HAURAKI PLAINS BILL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4474, 2 October 1922, Page 1

HAURAKI PLAINS BILL.

SECOND READING. Mr. H. POLAND'S REMARKS. When the Hauraki Plains Bill was before the House for the second reading bn September 13 the following remarks, inter alia, were made : Mr Poland (Ohinemuri) : I regret that the Minister has not brought down the annual report on the Hauraki Plains before he brought in this Bill. We have only last year’s repoit to guide us, and although I suppose that nothing of a startling nature occurred during the year ending last March, still we like to have the reports up-to-date. This Bill is one of the many amendments we have had to the Hauraki Plains Act of 1908. When the Government of the day undertook the task of reclaiming the Hauraki Plains—then known as the Piako Swamp—it was the biggest experiment in swamp-land reclamation undertaken in New Zealand, and the majority o,f people who knew the district did not believe that the operations would be successful. It has, however, proved to be the most successful and best paying proposition in latrl reclamation ever undertaken by the New Zealand Government. As the Minister has stated tiie land sold up to the present .exceeds 40,000 acres, and although the amount realised amounts to only, £300,000, yet to-day, without the improvements effected by the settlers, that land would certainly bring millions, possibly $2 000,000 as against the £300,000. There is no doubt that a great deal of the land originally offered in 1910 and 191 i and the few succeeding years was offered at a reasonably low rate, but as T have already said,, it was at that time to a great extent an experiment. Many of the settlers who were there then did not know .whether the drain age would be effective or not. They took a certain amount of risk, but events have proved that there was really no risk at all. There has been ho flood of any magnitude—no great detriment, at any' rate, to the land under flood —since 1912. During that period settlement has gone ahead by leaps and bounds, until to-day it is probably the most prosperous Crown settlement in New Zealand, and in the not distant future when this reclamation is completed—when the whole of that 90,000 acres is reclaimed and settled—it will undoubtedly be the finest dairying country in New Zealand, ahead of Rangitaiki and of all the other swamps that I know of. There is nothing, in my opinion, going to equal the Hauraki Plains. Now, there are circumstances in connection with it which I w.ant to refer to in dealing with this Bill, The first is clause 2- This clause gives power to the local bodies to levy a general rate. I wanted to ask the Minister whether the power given at the present time to levy a' drainage rate was taken away by this Bill, because I understood him to say it did. The Hon. Mr Guthrie: Only one rate is left. Mr Poland: And that is the drain age rate. The Government stilt retains the power to'levy a drainage rate for the maintenance . of the drains. Of course that is, as the member for Thames interjects, the only rate they ever levied, except a hospital rate, because no general rate was ever levied. The land has been exempt, from a general, rate up to the present, and will remain exempt until April 1 next. That is all right as regards the greater part of 1 the area. But with regard .to the areas opengl up in 1919 and 1920, I think this clause goes top far. I do not think it is a fair thing, I do not think these lands, which were taken up in December, 191.9, and July, 1921,. when they have been occupied for three years, should automatically,come under the same conditions as the Janus taken up in 1910 1 or 1912, or even 1915. The lands that were taken rp in 1910 were undoubtedly the best and most easily reclaimed land on the Plains. - They have paid until today no ordinary county- rate, and they- are not tp be asked to pay the county rate until April 1 next, and with respect to lauds taken up in December, 1919, and 1920, at. prices far above their value, and where the settlers have in almost every instance, been unable’ to pay their interest and rent, they are by this Bill to be put in the same position exactly as the other tenants who were settled, on the land between 1910 and 1915. I think the Minister should amend that clause and give discretionary power to exempt certain areas. There were twenty-eight sections opened in December, 1919, and the member for Thames knows as well as I do that t,he land is nut in a position to pay the general county rate. The tenants cannot pay the ordinary rate. A large number of them arc working for some of the other settlers. They are out draining and bush-felling, and endeavouring, by various ways, to make some monev in order to be enabled to carry on during Hie summer season of the year, and it is very unfair to bring tnese men into the. same position as those in settled districts, where there has been settlement for ten or twelve years. So I hope the Minister will take that point into further coiisidera tion and see if he cannot make some amendment to the clause to give relief to settlers in that state. 1 do not think there is very much to be objected to in the other clauses. I understand that clause 5 provides, under sub-isection 3, for g transfer of all the drainage rates unpaid up to the passage of the Act of 1922, or an amount equal to that from the Hauraki Plains Settlement Account to the Consolidated Fund. I do not quite follow the reason that the Minister gave for doing that. I intended ask-

