MILLIONS FROM MUD.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4374, 6 February 1922, Page 3

MILLIONS FROM MUD.

HAUBAKI DRAINAGE SCHEME.

GREAT. STATE ENTERPRISE.

The following articles, written by a special representative of the “N.Z. Herald,” confirm the reports the “Gazette” has been publishing first-hand for months past in reference to the Hauraki Plains: Millions from mud—the term was

never more aptly applied than in relation to the Hauraki drainage operai tions. Officih.l documents speak conservatively of acres and assess the work on the basis of the estimated value of the land when thrown open for settlement. But these figures convey no idea of the national asset being created, for count must be taken of the producing power of the land and of the population it carries now and will carry in the years to come. And who would place a limit upon the wealth which will accrue from land practically valuless one year but

carrying a cow to the acre two dr three years later ? But is one cow to the acre to be adopted as the stand- ' ard ? That, after all, is a mere beginning. When one sees patches of luxuriant maize flourishing beside a. lonely Hut in the middle of an expanse of peat not ye.t consolidated sufficiently to carry .grass ; when one sees farmers, already prosperous, just awakening to the need for cutting hay to vary the winter ration; when one sees cattle waxing fat on the natural feed ’of runs, still unreclaimed and usually marsh in the winter; when one sees comfortable homesteads, maybe with tennis courts, on land which was scrub and bush marsh, a few short years agoi; when one sees a neglected farm lying between others which have been griaswd in every square inch, he would be a bold man to predict limits. Men of experience are prepared to say that the day is coming when 50 acres will be a large farm on this wonderful area. And all this, notwithstanding the fact that the Hauraki drainage scheme is only 12 years old, and that prior to thenl the man who expressed any confidence in the future of the Piako region was regarded as & light-headed optimist and was asked when he proposed to become web-footed. Rapid Changes.

-To stand On a hligh point oh the road which run& along the western foothills from Wnitakaruru to Patetonga—A road parallel to the main trunk railway ana less .than 30 miles from it—and survey the great expanse of plain stretching from! th? 3 “old" homesteads, of the foothills, below, across the great peat beds through which a drain now being made into a canal stretches without an angle for 15 miles, across more settlement, new and 1 older,, to the Waih.iu River and beyond it to the eastern hills which arejthe southern extension' of the Coromandel range, is sufficient to give rein to the slowest imagination.

Betrer perhaps it is to talk to a man who knew the swamp when it was completely and thoroughly a swamp and who has seen the miracle take place before his eyes, particularly if he has had a hand in the dfraihi age work, has become enthralled with it and has that keen personal interest in every block and every acne of land he helped to make. , “Here,” he says, when the Ngatea bridge is crossed, "Is the site of mv first camp, a shell bank and the only dry land for. miles. Spent two years ■here. Sometimes the floods isolated us,. Sometimes' rowed from my tent to the cookhouse in a dinghy.. Over there where those cattle .are grazing, and far beyond', the water used to ex-, tend in winter. • Those hay stacks are in the z track the Maori canoes used to take instead of following the river course. “ Wild horses used to'come down here in the flood time, and for weeks they grazed on the tops of the native grasses stickling out of four feet of water arid more. At night they used to go to that clump of bush where the grouhd is slightly higher, but it was only a tiny patch, and the place was trampled into a quagmire. In spring they were hairless (from the trace line dp.wn. mud disease. Yes ! They were

hard times for man and beast. "Sec the layer of peat in the drain ' cut. It was. five feet thick when the drain was made, now it is nine inches at most, and look at the grass and clover 1” It was indeed a goodly sight and a most encouraging one to those who feel hopeless about peat country. A Baby Metal Train. Running towards the-Gulf on the _Pipiroa Road we come to a short unmetaljed stretch which is now receiv(ing its coating. The metal comes from a river wharf in trucks similar to coalmine trucks prppelled by the tiniest of locomotives. The rails necessary are of the lightest description, and the work goes ahe.ad with great expedition. The train is so toylike that at first glance one is inclint edito laugh, but on a run of two or three miles it beats everything on haulage costs. They are very proud of their little train in the Piako, particularly the stalwart young Maori who drives it. Wiitihin a few weeks this metalling job will be completed, and then there will be no unmetalled gaps in the portion of the main road

