DRAINAGE OPERATIONS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5324, 10 September 1928, Page 3

DRAINAGE OPERATIONS.

REPORT on hauraki plains. MR. SAMUEL COMMENDS WORK. When the annual report on the ■drainage opeiratiqns on the Hauraki Plains was tabled in the House by the Minister qf Lands (Hon. A. D. McLeod), Mr. A. M. Samuel, member for Ohinemuri, spoke on the undertaking as follows;:— “I would like to compliment the Department. on the progress that has been; made with this drainage work. It will he. remembered that this hug,e scheme was undertaken tq drain some 90,000-odd acres of swajnp lan|l. Over .15,000 acres of this land, which was | originally a feeding-ground for ducks, pukeko, and.othesr gaming bird?, has bejen brought in, and is now sojme of the best land in( New Zealand. The scheme has, more than justified itself, and this land can be class s I think, as absolutely the best cwmtry we havein New Zealand to-day. This was. amply evidenced during the drought period thro, ugh which we passed last summer. For two months there was not a drop of rain anywhere in the locality, in the district, or. ip the province, and this was the on;ly land that successfully -stopd up to: that period of dry weather. In fact, when other districts ha.d to. rely upon their store of winter feed for their, stock, the Hauraki Plains district wa.s in the fortunate position of being able to sell hay to any part ojf the country k- that wanted it. While thiu drought f was being experienced the increase »n production on the Hauraki Plains was maintained. For a period, of course, it fell away, but up to the commencement of the drought there was a very large increase in the. production over the previous year, and at the end of the season this; increase was, maintained. The drought enabled the officers of the Department tc ; carry out a g.reat deal more development work than they otheiwise would have done had the season been a ifa.iny one. At the' same- time, ■. the drought was the cause ojf a cerh tain amount of damage to this area j through fires, and I would like to jW.br.ing under the notice of thej Minister the necessity of some, precaution being taken, in the future during drought times against fire;- It is a serious problem in dry peat country, a.s whep a fire gets .a.way, fanned by a high wind, it is very difficult t« -stop, and extreme preventative measures must be takefa at times; by digging drains or. other means. I would suggest that some of these areas be treated the same as afforestation districts, and that breaks be setup*n the .way of area drains, which would stop a fire when, once it got a hold in the peat district. I would like to thank publicly the officers of the department for the a.ssi'stan'ce which they gave, tqi the Settiers through that , very trying period, when fires were IL raging all over the swamp area?, of the Hauraki Plains. (Officers of the Department were indefatigable in their endeavours tq assist the settlers in putting the fires out, an,d in- ** cidenfaliy to protect Government flax areas. Whenever a fire broke out officers of the Department were immediately on the spot and did all they possibly cotild, working night and daj under most trying conditions, to help • the settlers who were faced with ruih. PONDING AREA. “In a huge scheme 'C;f this kind unforeseen problems must be met with. It would be impossible to imagine, that such a lareig, area of swamp land could be, drained without some problems of a very difficult arising therefrom. There are several parts of this swamp -Ojf many thousands of acres which have been turned into ponding areas through . drainage operations above the Plains. 1 refer particularly to the; Patetonga area; an,d there are other, problems arising from the'indefinite, nature of the country, such as the varying depths of the peat, which it .was impossible to ascertain in the early fistages of the operations. Then ,Hiere have been, cases of floating islands—as they may be called —areas 'of land which have been over subterrnjean . lakes, and which it has bfien impos- • sible tq farm because of the water saturation reaching almost to the surface of the ground. The: Minister has been extremely sympathetic to the settlers who have been afflicted by ■ these problems, and in a great numspier of cases has done all he equid to help them on to other sections, especially in; the case of the returned soldiers of the Kaihere settlemehlt. “But J wOjuld like ,to suggest that in connecticp with a huge scheme if this kind, when unforeseen difficulties anise, the settlers, unfortunately, placed qn these wet places, or where the peat is of such, varying depths as to create, these, problems, are entitled to a certain amount of consideration. I would urge that the department should review these cases, and that where it is impossible for the settler to farm his land profitably the Department shqjuld put him on to another holding, I know that is a difficult thing to accomplish, and authority may be| neceg- ' sary, but I think it is only the right thing tq do inj a scheime of this kind, .where certain! sections of the scheme have failed through no fault of thiq settlers. They should receive consideration, ,a,nd any loss should be charged to the profit and loss account of the undertaking. I am certain that the' Minister is sympathetic in this matter.; anjd I am not saying that he .'has not always dope all he could; to assist the settlers on the Hauraki Plains. The ponding areas could be .fcj profitably used for the purpose’ of flax production; and I ,a,m very pleased to see that the Minister has realised tills, and hasi set aside cerj tain areas for flax-planting prep'ositions, and the men .are now at work. SOWING OF PASPALUM. “There.- is one other aspect of this l problem, and that is the' pasture that is necessary on the Hauraki Plains, and on almost any swamp country. A heavy sole of grass is necessary to carry stock on; such country, an(d I would suggest that the planning of

