OBSTRUCTING WILLOWS.

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

OBSTRUCTING WILLOWS.

Removal Desired. Upst^am-from the bridge is a sjretch of the creek that badly needsXlearing. The land on the one side $ owned by Mr. C. Pope, and on tfte other the Franklin County CounA has jurisdiction. As this portion "is full of willows, it -will even when the deviation is completed, hold the water back, as it has done hitherto, causing the road to be flooded, the metal washed off, and the "surrounding lands inundated. By all accounts, Mr. Pope is willing to do his share, but the Council has not been in a position to take the matter in hand. It is hoped that :in effective move will shortly be made, for the sake of the metalled road, if for no other reasons. Maybe the member for the riding could give some enlightenment on the subject.

MAUNGATAWHIRI. RICH ALLUVIAL SOIL. The land seeker might easily go farther and fare worse than he would *in 'the Maungatawhiri Valley. The soil is rich alluvial wash, deposited during centuries of intermittent inundations. Go down for six ■ feet, and it is all the same 6ne quality. With land, as with all things else, "the proof of the pudding is in the eating," and judging by what the class of vegetation that came under the purview of the writer during his short visit, the,.results are .eui|nently satisfactory. Tfllipijan/TfvCTage holding, for an example, thiit «wned by Mr.' S. P. Pendergrast. Av. portion of .ihis farm was cleared some few months ago, being sown in grass only three weeks ago. Already, there is a healthy young growth two or three inches long in places, and before long the whole will be a verdant field. Further up the valley a splendid spread of pumpkins, rnd crops of turnips, swedes, and maize may be seen on Mr. C. Pope's farm, which property, for careful, well-thought-out farming, and clean and true appearance, will bear favourable comparison with anything else in the district. All land drained, and cleared of Hax in previous years, now bears a beautiful sole pf grass, and fattens stock in a very short period. The crv of the nation.js for more production—and well it might be, in view of the fact that it is only by increasing our production, and so giving a bigger balance of exports over imports, that we can pay our huge war bills and general indebtedness. It follows, therefore, that every acre brought into cultivation is a national asset, and those upon whose shoulder.? this pioneering work falls should be given every possible assistance by the body in whose hands lies the direction of the nation's affairs, that is, the Government. Besides being first-class dairying country, these low-lying alluvial flats are capable of producing splendd crops. A sowing of turnips was made on the farm above referred to last December, and are doing extremely well, many plants being already from six to eight inches in diameter. Other root crops show similar results.

Electricity Potentialities. The practical utility of electricity is too well known to need any reiteration here, and it is rather surprising that no enterprising individual has yet come forward with a scheme for the utilisation of the water running to waste in the upner reaches of the Maungatawhiri Stream. Within a comparatively short distance there is a fall of a hundred feet, and the confined nature of the gully would lend itself easily to the construction of a dam, from which turbines could be supplied with water motive power. Some day, no doubt, this stream will be harnessed to man's uses, and then •very milking machine will he driven by electric motor, and every farmhouse be lighted by electricity. Also. Miere will he a good demand for ci'.rlent when the

Proposed Railway -■ constructed from Paeroa to Pokoio. There will then he a township ■I Maunsrntawhiri which will require treet lighting, and also power for plants of local industrial concern-. 'lnhe the above seems somewhal rar-fetched, but how many scores "• townships have sprung up in N'ev ''.enlnnd. and even in the Awklnnd "roxince ahne, during the past quur ler of a century!