hig him to explain it when he was 1 moving the second reading, and I hope he will explain it when he is replying. I do not object to what is provided in the other clauses. 1 think they are quite reasonable clauses. Clause 3 and clause 6 are quite legitimate provisions. There is one other matter in connection wit-i ' the general question I would like to refer to, and that is the opening-up ■ of further areas. The great drawback, in my opinion, with regard to this development of the Hauraki Plains is that it has not been pro eceding expeditiously enough. The Chief Drainage Engineer, some two or . three years ago made a trip to Arne- I rica, and I think to Canada, and he j obtained’ a great deal of very valuable information with regard to the swamp drainage operations In those countries, and as a result of that visit he purchased a number of dredges for the more efficient bpe.ning up of this land. I have no doubt that up to the present no great result has been achieved, because probably some of those dredges are only just starting to work. But I do want to impress on the Minister that it is of the greatest importance to push on expeditiously with this work. In the early stages it was a sort of experiment, and the country was not prepared to spenci £lOO.OOO in twelve months to get a problematical result, but to-day we know that the results are going to Lc good and successful, and there is, therefore, no reason why the Minister should not push on rapidly with the development of the whole remaining area. Last year, between March 31, 1921 and April 1, 1922, not an acre of land was opened up. During the previous year only 1700 acres were opened up. Last year, although it was announced that the Government intended to open up 4500' acres, not : an acre was opened up, and I do not think by the way the work is proceeding that any will be opened up this year. I quite agree that before land is opened up there the necessary steps should be taken to safeguard it. from flouting, that the roads should be constructed, and that the area should be reasonably prepared for settlement, and that is why I say that expedition should be used. But the work is not proceeding expeditiously. There is a block of country close to Kerepeeiu of 5000-acres, T visited it last June, in the middle of winter, and the portion I saw is.of splendid quality, and if the whole is of similar quality that block is one of the vei-y best on the Hauraki Plains. I do not think that anything better, has been opened up. I undeistand that it would have been opened up last year, but the dredge, while it is nearly through at the present date, is getting on slowly, and I do not suppose that the block will lie opened up before next autumn, and if

th? Government is al/ve to the importance of this question—as I believe they are—l believe that the Minister is alive to the value pf the settlement that is going on there—l think they should push on with the development of that area. Look at its productive value. And, after that, there is a large block of country lying between Patetonga, near Maukoro, running towards Te Aroha, and it looks to me like very fine country. I do not know whether it is low-lying or not, but when I saw it it was perfectly dry, and it is a splendid extent of country right alongside the settled area, and extending across- to the ThamesAuckland railway line. There are very large areas of land in the Plains which could be opened up within a reasonable time, and if that were done it would probably be some time before the remaining land which lies adjacent to the -Waitakaruru-Maukor-J Canal is brought in. I do not know whether the Government intends to, undertake further operations. I should have liked to have seen the last report to ascertain whether the Department is pushing on'with that canal, because I believe that —

Mr T. W. Rhodes: They are continuing the work, but it is npt going oh very rapidly. Mr Poland : Are they pushing it through and doing it ,as rapidly they can ? I do not think they are, I feel certain they are not doing it as rapidly as possible, and not as rapidly as the member representing the Thames would like to see it, and as I would like to see it. There is not a great deal in my district, but I am very keenly interested because the opening-up of that canal will assist the drainage further up. A’nd that brings. me to the question of the drainage of the Waitoa River. Representations were made some years ago by myself on behalf of the settlers at Springdale, a Crown settlement —Hauraki Plains land adjoining the Waitoa Estate—that a dredge should bp put on the river and deepen and straighten the channel -and thus enable the water to run off. That dredge was put on by the -Prime Minister, who was then Minister of Lands, and it has been working there ever since; but I have had communications withr in the last month from quite a number of local bodies there, and personal representations from settlers, that it is reported the Government intend to remove thatvdredge as soon as they have put through a small cut on which they are at present working- I interviewed the Minister of Lands and the Under-Secretary, Mr Thompson, ■who knows all about, the subject, an.l I had a statement from the Minister of Lands yesterday that it. is intended to take off this dredge as soon as th.e cut is through and the dredge reaches* what is known as the South Road. well, he says that then “the future extent of the dredging will have to be carefully considered, and if it is prosecuted any considerable distance upstream, then another type of dredge may be sent, up when available.” That is not very encouraging. The Hon. Mr Guthrie: The dredge is only being brought out for repairs. Mr Poland : J know that that is the statement—that it. is only to be brought out for repairs—but I cannot get over the written statement, of the Minister that “if it is' decided io prosecute the drainage further up a different type of dredge may be required”,; and the Minister says that the" future extent of dredging wHi have to be carefully considered. This dredging has not yet reached anywherp hear the point to which the settlers originally asked it should be brought. It will not improve to any extent the drainage of the Crown tenants’ lands adjacent to the Waitoa Estate. It must be brought right upto the end of the Whakahbro Road before they will get the full benefit of RI know th,at the fact that the Waitoa Drainage Board, has been draining a lot of country into this area has had an influence, but that, after all*, is not a local question. Because the Waitou Drainage Board have put in a lot of drains and have opened up their country and have got the water off more rapidly than it us.ed to be taken away, and because the wafer naturally has to go down into this area Wer down, is hp reason why the Government should refuse to clear out and deepen and make a good .channel of the Waitoa Stream. It will benefit the whole district, and I hope the Minister will not to do otherwise than continue to prosecute the improvement of that Waitoa Stream and the cleaning of it put right up to Whakahoro, if no further. As a matter of fact, it is a matter of life and death to' some Of those settlers. I? there is any ground for the belief that the Government is going to stop that work, then I am satisfied that some of the settlers who have been struggling there for years will walk off their holdings. Some of them have lost everything they possessed except the farm—l have this from the chairman of the local body and others whom I know well—and they are only holding on in the belief that the Government is going to continue the cleaning-out pf this Waitoa Stream and give their drains the outlet they require, in which case they may pull through. I trust the Minister will not let it remain in the minds of those settlers that the Government has any intention of permanently taking that, dredge away. It is afl right to take it out and have it overhauled ; but if the Government believes that another style of dredge is more -suitable, if the Under-j Secretary, who has had thq experience gained by a visit to America, is satisfied that he has not the right class or the best class of dredge there, then I say let sonn other dredge be immediately put on when this one is removed. That is the proper course to adopt, not to remove this dredge and then put in some months considering whether any further work will be done, and, if there is not sufficient pressure, do nothing. I want to know whether the Minister intends to continue the dredging or not, at any rate up to the end of the Whakahoro Road, which is the end of the Government sections there. I believe that when the Otwav Settlement was opened up—and that

was a landrfor-settlement purchase by the Crown—the settlers were assured that this dredge would continue its operations right up tp their settlement, and that it would give them relief. In any case, I believe that this should be done. The work should be continued right up to the Ohine Stream, about five miles above the Whakahoro Road. This, sir,’is a very important matter, and I hope the Minister of Lands will took into it very carefully and see that everything possible is done to help these settlers.