A NATIONAL PROBLEM.

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 12, 29 January 1937, Page 4

A NATIONAL PROBLEM.

It is nof, of oourse, always easy to agree with the hton. Rohert Semple with regard to the prospects for some of the big enterprises he has entered upon as Minister of Public Wdrks. Thfere are at least two or three of them that lobk very inxich as if they had beeri undertaken more as a means of distribtiting wages than with any valid hope of their ultimately yielding any adeqnate return, either financial or defelopinfental, On the mbney Spent* However, that is aii aspefct of them for which he is prohably not solely responsible, since like purpoSe appearS to run through the Government's general policy. Setting aside for futiire proof of disproof iri bperation the vailue elaimbd for these works, there cannot bnt be appreciation 6f the viitt and vigou,r with which Mr. Semple tackles his jobs once decided upon. It might have been better had a little more time antd deliberatioh been given before determining upon them. But, once determination was reached, Mr. Semple seeinS to be the fight man to see them carried through With eipeditiori. In his capacity as Minister of Public Works Mr. Semple certainly has tbe advantage over some of his ministerial colleagues in that he has some personal knowledge gained by experienfce of the functions he has been set to exercise. Thus, despite an occasional outflow of picttifesqufe laiiguage. he is able to apply S praetical mind to the solution of the problems set before him* This he has shown in more thaii Ohe conriectioii, the latest instance being what, as reported yesterday, he had to say at Palmerston North regarding flood prevention in the Manawatu ahd Othfer rivefs. We at this eiid of the Hawke's Bay district have had oxperiencOS'that fully wafrant the criticisms passed by the Minister, which, however, are made in the light of present-day knowledge and dfevelopments. Countless thousands have been spent here and elsewhere in piecemeal works that provided no gfenefal 0# permanent satisfaction. But it has to be recognised that that was the way of the times and that it was largely dictated by considerations of finance. Then the spending of millions was riot as lightly regafded as now. In any event, the millions were ndt then forthcoming and the best apparentiy possible had to be done with the thousands that could be made available* x Here in Hawke's Bay we have latterly adopted and partiaiily eaffied etie a aeheme of flood prevention, mvolving falrly heavy expenditure, which it is reasonably hoped will provfe effective. At the same time, however, there are those, not altogether indompetent to speak, who still entertain doiibts, and what Mr. Semple has had to say about river problems ifi general gives point to them. As with harbour conStruotion, and perhaps itt a Still greater degree, the control of flooding rivers is a highly specialiSed branch of the civil ehgineering profession- It calls for close study and wideSptead obsetvatioii Siich as few genefal practitioners can afford time to give to it. It is ffom this point of vieW, as well as ffom others, that Soine appfOval must be giveii to Mr. Semple's suggestion that the SolutiOii of the ptobleins pfesented by floodiflg in New Zealand rivers should be made a national question to which specialised study should be. devdted. Each nver, from source to mouth, has its own little vagaries and eccentricities the fuil meanings of which are manifest only to the really expert eye and mind and these are what have to be brought to bear upon them if really reliable and effective methods of flood prevention are to be devised.