DEVELOPING THE PLAINS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVI, Issue 4858, 27 July 1925, Page 3

DEVELOPING THE PLAINS.

OPERATION OF DREDGES. PROGRESS OF WORK. Development on the Hauraki Plains is proceeding .now at a greater pace than ever before, the chief factors being the multiplicity of operations. More swamp land is being drained and more areas settled ; better farm methods are employed, drainage is being improved, and roads and means of transport arc being extended ; electricity is being utilised more, industries are being developed, shopping facilities are increasing—in tact, development is progressing rapidly on every hand. But often the forest is not seen for the trees : vision is limited by immediate concerns, and a dismal future is predicted because the immediate prospect for the individual is cloudy.

This district is progressing much more rapidly than most other parts of the Dominion, as will be noted if a comparison is made by reading the local paper and those of any other district. All over the Plains there are signs of progress and a movement for betterment, and, though there may be “growing pains,” these should not be confused with anything worse. Perhaps the greatest factor in the development of the district is the steady progress being made by the Lands Drainage Department in, Hs dredging operations. Nine of the ten dredges are at work, mostly in out-of-the-way places, and though they shift an enormous amount of spoil in making canals and stop-banks little is heard of their activities.

As the visitor journeys up the' Piako River by launch from the sea he cannot fail, if he is observant, to be impressed by the stupendous operations which have transformed the one-time swamp into splendid faim land. Mistakes there have been, as was only to be expected in such an undertaking, when work was put in hand to give immediate relief and to demonstrate the fact that the swamp could be drained. Had there been more faith and less opposition the Department might have been willhave collected complete data shrd ing to advance with less haste and collect complete data so that a scheme could have been designed an<l carried out without alteration. For many years the work was carried out piecemeal, and it is only comparatively recently that anything like complete data has been obtained and a complete scheme adopted. The Lands Department hais not made the details of the scheme known, as it desires, no doubt, to do the work in its own time.

Very full details of, the past operations of the department will be available shortly, when the 17th annual report of the Chief Engineer is presented to Parliament.

At the present time the department has a Kingston dredge erecting a stopbank on the eastern bank of the Piako River near Prices' outlet, between Kerepeehi and Ngatea. This woia will prevent certain native land from being flooded, and also ensure the safety of other land. When finished the dredge will proceed to Ngatea and commence the istop-bnaking of the river from the bridge to below Paul s wharf. Preparations are being made for this work by clearing the willows from the riverbank. It fe intended later on, to form up the stop-bank and rebatter the river, using a. Bucyrus (dragline) dredge. At the Kerepeehi depot the No. 1 Priestman dredge, the oldest machine on the Plains, fe undergoing overhaul. The Bucyrus land machine, which recently made the circuit of the Kerepeehi block, was shifted over the Awaiti canal some time ago, and since then has proceeding southwards, rebattering the canal bank and forming a stop-bank road.. Its location at the present time Its about 20 chains below the flaxmill. About seven miles up the Awaiti canal is the Wilson walking machine, which has been digging supply drains alongside the new stop-banks. This machine proceeded up the eastern canal bank and is now returning on the western side. Unfortunately, during the recent flood this machine became bogged in the peat and has not yet been extricated. About eight and a half miles from Kerepeehi, near the Awaiti lakes, is the American type floating steam dipper dredge, which is pushing on with the Awaiti canal and stop-bank. A right angle turn was recently made, and the dredge is now proceeding in the direction of Paeroa. The stopbank being formed is one of those which will coniine the water from the Paiko and Waitoa watersheds within the ponding area.

Slips in the Awaiti canal are now being removed by t# Kingston dredge, and the Rood machine is working .near the middle of the block known as the Awaiti block. Between the top of the Puhaiiga canal and the Kaihere landing a Bucyrus dredge is erecting a stopbank road and widening the Piako River. The old Priestman dredge which has been working on the MaukoroWaitakaruru canal for so long turned eastward recently and commenced to dig a drain and form a bank on which the Paeroa-Pokeno railway will eventually run. It is hoped to be able to continue this work ais far as Pouarua Road, but it is doubtful if the nature and level of the ground will permit this being done.

