DRAINAGE PROPOSAL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 156, 4 July 1931, Page 10

DRAINAGE PROPOSAL.

WHANGAMARINO SWAMP. USE OF UNEMPLOYED MEN. REPLY TO MR. W. E. PARRY, M.P. (By. Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. An assurance that he could organise at short notice 1000 young unemployed men- from Auckland for the drainage and development of the Whangamarino swamp was, given {. by Mr. W. E, Parry (Labour, Auckland Central) in the House yesterday. > ■ '■ ■ ' ' Mr. Parry asked the Minister of Lands whether he had considered the proposition of draining the swamp. He had been, advised that it comprised 60,000 acres of the best land in New Zealand and that it\ could be drained profitably. Within a few months of its being drained the land could be made productive. It was not-peat land, but silt swamp, similar to the Rangitaiki swamp. If the Minister would undertake the draining of the swamp and erect accommodation, Mr. "Parry said he would be able to organise straight away 1000 or more of the young unemployed men in Auckland, who would be ready and willing to take part enthusiastically in the great development work. The area was almost next door to Auckland, and, if the land were broken in, it would, in addition to providing a considerable measure of relief, and creating employment in other directions, be a great advantage to the province. Ministerial Reply. The Hon. E. A. Ransom, Minister of Lands, replied that in the centre was an island of 800 or 900 acres, which was quite suitable for settlement, and a contract had" been let for felling the whole of the scrub and ploughing the, area. The Agricultural Department would undertake the ploughing and sowing, and next year it was hoped to provide nine farms on this land. The difficulty over the drainage of the main area was that it constituted a ponding area for the whole of the Waikato River during floods. If a stopbank were constructed to keep water off the swamp, and the land were drained, the taking away of that immense ponding area of 60,000 acres might cause the land below to be so badly flooded that it would constitute a greater disadvantage to men already settled than any advantage which could be gained, by using the swamp for settlement. He would need to be perfectly satisfied that there would bs no such danger. It was possible to drain it, but he was not in possession of figures to show whether the operation would be economically sound. The land drained in Hauraki had turned out to be first-class country, and he, believed the same could be said of Whangamarino.