WAIROA AND WAIKOKOPU.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2041, 28 March 1907, Page 4

WAIROA AND WAIKOKOPU.

“Land Owner” writes to tlio Waioa Guardian Sir,—lt is a principle of limnaii 11anro to pant for tlio unattainable, to irizo that which it is difficult to got, v'liilo ignoring that which is within •ouch and right under our very o.yoH. S’ow, all this fuss about Waikokopu mrbor, and tho desultory controversy ivliioh has waged through your columns for months is nhnising to an outsider liko myself. Waikokopu will j ho the deep-water harbor for your district, but not for a generation. As for the Wairon rivor being n rival to it in that respect, I am sure that time will boar mo out when I declare that until Wairoa is put to its propor use as one of tlio first rivor ports in tho colony, mid tho district is thoroby developed, Waikokopu will never ho put to its natural use. Tho one will follow tho other. Improve your river, so that practically constant communication may bo assured with tlio outside world, and tlio deop water harbor at Waikokopu will follow as a matter of conrso. To adequately improve Wairoa river tlioro are difficulties, but not insuperable, not any greater than have been overcome in many parts of tho world. Mr. Napier 801 l and Mr. C. 1). Kennedy told you so. What I would particularly impress upon tho Wairoa people is not tc despair of the river entrance, and sc I pledge themselves to Waikokopu, f work which will absorb an immense sum of money, and probably not be completed for ninny years. I believe although I rim only going upon mom ory, that retaining walls from tin mouth of tho rivor wore advocated so as to confine the river within rea son able limits. Failing this on th seoro of expense, tho suggestion wa made that groins should he orecte here and there, the result being tlia within a short period tho place between would silt up and so forr natural walls. It is an accepted fac that if tho force of the river wor •kopt within bounds it would keep channel clear in all but the wors southerly weather. The Wairoa rive up to a certain distance from th mouth is one of the best waterway in the colony. Tho Wanganui rive was full of shoals and obstruction in the first place, and its entrnne now, after all the labor and expens devoted to it, is not much bette than that of the Wairoa. Once ii side tho mouth there is no conipar _ son:—The Patea rivor, where abou ten times the shipping is done a compared with Wairoa, is a ditc compared to this fine effluent. Ye with, in the first case, greater ol staelcs to overcome than those tlia are to ho met here it is now an ope port. Nature herself is continuall showing us how to overcome t-lie dill: culty. A spit forms across tho mout during a southerly swell. The rive collects its energies on to one portio and sweeps a good channel throng it. Supposing the force behind th rivor to bo always directed on th one point, it could never silt up Supposing temporarily it won! dam tho river back, and each inci it rose would create such an enoi mous pressure that the channel wouli be swept out irresistibly with titani suddenness. Have you seen the ox pel knouts" in statics where a hogsheai „ full of water is placed on the plat form? A tube a couple of feet ii length is inserted in the top. Fil the tube with water, and watch tin hogshead smash up to niatchwooc under the enormous pressure, wliicl is tons to every superficial foot. Thi is tho power of water confined. Ii constructing retaining walls along tin river banks no material, save cement would bo required. Tlio finest sliingh in the world for the purpose is 01 tlio beach. Only the cost of eonien and day- labor would be required, venture to say, also, that once tin retaining walls were built, a sand dredge in the channel would reelain the wastes on either side, and the; would more than repay the cost o the whole work. Nelson’s frpoziiij works, some miles up the Taruheri creek, for it is nothing more, are ai example of tho efficacy of sand dredg ing. The siit has boon dredged oui of (be shallow bed, and barges, deep]; laden with frozen meat, can thus In towed out into the bay to tlio linen at‘anchor there. Wairoa people wil be very foolish and short-sighted i they neglect their opportunities o securing a port with constant com mu ideation, and throw up tlieir ad vantages for wlmt will bo impossible at Waikokopu for many years, a deej water harbor. Tlio Government, ii the first place, are prejudiced againsi breakwater harbors, Tiinaru, up tc date, having been the only sliininr success, because of tlio immense graii and pastoral country behind it. The district will first have to progress through its natural water-way, the Wairoa river, before Waikokopu car be undertaken.