Six or seven miles beyond Patetonga and about four and a half miles up the Waitoa stream from its junction with the Piako is the American steam dipper dredge at work widening and deepening the waterway. From the junction up a length of about four miles of canal has. been will tap the Piako River a little bedug. The Maukoro-Waitakarurii canal low the junction and eventually take most of the water. This improvement wbrk on the Waitoa Stream is within the Hauraki Plains, but much of the land in the Waitoa drainage area will receive benefit and is contribut-

ing towards the cost. There is much dairying land in the locality, and electrically-driven lorries are used to convey the milk to the Waitoa- dried milk factory. Travelling by launch up the river, which in places is hard to follow on account of the area of land inundated, it is, with surprise that a dredge is met so far from the other works of the department. Rounding a bend a pontoon laden with coal fe seen ; then a pontoon on which are tire quarters for the dredge crew, and then the huge dredge. The dredge pontoon, which Was built at Kerepeehi, is 80ft long, 28ft wide, and 6ft deep, and is covered with an iron shed whicn houses machinery weighing 70 tons. There are two engines, driven by steam from a big locomotive type wet bottom boiler. Each engine is connected through numerous cogwheels and clutches, to drums which haul in or pay out the thick wire ropes that transmit the motion to the dredging machinery. On a platform in the front part of the dredge stands the dredge-master and his assistant controlling eight hand-levers, the two foot levers, and several wires that control every part of the machinery. At the front of the pontoon and outside the house is a huge turntable supporting one end of the. 34ft boom. The other end is hung by wire ropes from an A-shaped frame towering 28tt above the deck. This frame is very massively built, as it also carries the spud arms which prevent the dredge from capsizing when the boom and its burden of jib ,and bucket is swung to one side. These spud arms as 28ft long, and the bottom end rests on big pads on the banks of the cut or, if that is not possible, on separate pontoons.

About hnlf-way up the boom, and actuated by big cosg so that it can be raised vertically, is, the sGzt jib for carrying the bucket, In operation the bucket end of the jib is hauled towards the pontoon and then dropped to the river bed. A touch on a lever sets the big hauling machine in motion and the bucket is pulled forward in a semi-circular direction and so fills with spoil from the bottom of the river. When the bed is of clay about two cubic yards can be lifted at once, but when of sand, which wiH not pile up, the bucket only holds 1% cubic yards. When above the water the bucket can be raised towards, the boom or swung farther forward, according to where the spoil is to be deposited. Another lever sets the second, engine in motion, and the turntable carrying the boom jib and bucket turns to one side until the bucket is above the stop-bank, when a tug at a wire opens a tropdoor on the bucket and the debris is discharged. The motion of the turntable is then reversed and the operation repeated, The dredge works 10 houns a day in summer and 9% hours in winter, and as about two cubic yards of clay can be shifted every 40 seconds the amount of spoil removed is considerable. The dredge in the Waitoa moves forward about a chain and a half a day. The method of moving forward is interesting. The bucket is rested on tlie river-bed as far forward as possible and acts as an anchor by which the dredge is hauled, the spud arms being lifted from the bank while the dredge moves forward. At the rear of the dredge fe a third spud arm, the pad of Which rests on the bottom of the river to prevent the dredge pitching and tossing or moving bcakward with the thrust of the bucket as, it moves forward and scrapes up its load. This spu4 arm is not lifted when the dredge moves forward, but is atferwards lifted and dropped several times so that the end becomes firmly embedded in tne river bottom.

The dredge-master, Mr H. Booth, cf Kerepeehi, and the drdge crew live in very comfortable quarters bn a pontoon moored to the dredge. One of the men hats a motor-car, which until recently was kept about a mile and a half away, and in it trips were frequently made to Te Aroha and Morrinsville. The Paeroa-Tahuna road is quite near. A near-by settler has a high-power wireless set, and broadcasted concerts can be picked up at almost any time. A San Francisco station broadcasting jazz music on Saturday night can be heard on Sunday morning.