MENACE OF SANDHILLS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3746, 26 January 1928, Page 3

MENACE OF SANDHILLS.

An inspection of several West Coast farms near Woodhill and Rewiti, which are threatened by a belt of drifting sand nearly 20 miles in length, was made on Saturday by the Minister of Agriculture, the Hon. O. J. Hawken. The belt lies almost parallel with Muriwai Beach on low hills from, 'three to four miles inland. It is moving into private property and engulfing pastures at an average rate of one chain in ten years, according to surveys. In one or two serious instances the approach is at the rate of nearly a chain a year (states the “New Zealand Herald”). The Minister viewed a large area at Woodhill, where it was shown how the planting of lupin and amarram. grass had stopped the drift in places. Later the sandhills were inspected from the coastal side. In support of a complaint that the sand was filling up the bed of the Kaipara River, Mr. Hawken was shown a patch on the main rbad to Helensville, where a siltered stream had submerged the highway to a depth of several inches. The Minister said he appreciated the menace of drifting sand. The gathering of seed and planting would have, been an exiellent avenue for the relief of unemployment. It was, however, useless to commence planting unless a comprehensive scheme was in view. Unless sufficient money could be secured it would be futile to waste effort on isolated planting.