BOGS RECLAIMED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 April 1938, Page 7

BOGS RECLAIMED

BIG SCHEME AT MANCHESTER. AREA NOW CLOSELY SETTLED. After absorbing more than 3,250.000 tons of refuse during the past fifty years, 3500 acres of barren, uninhabitable bog land at Maichester have been converted into a fertile agricultural area with 54 farmsteads and holdings, yielding a rent roll of more than £7OOO a year. With the introduction of new meth-, ods of sanitation it became increasingly necessary in the latter part of the nineteenth century to find an efficient large-scale means of disposal. In 1886, at Carrington Moss, and in 1895 at Chat Moss, 10 miles from the heart of this city, Manchester began tipping refuse upon great stretches of bog land which swelled in winter above the level of adjacent country and shrank during a dry summer. Roads were made, the land was drained, and when the moss was sufficiently firm, a light railway was laid to link the wharf which was being constructed on the bank of the River Mersey with the various holdings. Barges brought refuse from the city, and in the early years 300 tons of manure an acre a year were applied. After lying on the raw moss for a short period the land was dug over by hand, and potatoes were cultivated by hand. Later, horses were employed. Today vegetables are grown in abundance, and during the season a celery train is run daily from this area to Covent Garden Market, London. Modern sanitation has brought about a cessation of tipping activities at Carrington Moss, and it is shortly to end at Chat Moss. Manchester has spent something like £280,000 on this scheme, and at the quinquennial valuation last year it was revealed that the balance of assets over liabilities amounted to £232,000.