paspalum be encouraged ojn these areas, for. more than one reason. ' First ojf all, the paspalum creates a heavy sole of grass, which will bear the, weight of stock on, siwamp country, and it is also a very fine grass in! the summer, when other, pastures are; inclined tq run out owing to drought.” The Hon. Sr Maui Pomare: lb breeds the: tick—the, cattle tick. Mr Samuel: “It may breed the tick, but it bred a great deal off prosperity In this country during the last drought season ; anf eyen if it did breed the tick, that is better than breeding ergot, .as is donje by the tall fescue. I should like tq suggest that, while encouraging the growth of paspalum, the Department shquld also watch the spread of tall fescue. This is n;ot the first occasion qn which I (have mentioned this matter to the House, but it is one of the greatest importance, especially in that locality ; and I am certain that thifsi prob" lem is realised by th Minister of Lands. I knqw that it is a very difficult one to grapple with. I know it is a problem that affects thousands of settlers in other, parts, of New Zealand as well as on, the Hauraki Plains ; but it i? one of such vital importance for. the people, concerned that we canhjqt take measures that will be too strong, to. cope! with this dangerous weed. We have it brought down in flood-time —down the rivers. We have it brought down the drains ; and spread all over the distritc by wandering stock. I wopld suggest to the Minister in charge of the Department that Jntructions be given to the Lands Drainage Officers that wherever dra.ins, are being cleaned along the road, the greatest care be. taken to, if possible, heap up and burn all the tall fescue that the workmen come in contact with. If .the trouble is ever alloyed to reach .such a stage in the upper enid of the Haruaki Plains as it has done at the Tower end, it will be good-bye to; the prosperity of one of the fln.esst farming disstricts in New Zealand. I; know that it is unnecessary for me to say apy more, because the Minister is, I am sure, seized with the. situation; to kefep down the spread of tall fescue, I suggested on a former occasion that tall fescue should be proclaimed a noxious weed. I did not suggest that it be ma.de a noxious weed throughout New Zeajand, because that would be. absolutely impossible. But what I did .suggest, and what I urge; again, is that in certain areas where tall fescue has got a hojld that it has overcome everything else and has ruined the land, within a certain radius of that land .tall fescue should be declared a noxious weed. Ilf it is not, the risk is that it will spread all over the country a,nd we shall never get it down ; we shall be: in exactly th© same plight as w<e are in| to-day with the blackberry. There is one aspect of this huge lapd-drai liable scheme that I should like to put before the Minister qf Lands, and that is the necessity for co-operatioin between the Public Works Department and' the Lands Department concernr ■ing these drainage problems! A.s far a.; the internal drainage schemes of certain districts cy the Hauraki Plains are concerned, the: Minister of Lan,ds has already co-operated wfith the Minister of Public Works, and they have done a tremendous, lot 'of work in helping the settlers to solve their difficulties of draining and reading. They have d'one as much ;a,s could reasonably have been expected in this direction. They conferred with the settlers ; and after listening to all their troubles apd problems the two, Ministers arranged to carry qut certain works, for which the settlers are very grateful. FLOOD DANGER AT TURUA. “There: is another, aspect of the case which requires further consideration. I refer ,to the settlers- located further down the. river at Turua, who may b e adversely affected by the huge landdrainage scheme that has been carried out, apd th construction of step- 1 banks alqng the Waihou and Ohjnamuri rivers. I would suggest that the only way to protect these settlers would be to continue the stop-bank until it meets the south end of the United Drainage Board’s stop-bank at Daily’s outlet. If this is done some of the most valuable country on the Hauraki Plains will be safeguarded, an,d if ‘it i.s not done the settlers in that locality may be left to, the mercy of any high flood that might occur. I would like to point out that these settlers had a very narrow escape during the recent heavy rafins, when the Waihou River, was flooded, and I am informed that if it had nqt been for the breaking of the bank higher up the river, an;d the releasing of this water over the Tirqhia district, an enormous amount of damage would have been caused. Fortunately for the settlers for whom I speak, and unfortunately for someone else, the banks gave way, with the result that damage by flood was averted in the locality to which I have referred. I would ask the Minister of Lands and the Minister «f Public Works to convene a cepference of. the departmental officers and the settlers, concerned and obtain a report in regard tq the matter. HELPING DRAINAGE BOARDS. “I would 'like to compliment the Minister of Lands on the mutually satisfactory arrangement which the made for the promise: of subsidy for ne.wly formed drainage beards in their initial and difficult stage of establishment. 'This was done by the Minister. to 'overcome technical; difficulties of the existing drainage.' laws.”