C.—B

favourable winter that prevented serious damage to the grasslands by flooding. No matter how great the difficulties, the settlers cannot afford to neglect drain maintenance ; and, in fact, the trend of future developments will demand the improvement and "extension of the existing system. The day when we can rest in the satisfaction that the district is fully improved and that more drainage and other public works would be wasteful is still far in the future, and, with the assistance offered under the various schemes to meet the needs of unemployment, much useful work can be accomplished at the present time. The many trading concerns handling the produce of the district kindly supplied figures from which a fair indication of the annual volume of production from the Hauraki Plains can be obtained. Obviously, it is impossible to get complete returns of all produce from a large district, and the recorded returns are probably considerably below the actual returns. The total value of the recorded production for the fiscal year ending 31st March, 1934, is £422,000. The production figures for the year under review are given below and the figures for the previous year are also given m parentheses Tons. Tons. Butter 3, °36f (2,754) Cheese .. 2,895f (2,797) Pigs 7,652 (6,046) Calves" 22396 (23,262) Miscellaneous stock .. .. •• •• •• 5,790 (6,556) Flax 72 i ( 148 ) Lime 10 > 000 Cargo received and shipped from the Piako River and Waitakaruru amounted to 9,452 tons as against 11,386 tons for the previous year. Climatic conditions have been generally favourable to agricultural and pastoral activities for some years past. Rainfall and river discharge records show that no severe flood producing storms have been experienced since 1928, and very considerable improvement of the drainage conditions has been effected since that year. Observations of the effect of flood protection and drainage operations must of course be extended over a considerable period to determine the effectiveness of the works ; but it is safe to say that the river-improvement works, though still incomplete, are at a stage when moderate floods are disposed of and the main drainage systems of the settled areas are generally efficient. A recurrence of the intensive storms which tax the capacity of even the most complete protective systems is, however, certain in the future, and it cannot be too strongly urged that lasting security is contingent on the completion of the river-improvement works which were stopped two years ago, and every effort should be made to complete the scheme when economic conditions improve. The rainfall at Kerepeehi for the year 1933 was below the average for the district. Rain fell on 177 days, distributed fairly evenly throughout the year with the exception of the spring months, when the grass-growth was somewhat affected by an unusual scarcity of rain. The rainfall records for Kerepeehi since 1915 are as follows : —

Records of Daily Precipitation, Kerepeehi, Hauraki Plains.

2

Number of Days, with given Daily Precipitation in Inches. 5 o> c$ j ? 9* 9* 9 9* | 9 Total Wettest Month. Driest Month. Year. ô Ai h | h <m w ■«# »o i i> Days. Fall. B BS$ SS\SSS r S-S3\S fi o jo o o I i o ; o 2*2 2 ' 2 § § 8 o « 3 I t- o ! » O o = j 9 © O Ô rH rH .H j rH N | <N , CO j ** lO , | «> lQifi 1M 12 9 7 2 3 1 ' 144 52-19 Nov. 6-65 Feb. 1-05 1Q17 " 131 11 4 4 3 1 ] 1 156 45-61 Feb. 6-26 Jan. 0-65 1918 145 14 6 4 1 .. .. 1 171 44 ' 06 0ct - 7 ' 47 Ma y 2 ' 24 ' 1019 " 122 9 1 3 2 137 27-36 July 4-52 Dee. 0-89 1920 " 85 7 10 3 1 1 3 2 112 43-16 Feb. 6-10 July 1-73 1Q91 " <!•-! 12 5 3 2 1 116 34-41 Oct. 5-89 Feb. 0-72 1099 " 101 17 9 3 i 1 .. 1 133 42-81 Feb. 6-62 April 1-73 \ltO " 151 6 5 4 " 1 1 1 169 47-04 April 9-76 Mar. 1-72 1924 132 8 10 5 2 5 1 1 •• 2 166 60-37 April 8-55 July 1-87 1925 142 15 4 2 1 l 04 37-64 June 6-67 April 0-84 1926 " 149 15 6 4 5 2 2 183 55-53 May 8-86 Feb. 1-79 1927 159 10 6 5 4 184 45-33 July 6-29 April 2-01 1998 " 125 7 9 2 3 2 2 1 151 47-30 May 7-52 Jan. 0-01 1929 " 124 19 8 3 1 I 55 41 ' 05 A P riI 5 ' 09 Feb - °' 74 1930 " 131 4 2 2 3 ' 2 2 146 37-72 Jan. 6-87 Dee. 0-80 931 " 144 10 7 4 2 167 43-23 July 7-80 Mar. 0-98 iqqo ' I2fi 7 5 4 .. 1 1 4 3 32-05 Feb. 4-95 Not. 0-93 iq oo " 150 I •> i 4 3 .. .. 1 174 38-93 Feb. 6-54 Mar. 1-20 1934* " 24 4 3 2 .. 1 34 10-29 Feb. 5-27 Jan. 2-25 * First three months of year only. Average annual rainfall over eighteen years is 43-10 in.