from Pokeno .running through the

Hauraki Plains drainage area, tlie only clay stretches being under local

body jurisdiction. Turning west along tihe PipiroaWaltakaruru road with its splendid surface of red gravel from an island in the gulf, which runs parallel With the bank along the seashore at a distance of half a mile, we come to the northern end of the Poiiarua Road, which is to run straight through the heart of the swamp, a distance of nine iniles, to the Ngarua canal and road. The formation of only a mile or two of the road at either end has been done, but work is proceeding. Clay Worth Money.

Her* is observed some of the difficulties attending the opening up of th* country, and also some of the.

antiquated methods which modern machinery will end. The land through which the straight pair of hand'-inadc drains, nine miles long, run has a covering of several feet of peat. The forming of the road therefore requiri es a foundation of teat-tree fascines to hold up the clay. The laying, of these fascines is only a preliminary matter, however. The next business is to get the clay. Beneath the peat there is day, but at a depth which has made it possible for only a small amount to be thrown up from the handmade drains dug some years ago. Had modern machinery in the shape of mechanical shovels been available when these drains were undertaken, deep channels could have been made and Hie, road formed at the same time, because .the mechanical appliances would have gone, deep into the! sub-strata of day and piled the strip between the two channels feet deep in day.

As matters now stand clay iji. this locality is probably worth the pric* of metal in other districts.. The short piece of road which, has been clayed at'the gulf end of the road, which gives access to a small soldiers’ settlement, has .already been cut up, and to fill the ruts and continue the covering of fascines men are now carl--, ing the small amount of day deposited on the top of the spoil from the drains a distance of anything up to a mile.

The soldiers’ sections on this road give evidence of hard 'toil. A number of the owners have dug drains through their holdings at a distance of every five chains, and now all that has to be done is to await the subsidence of the peat. This would be greatly expedited if the men were in a position to put tractors over it sr put large numbers of cattle on if at intervals Without this the land will of course "come in.” -Fog grass will begin to appear and then it will be fit to be harrowed and so.wn in English grasses. Such sectipns certainly should • qualify for rent rebates or postponements. TOUR OF THE HAURAKI. CONQUERING THE SWAMP. "No,” says the old-timer as we continued our journey through 'the Hauraki Plains drainage area, “we wouldn’t get many ducks to-, day if we had guns, and licenses of 'course. More likely to hit a cow or a hay stack or one of those pigs grazing in the paddocks. Not many years ago you could get as many brace as you liked back at the old lagoon.” "What lagoon,” he is asked. “Oh I I mean that lagoon that used to be there. AH drained now and in grass paddocks. That little dry channel you saw running through the paddocks used to be about five chains wide, Boggy pla'ce. Mud, to the armpits.” But before the day Was put we had travelled far and on a launch had gone up the wipding sluggish Piako River into the country which has not yet been affected by the drainage operatipns ; through reaches where at full tide the water level is almost the level of the land, and where in winter the water spreads wide over these acres now providing natural feed for the cattle and pigs of the leasehold r,uns; past marshes where the wide-winged bittern rises in dismay from her nest in the brake, as the “chug” of the launch breaks the silence, where the wild du'ek finds an almost safe haven, and the kingfisher flashes downward from, the willow trees. Townships of th© Plains. To return to the point on the Waitakarnru Road where we had seen the difficutlies of making clay roads over the peat bed, we soon found ourselves at Waitakaruru, a “port” at the north-west corner of the plains. Waitakaruru’s wharf is on .a tidal creek not far from the seafront. The township, like every other township of the plains, believes ■ that it is destined to be a lively centre as the work of drainage and settlement goes on. Kerepeehi, which stands bn the pne piece of high ground, feels confident about her future; Already the energetic engineer in charge, Mr E. Taylor, and his staff .make Kerepeehi their headquarters, and to that township and Ngatea, a short distance down thef river, a motor mail car, as well, as passenger cars, runs dailyPaeroa appears to be making an enterprising effort to become the distributing/ centre for a large part of the plainsx

