ROTOKOHU FLOODING.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4384, 1 March 1922, Page 2

ROTOKOHU FLOODING.

Settlers in that part of the Rotokohu area known as Pereniki’s bend were placed in an awkward predicament during the flood last Monday, the effects of which they will suffer from for years to come; Just what is the best thing to do to remedy the flooding trouble it would take the, wisdom of a Solomon to decide. The Government engineers are obviously puzzled to know whether or not it is advisable to put in a cut across and so cause the bend to silt up by a diversion of the river. Such a cut would undoubtedly serve the Pereniki area well, but what effect it\ would have in regard to the sihatioh of lands further down towards Netherton is a disputed question. A river is a mightily dangerous thing to take chances with. The Government has an alternative scheme in mind: namely, to buy the land and reserve it as a ponding area, letting the locality for summer purposes. This is one way out of the impasse. but it is not a very satisfactory one, seeing that the quality of the land is second to none in New Zealand. An old maxim reads, “Of two evils choose the lesser,” but there is a modern version, voiced by Mr David Lloyd George, Imperial Prime Minister'; during the Great War, “Of two evils choose neither.” To avoid the two evils, it appears that the settlers in bend might form a small drain- 1 age area, and themselves erect stop-banks along, the river. It may be argued that the Public Works Department will erect such banks. Even so, Government works, like the mills of the gods, grind slowly, and by the time its protective banks are completed the settlers may be' ruined. Working for their own hearths and homes, the settlers would do the work more quickly and cheaply than the Government could complete it. If the Government would guarantee loan money the settlers would .be serving their interests best oy forming a drainage board and carrying out the necessary protective stop-banking.