PIAKO-MANGAWARA CANAL.

Putaruru Press, Volume II, Issue 59, 11 December 1924, Page 2

PIAKO-MANGAWARA CANAL.

A SUPERIOR SCHEME. To Waikato-Manukau. Writing on the proposal to canalise the territory between the Manukau Harbour and Waiuku, anil Waiuku and the Waikato river, Mr. H. E. R. L. Wily, of Mauku (Pukekohe-Waiuku district), and who has for many years taken a keen interest in the inland waterways question, states:— “ The proposal to connect the Manukau harbour and the Waikato river by a canal periodically arouses a certain amount of temporary enthusiasm, but the problem appears to me always to be attacked from the wrong end. It is plain that such a canal when constructed would be of very little use unless the Waikato river could be made navigable at a cost that would be warranted economically. At the meeting at Waiuku dredging- a channel up the river was advocated, but only the valour of ignorance would suggest such a task. In its normal state the Waikato carries down from two to three million cubic yards of sand annually, and has in addition hundreds of millions of yards in its bed ready to slip into any excavation made. It is true there are no engineering difficulties to be met with, and the expenditure of sufficient money would enable the Hood to be taken up to Cambridge, only unfortunately the cost must be balanced by the value of the results to be obtained. There is a possibility that the river could be taught to clear out its sand-choked channel by a system of training walls rising to summer level and allowing freshes to go over their tops unhindered, but only careful collection of data and actual experiments will demonstrate that. But certainly until it is ascertained that the river can be calanised at a cost warranted by the results it is futile to worry about a canal. If the taxpayers of this country, who already have to find out of their own pockets any deficiency in railway revenue, should nevertheless still determine to construct a formidable trade rival to their own railways, there is another route which deserves the closest consideration. I take it the real objective is to connect the Waikato lands with the port of Auckland. The Piako river is already a canal, and it would be only necessary to connect it with the Managawara creek, a fine deep stream running into the Waikato just above Taupiri, to enable steamers drawing Bft. to ply between Cambridge and the city. One great advantage of this scheme would be that it would only traverse a deep reach of the Waikato, and the heavy expenditure on the sixty miles of sand shoals below Taupiri would be obviated. And the heavy upsti*eam tow on that long reach of the river, a very expensive item, would also be avoided.”