Leaving Waitakaruru we travelled south by the foothills road for Patetonga, and from various points on tlie route wonderful views of the fertile valley were obtained. After the dead-level running of the morning the grades of the road, doubtless very uncomfortable to negotiate in wet weather, and the nearness of the hills were cheering. The Beginnings ,ejf Farms. At one or two points on the run the new holdings of soldier settlers extending put into the level lands were passed!. At Torehape there is a settlement. Clay was being carted to extend the road, which) is to cross the swamp to the river. Until the road is finished these settlers will i e somewhat isolated, but, nevertheless, waggons come to collect their cream cans. Most of t!he sections are still in a raw state, but good pioneering work Js being done. Fern and scrub are disappearing from' the higher slopes, and turnip crops are appearing, and at one spot the tuneless music of a goose proclaimed the presence of some hut or tent that was out of sight.

That call of the goose was sufficient to give rein to the imagination. One pictured a settled countryside and comfortable-homes. The road across the swamp a splendid motor road. A large school and romping children. Elderly men fighting their battles over again as they drive along to catch the Paeroa-Pokeno express at the nearby station. The dream was suddenly banished by the appearance of a young man and a young woman riding a pail* of restive horses of th?, general utility type/round a bend in the road. The horse of the woman decided to back over a fern-cbvereJ slope of uncertain grade, but she sai

tight and kept him in hand. The man plunged his mount down the slope and caught the reins of the wayward one. A soldier and his bride, probably, and the bride seemed new to the life. Clay Carted Miles. Further on we saw a string of waggons loading clay at a bank to be carted some three miles for a road in the peat country. Where else would such a costly method of reading be worth while ? It is stated that the forming in clay of some of thjj roads cost up to £5OOO a mile. In view of this fact it would appear obvious that where the clay is within reach of the mechanical appliances which can excavate canals apd deposit the spoil between them to form a clay road, the dredgers would return high interest upon their capital cost in the saving of labour and haulage". The same type of dredge could not be used everywhere, however, owing to the differences in the nature of the country. For instance, a land caterpillar dredge, or one of the sort which haul? itself along on skids in ,a remarkable way, could not be used where the peat is soft, because they would sink. In such places one of the floating kind would be required. In connection with the digging af the great canal from Waitakaruru to Maukoro, of which five miles of the total length of 15 miles have already been exca vated at the sea end by a Priestman grab dredge, it is stated that only floating dredges could be used on the section as far as Ngarua, but that south of Ngarua tp the river, where the swamp has been fairly well drained, a land machine could operate. Memories of the Swamp.

Running down the Ngarua Road the old-timer once more became reminiscent. It. appears that in days not very long ago. by ordinary comparisons, he carried a surveyor’s chain down this particular line. The job was one of wading through three or four feet of slimy peat all the way, and it took a day to reach the river from the west side. In a car, even on the rough, clay road, the distance 'can be cpvored in half an hour. He also told -of the finding of peat at. Pate-, tonga 20 feet below the surface of hard soil. Evidently the peat swamp in former ages was gradually covered near its edges by the soil washed from the foothills., . . On the Kerepeehi side of the river, just above the wharf, two of the new dredges are now at work on the reclamatior of one of the Awaiti blocks. This area, which is pounded on the north and west by the river, the south by a canal, and on the east by the Awaiti stream, is generally regarded as one of the finest pieces of land in the area. There is no peat on it, and in summer it is knee-deep in puroa grass, on \yhich the run cattle wax fat. The works no.w started will thoroughly drain the area and prevent it being flooded in winter. Its great advantage is that it will permit the settlers who secure sections O’’ it to milk cows within a few months. Authorities say that as soon as it is drained and safe from floods, English grasses can be sown after a mere harrowing. (To be Continued.)