DISTRICT NEWS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 310, 23 May 1913, Page 6

DISTRICT NEWS.

[ ■,■;,■»-,.■'■.■, ~fr.v.:,-'; . ■.■:■■■* .■■*■ - - [ "■" i' ! ; | (Our'Own^Correspondent), _. ' i .Scjveral friopths ago\a strarigdr, the criast t'O Awakiiio', and b'eing evidieiitly' unfamiliar,., i-rivers, iriana'g'ed to'gef' iiitp 'di'fficiil.ties'. I whek nigp'tiating th'e 'localijr k'n'own' ■';'fpK' ford of the Awakilio'River;" No aid being at hand,, he lost his life. As | previously'; stated, th'is'o'bcurted- ni6htliS ago,, yet nothing had; been done in the matter until recently,, when, the Public L Works Department'* official, stationed ,'tft Awakilio;- ThfJb : rmed-'ine> that'he "ivas ' abbu/t to have erected guide posts at bpth|th'kti>iJ;aud the'lidtepm fords. Irjstruations regarfmg ?t4le'. r depth : -of-ithe 'wktef and be followed in

crossing, ar& ejdiiliixed on t: h6tl(Se boards' ,at tWitopi fijrdt.- Thd' ihsttuctidnßiarcfirnplMi't^;;aiid:''tKe' j(>o»tei • will' atamdl l o,«b clearlyi; .therefore, people travelling:no*th by tile coast roUtehavehad "a great' boon confarrcd upon them.. ■ The river- at the presant time is probably at its best for , f;he purpose ■, of, taking . spundings. .ctepitts, bnffloW' is' retafdecflfiy'' s&hdj banks thus causing greater depths at tie fords than under normal condition* ' '.[",..'/„ 'l:'j-- ''.ki.'.-i",'/. .. ■". Ween the Estimates came out last '■ 'tronetl for the purpose the .enti-i|ncetio. jtjte Awakinp -|tiver. During. se.TjeraJj weeks,, of qiiehto sa.w hi,en boring boles ..to,, the pap^ the i bed if th§, riivpr:;... These, hofes,; spmctimesli to the.n ( urnber,ofythree,,were-.simnltan-j eous'fired, iyhen cKarge,d. with . plugs cjf gelignite.' These chonp-,acqu»t«&displays that „passers-by ,often, ; 'rriejti|dejt. florig.. without; heeding ,them, Tive (blasting went merrily along-iUntij the' |vhpte pf,.fliis. smooth,, sjarhj-ce,was i Irokln pp various sized Jumps which [lie. tbere, now. poyered. with ..sand;, and o'aiift!)i r ?"a bank upon.which iPitoitoj became stranded when entering the liver the other day. I believe the gentlfcman who gave the instruction .for this work tobe j carried out had an idea that jthese lumps of papa, some of which weigll a hundred-wei"ht or more,'would, | .when) loose, be .rol)ed along merrily out tb se-a hy the ebb tide,'assisted by an occasional fresh. To enlighten him a littlej I might state that the water is now |.a foot or.:morc shallower-in' the chanhel .than it' was befPre this blasting tookjplactof fThe.raoney:expended■■'( £l5O, •'I-beßewi-mfghtJjUst as-Well have heen : thrown into thelriver,.iin fact, better, : fovii would not have made such a pereeptijile shoal. The erosive power of 'Tilrining water;is undoubtedly great, but •the tasli .set in this case has been far too gigantic The best thing that can be done! now! is to expend the balance of the £ran,t in.removing by means of bullock; teams,. the most . outstanding of | th'es| lumps. . ... _.."

• Tlfe past autumn lias probably been the one of recent years, when .it would havci been most advantageous to snag ■ 'the' .Moknu River. Yet not one snag was jremoved. From what I have heard recently the water was so shallow and clear that the snags could have been expediently ...\\n4 ; more cheaply removed, owing to .their being easilv get-atable. I believe .1 am stating a fact when I say that, o£ 'nil.' the petty local bodies ever brought into existence theMokau River Trust Hoard, has been the most ridicul- ■ ous and at the same time scandalously treated. Here on the river are 28 miles of navigable waters interrupted during dry seasons by rapids, over which debris have, been piled. Now, this body was constituted to keen this river navigable and to snag it. How? They had no handsome revenue bearing endowments like the sister Board at Wanganui, although the Mokau Board was constituted on the lines of the Wanganui Board. But you see the Mokau River was not the Wanganui River, and the people that count in these things did not happen to be interested personally, or otherwise in the Mokau River as they were in the Wanganui, so this body was launched into the world without a. wardrobe of rentals from thousands of acres of land. T believe the gentlemen who constituted the Board had less than the £2OO (thrown into the Awakino River) to spend during the five or six years that this Board existed. By a clause inserted into the Mokau Harbor Act I believe the River Trust Board lias been merged into the Harbor Board. But that is heside the question. Can anyone tell me how the present Government could be so ill-advised as to have that .Cl5O spent recklessly in the Awnkino. while had n similar nmoun,t been expended on the Mokau much good would have came of it? T have yet 'to, learn how this £jao came to be placed on. the Esti-

mates for the Awakino River, for so far as I can learn, no local body or meeting of the general public made any effort to have'it done, yet would you believe it, deputations have waited upon Ministers, members of Parliament have been interviewed, and dozens of letters written, but all of these could not extract one penny piece from the powers that be for the purpose of improving the Mokau River.