MAUNGATAWHIRI VALLEY

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 9, Issue 504, 10 February 1920, Page 3

MAUNGATAWHIRI VALLEY

Excellent drainage work.

BY WAIKATO RIVER BOARD

t VALUABLE CANAL DEVIATION. * : lta*r (Staff T tepresentatve.) Whatever ws we may hold in regard to the value of the expenditure by the Waikato River Board in at•tempting to improve upon the conditions of navigation on the Waikato 1 River, no unbiassed person will with hold from the board very sincere praise for the splendid results it has achieved in the matter of providing drainage for the lands bordering in some of the tributaries of the river, Your representative spent the past" week-end in the fertile Maungatawhiri Valley, the settlement of which is situajte about eight miles fro„m PofLl keno.~ ByNsmrtesy of tyi\ s. P. Pen- '?£> dergrast, he Was piloted afong the Maungatawhiri Strewn, from Pauhau (not sure of the spelling) bridge, along the new deviation, right to the Main Trunk .line. A Sensible-SWicy. When fiast talked of, there was.from some quarters, hostility expressed towards the .proposal to make a cana! deviation 4f the Jftlaangatawhiri Stream, from Pauhaiibridge to the Maori landing, some persons holding that the better plan would be to cljar the winding cfeek, which, besloes taking a yagL sinuous course, no personal" interests ,»ferVe, t&come to any other conaMii* than that the deviation is/ifijpft"away the better plan, arid tbjfrto have cleaned the creek instesjroriuld have been an unjustifiable, expenditure of tfie rateIk payers' money.*" Shorter and Cheaper Route. ** In the first place, the deviation .shortens the route by about 40 ~chajns, which means that, for all tim>, there will be 40 chains less of waterway to keep clean. Secondly, the actual cost of making the deviation will? be much less than it would ■ be to clean the creek. Thirdly, while the creek is. one continuous series *.f ■ bends, which impede the flow of the current and May the clearance of flood waters, the deviation, except for one good bend, is a straight course for its whole length of a mile and a-half. What this will, mean in rapidity of reduced cost of i leaning, and greater facility of na-. njofeon, will be easily comprehended by the settlers living adjacent.Greater Advance In Values. The deviation, th? laml -tor which was given to the board by Mr. C. Pope, and which follows the line of a 10ft drain, will, it is .anticipated, be completed in about six weeks' time. U will provide the main drain for about 1500 acres of .first-class swamp land, the value' of which will " vtbereby be increased by at leas,t £lO per acre. As land values go nowadays, it is no exaggeration to forecast that this swamp, which is now worth about £5 an acre, solely on ac'jpuint of the flax tt-bears, will rise f to a value of £SO an acre. Surely he would be an ungrateful person who i would refuse to give the board credit for this part of its work, at anyrate!

" The Dredge. % Throughout its existence, the board, of which Mr. A. (Jv'Glass is chairman, and Mr. E. T. Hallett, sectary, has had a chequered career, having to fight endless opposition from both man and Nature. Some time ago it purchased a >riestman dredge, which, at the outset" did remarkably good work. !t worked its passage, , so to sprV;, up from the Waikato iftjver, shifting hundreds of tons of sand, near Munga Manga Lake, that could not have been moved by manual labour, and hoisting many a great log from the bed of the stream, to a safe position high and dry on the banks. But as the rougher and more heavily timbered portion of the creek *%M reached, the dredge suffered breakages; and, there being few or no spare parts available, much costly delay occurred. It is tolerably eertain that the board did not get anyfc thing like the value out of the dredge \j&- that it was reasonably entitled to £ : expect, but perhaps the less said about this aspect, now, the better. There was, however, no error in policy in purchasing the dredge, ftnd one may venture the opinion that future owners will get much better service out of it than the board ever did. Extensive Area Benefitted. It is estimated that the total area benefitted by the drainage operations of the board, for a distance of five miles up the stream, is approximately 5000 acres. The cost of the work will be under £3OOO, and yet, assessing the immediate benefits at £lO per acre, owing to the dairying and beef stock the land will carry after a burning and sowing, the value of the work can be put down at £50.000. When it is realised that by its drainage work the board is enabling settlers to convert the land from an almost valueless flax and ti-tree swamp into highly productive soil for all time, some faint idea may be of the service the board |g\_nijring, not to the ratepayer* aloms but to the Dominion as n whole. "The Future in the Distance." From various causes the Waikato River Board, has, it is reported. about come to the end of its tether , if any reliance can be placed on reports emanating from certain Sources. The main cause is that them has been much dissatisfaction with ,he board's po!ic> n re-nec! to workintended to iinr >v the navigation of the Waikato I; .'. thi« work the board has sunk arH unatclv £IO,OOO, with litt i' ii Svions advantage. At )e*.". thn gain, if any is so slight that it is a matter " r much controversy. Certainly, it is n0 recompense for so heavy an cxpenditure. At anvrate, it is tolergl.lv certain that if the board lirxl ' *w\ tl e Waikato River severely nle-ne ~,.(( spent that £IO,OOO on draining 11,0 tributaries of the river, it would ~,. hear an honoured name, aiv' thousands would he grateful to it. To make the Waikato River reasonably well behaved will require a body much more powerful, nnnd better eouipped with plant, engineering skill and money than the bourd can ever'hope to be, and the sooner the river is handed over to a more effective controlling body? the better for all concerned.

Dranage Board Needed. The problem of navigation should be a thing apart from the drainage of the back areas through which the tributaries sluggishly wind their devious courses. What is wanted is a drainage board, purely and simply, which body, no doubt, could work in harmony with the river controlling authority. It is a thousand pities that the Waikato River Board was not in the first place, in style and in fact, "The Waikato Tributaries' Drainage Board." Then there would have been a vastly different tale to tell to-day.;

however, though some things lie in the lap of the gods, the settlers have it in their own hands to work up an agitation in favour of a drainage board, and to make representations to the Government accordingly. A great deal more valuable work has already been done in reducing the areas under water than most people realise, but there is still a vast amount to be accomplished. Now is the. time to organise, and, by the expenditure of thousands, nett hundreds of thousands as a reward. Every acre brought into cultivaton will be a permanent asset to the Dominion, and a greater guarantee of continued prosperity. Therefore, the Government should regard with favour any practicable project for die reclamation of the valuable alluvhl soil held imprisoned beeaufe of the lack of drainage.