the flax owners soon realised that a bad erop of flax was less profltable than a good crop of grass. It became apparent that it was impossible to make flaxmilling pay, but the land flooded too often for ordinary farming, so the owners in the Makerua Plains extended the Makerua Drainage Board to cover the whole area of the plain and decided to go in for a scheme of flood protection. With this end in view, the board engineer, the late Mr. Sam Jickell, was engaged to lay out a comprehensive flood protection plan and drainage scheme. After making a proper survey and taking levels, Mr. Jickell brought down a scheme which was eventually adopted with slight modification. When the question of cost was gone into, it was realised by members of the board that it would be impossible to carry out the wofk unless the very latest labour-sav-ing machinery was procured to build the flood-protection banks and excavate the channels. In 1019 Mr. Afred Seifert went to the United Btates and he was instructed to purchase a dredge for the board. After inspecting a great number of dredges and the work they were . doing, he eventually placed an order for a Marion dragline dredge," with a bucket with a yard and a-half capacity. The dredge was mounted on a caterpiller track. This machine built the flood protection bank on the ground that was firm. In 1921 Mr. Seifert again visited America and selected another dredge for the board, suitable for where ,the ground was too soft for the dragline machine. The second dredge was a Marion dipper dredge, with a yard and a-half" bucket. The machine was erected on a pontoon on the Kara Creek, -near Shannon. Eacli of these dredges ave'raged about 30,000 yards per month working two shifts. To give an idea of the capacity of these machines and the skill of the men operating them, the dragline dredge working along the Mangaore Stream, between the railway line and the Manawatu River, erected 108 chains of flood protection bank of an average of six feet in height in one month. In those days before the modern machinery of to-day, this was an outstanding piece of work. The dipper dredge, working the Toko-maru-Linton main drain, while excavating a channel 27 feet wide and 9 feet deep where there was a considerable amount of timber, excavated 62 chains in one month, the following month 61 chains and the third month 74 chains. After flood protection work was completed the flax land owners cut up their properties and sold to farmers. Most of the saies were made 18 or 19 years ago, and the settlers met with the usual difflculties bringing the land into dairying and for ' other f arm purposes. The plains have now got good roads, electric power an.d telephones. The land has now proved to be first class for dairying, fattening stock and growing stock, and it is possibly the finest land in New Zealand for market gardens. Some excellent crops of onions, carrots and potatoes have come out of a number of gardens at Opiki. Those who look back over the past fifty or sixty years can see the Makerua Plain first a.s a . vast swamp and in its virgin state of no value to the country. Tlien they can see liie land drained and growing the largest and best crop of flax in New "Zealand. They see the crop destroyed by some mysterious disease, the flaxmills scrapped, miles and miles of tram lines pulled up and the rails sold, and then the land surveyed and roaded and eventually turned into dairy farms. Doing all this has been a great deai of work and has cost a huge amount of money. The men carrying out this week were true pioneers, and no doubt obtained a great deal of satisfaction out of their work. Surely the future is bright for the Makerua settlers. Many have had a hard time, but farming is now on a firmer basis in this area than on any previous occaslon. They were hard hit by the recent flooding, but the Catchment Board's £300,000 scheme should give them protection in the future.