PEOPLING THE WASTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 239, 8 October 1932, Page 8 (Supplement)

PEOPLING THE WASTES.

THE PONTINE MARSHES. FROM DEATH REALM TO S MIXING GARDEN. MUSSOLINI'S LATEST STROKE. Two gigantic enterprises recently have attracted wide interest in Europe. First is that of Holland for drying up the Zuider Zee, and second is that of Italy for the reclamation of the Pontine marshes. Holland, needing space for a dense population of 77 to the square mile, seeks to recover lands from the sea which engulfed it seven centuries ago. Italy, no less needy for space for a dense population of 52 to the square mile, seeks to reclaim land from malaria fever, which for 19 centuries has rendered one of the most fertile places in £he world deadly to man.

Transformation of the Pontine marshea from a realm of death to an up-to-date agricultural centre now is almost completed. A network of canals crosses the region, more than 25 miles long, in all directions, collecting the stagnant water and leading it to the sea. An enormous waterway called the Mussolini canal, a true artificial river, acts as the backbone of this system. A network of excellent roads makes transportation easy from any point to any other. Roots Blown Out. Vast expanses of land which for centuries have not known agriculture have been freed with dynamite from tangled roots which rendered the use of the plough impossible. The soil thus made available for agriculture is divided into lots, each with a small rural house, an oven for baking bread, stables and a granary. At strategic points rural centres have been created, complete, with church, schools, post offices and drug stores.

This fall families of peasants from all parts of Italy will be moved into the reclaimed, marshes. Shortly afterwards they also will have a city around which the life of the new region will gravitate. Work, in fact, has begun oil the new city, Littoria, which will be-

come a model rural centre. As Romulus more than 25 centuries ago marked the

outline of Rome with a plough, so the outline of Littoria also was recently marked with a plough. In this case, however, the plough was drawn, by the latest model tractor, while Romulus had to be content with oxen. Parks for Littoria. Littoria is to be built on a level plain half-way between the hills of Sermoneta and the sea. It will be officially inaugurated on October 28, when all the streets have been mapped out. It is hoped that by then the foundations of most"of the public buildings will be completed. They will include a church, a school, a hotel, a law court, a barracks for the carabineers and the militia, a power station, a theatre, a hospital, a slaughter house, and a market. The city will be entirely surrounded by parks and gardens.

The centre of the city will be a large square. Two lesser squares will lie in front of the church and the law court. The central street will be about 1100 yards long. The city will be made visible from a distance by two steeples 120 ft high, which will rise by the side of the church and the law court.