The Silting Question.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVII, Issue 4478, 21 October 1909, Page 2

The Silting Question.

COUNTY CHAIRMAN'S OPINION.

Before the Piako Council meeting rose on Tuesday last, the Chairman (Mr W. P. Chepmell), gave a brief outline of his recent visit to Paeroa and neighbouring country, with the Parliamentary and local bodies’ representatives and others interested. He (the Chairman) said a great deal of damage had been done ; and that even if there were no willows in the river the silt would not get away. An island had been formed in the Waihou river, and if nothing was done, |he contended that the Waihou would overflow its banks and form a wide water course, and do inestimable damage. Parliament could never have contemplated the blocking of a navigable river when it made the Aot making the river a sludge channel. It is not a question of to-day, but for posterity; a national question. The land com' prises some of the best grazing country in New Zealand, and if something is not done to prevent the tailings being put into the river the whole country would be flooded. —The Minister of Ifines ought fo ftqd some way of combating this nuisance. He (the Chairman) considered it could be rectified without injury to the mining industry.—Cr Manuel said that to stop the tailings going into the river meant stopping the mines. Tailings are light, and the way to (get rid of it is to start at the mouth of the river and remove all the willows and any ptfrgj? substance.