DRAINING LOWER WAIKATO.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 162, 11 July 1910, Page 3

DRAINING LOWER WAIKATO.

THE WHANGAMARINO SWAMP. ] •AN INTERESTING REPORT. _ (By Telegraph.—Parllamentarj; Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. An interesting, statement is included in the Lands Department report relative to the question of the. possibility of draining the considerable area of Crown lands known as the Whangamarino and Maramarua Swamp, in Lower Waikato: In order to obtain a reliable basis from which to gauge the possibilities of reclamation, Mr.. Breakell, who' lately retired from the Hauraki Plains works, was engaged to make: a preliminary investigation, and to furnish a report. After fully reviewing the whole of the conditions which have led to the formation and retention of t_e swamp area, Mr. CBreakell proceeds to deal with the cause and cure for the above conditions, viz., the congestion of the Waikato 'River below Mercer. After dealing with the obstructions between Mercer and Tuakau, Mr. Breakell states: "Between Tuakau and the Heads there is ; a long, low flat about three miles in length, where the river spreads to a width of, I should say, two "or three miles, and with many.small- and varying channels. The river here requires restricting, so as to create one definite channel. This could be done by low training or wing walls, -15 chains apartfi so as to confine the scour, the method of forming these being loose rubble deposited on given lines to the height of, say, Ift. above' lowwater level at spring tides. Beyond this work," he continues, "1 think very little else would-be required other than a little dredging from Port Waikato to the point where high-water neap tides reach up the river. Prom these latter points up to the mouth of the Whangamarino "River dredging! would be required, and I apprehend that if a channel of, say, three chains wide were dredged, and the work hereiribefore proposed lower down the river were performed, the river would gradually scour itself to its original sple, and with a little assistance to its original width. If the work as above proposed were~ performed, the. Whangamarino and Maramarua Rivers would be enabled to perform their natural functions.*' Mr. Breakell states that a suitable dredge and gear for dredging the Waikato River would probably cast £15,000. Taking the report as a whole, it appears that any sum from £50,000 upwards would be ultimately required, and as the total area of the swamp is only 19,500 acres, and; moreover, as the principal works required to be undertaken are many miles away from the swamp itself, and the initial cost of dredging and erecting tr_ining'*wa__ wfil

be so---heayy,- r * j.Breakell considers," "be "puiTinTianorTiy A 1 a specially "const-tute'd", Drainage 'Bdaid'-■ ■ / ''■>£ subsidised by the .Government as fiur '. \ as its own area of Crown, swamp i_ \ concerned. j: