BIG TASK AHEAD

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 May 1938, Page 7

BIG TASK AHEAD

RESTORATION OF FLOOD AREA IN HAWKE’S BAY. ADDITIONAL MEN REQUIRED. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) HASTINGS, May 6. “There is such a tremendous amount of work to be done on roads and bridges in the flood area, apart from damaged farms, that it will obviously be necessary to bring more men into the district," said the Minister of Labour, the Hon. H. Armstrong, at Napier last night, after his return from the Esk Valley. Farmers whose land had been completely, covered-with silt and rendered temporarily useless would have to be treated as wage earners until their land became productive once more.

“One of the first tasks to be undertaken in the Esk Valley is the digging of main drains to dry out the land,” said the ' Minister. “Obviously that cannot be undertaken by individual farmers, and it seems. to me that it will have to be done by the Public Works Department. At the present time, however, the department has so much to do on roads and bridges that no staff is available to carry out his drainage work, and I have telegraphed the Prime Minister recommending him to discuss the position with the Minister of Public Works and to suggest that an engineer and a staff foreman be sent to Hawke’s Bay at once.

“This disaster has again emphasised the necessity for a general policy of river *and flood control for the whole of New Zealand,” said Mr Armstrong. “The Government is at present gathering expert evidence bearing on the problem and hopes soon to be in a position to decide on the best course that should be pursued. Some control of the Esk River now appears. to be necessary, but how that could be done is hard to say at the moment. To build stopbanks along both sides of the river would be a tremendous undertaking.”

Mr Armstrong paid a tribute to the spirit of the people in the Esk Valley. One farmer, he said, had already sown down his silt-covered farm in grass.