SAND DRIFT MENACE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 1989, 12 June 1919, Page 3

SAND DRIFT MENACE.

LETTER FROM FORESTRY DEPARTMENT. The Secretary of the local Chamber of Commerce has received the 'fcilloAving letter from the Commissioner of State Forests in reference to the sand drift menace along the coast betAveen Paekakariki and Waitotara: — “The Hon. the Minister of Lands has referred to me a letter dated 22nd ultimo, from your Chamber to Mr AY. A. Veitch, M.P., recommends ing that the Government should ac--1 quire and reclaim on the AAffilling*ton West Coast those areas Avhich are subject to sand-drift. In connection Avith this matter, I have the honour to state that 1 do not consider that the Forestry Department can, at the present time, undertake the reclamation of sand dimes, except in those places where the area is suitable for commercial tree growing. In most places in the locality referred to the sand-drift area unsuitable for farming is namnv, and tree plantations on such areas would bo of value only for protection to (he rear, lands. The dunes betAveen Paekakariki and Foxlon can bo reclaimed by planting marram-grass and lupins, and this kind of reclamation can best be done by the owners of the land or by the local body under the provisions of the Sand Drift Act, 1908.”