Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1919. DEALING WITH SWAMPS.

Hokitika Guardian, 28 October 1919, Page 2

Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1919. DEALING WITH SWAMPS.

The visitor cannot go into South Westland in these later days without noticing what the settlers are doing in the

way of bringing swamp lands into profit. (All along tbe Coast, especially South of Hokitika river, there i s a. succession of swamp aroa s which it is being found contain tracts of excellent country once drainage is undertaken. There is a very noticeable example of tliis at Inter-Wanganui, where the La f' Fontaine swamp, once a morass, is being converted into grass paddocks. This result is being obtained through the steady development of a drainage scheme which is tapping various parts of the swamp. Mr McLean who took op a considerable area of country less than three years ago, is demonstrating in a very practical way what can bo done with swamp lands, and the value thero is in the country by draining tbe areas, and turning the land into fodder paddocks. While Westland has been urging and waiting in vain for tbe Government to take up experimental work, Mr McLean lias stepped into the breach on bis own account and t'-'i bis own satisfaction and to tbe '■'"lit of all who havo witnessed the transformation, ill meeting with a re-

markable measure of success in a comparatively short space of time. By the time Air McLean's drainage scheme ha s been in service for-five years it will be difficult for people/?o believe that so re-" markable a change were possible. And ; what is being done in the case just ! referred' to, can be done in other places where theye axe Jjiice conditions to • 'work upon. Air McLean the pioneer of this class of work in the locality, and his satisfactory experience quite justifies other waste lands of the district being similarly treated, and production will result from land which at present is an eyesore rather than a profit. There are other respects in which Air AlcLean’s fine farm at Hari Hari is -a demonstration block. Examples are to be seen of the treatment of the soil with various fertilisers, and these experiments are of value to all concerned in growing fodder for dairy fanning. This is the class of development it was hoped the Government would undertake in some central part of the district where it would be under more general observation. Votes are on tile Estimates this year for assistance regarding experimental plots, or rather they are revotes, the Department not having the energy nor enterprise heretofore to carry on the work. There has been a .promise to start experimental plots at Kokatahi, but it is to be hoped that the Department’s officers will not begin with land improved or partly cultivated, allready. There is swamp land'in that locality waiting treatment also, and above all it is specially desired to seo to what best use cleared forest land could be adapted in the way of growing grasses. There is a large amount of terrace land all over the district, denuded of the forest and lying fallow which it would be most interesting to see brought into profit. Large tracts of the country referred to are Crown lands, and as such are the areas specially awaiting treatment by the State funds so as to convert them into a. national reproductive asset. The scientific treatment of West Coast lands is long overduo and should be taken up in earnest without further delay.