MANGAPU RIVER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 58, 10 March 1933, Page 5

MANGAPU RIVER.

BIG DRAINAGE WORK.

112,000 ACRES TO BENEFIT. EMPLOYMENT FOB, 6O MEN. (From Our Own Correspondent.) TE KUITI, Thursday. The drainage work at present being prosecuted by the Mangapu Drainage Board, which is the largest undertaking of its kind yet attempted in the King Country, is already increasing butter production. Some conception of the value of this work when completed may be gained when it is known that an area of 10,000 acres, most of which was previously unproductive, will be made available for production. Most of the area is rich river flat and typical dairying country. Moreover, the whole of the area under treatment lies at the front door of Te Kuiti and back door of Otorohanga and is subdivided into small holdings and traversed by the Main Trunk railway and main highway. Commencing some two years ago with a loan of £8750, the Land and Drainage Board finding the sum of £4000, the Mangapu Drainage Board became an active body. The river from which the board takes its name rises from a clilF in the rich Oparuri Valley, and, following a tortuous course for 21 miles, falls into the Waipa at Otorohanga. During this distance the Mangapu is joined by three tributaries, the Mangarama, six miles in length, within the board's area, the Mangatea, two miles, and the Mangaokewa, ten miles in length, within the board's area. These streams follow important and rich valleys which comprise approxi- | mately 12,000 acres of good dairying I country, Mangarama 2000 acres, Mangatea 300 acres, Mangaokewa 2000 acres; and the residue of 7000 acres is served by the Mangapu.

The board commenced its work on the willows with which all these aforementioned streams were infested. A contract was let for poisoning and on a stretch of seven miles free from willows a contract was let for clearing the timber debris, which was causing a serious blockage. These two contracts have been successfully completed. In order to shorten the course of the river and accelerate the flow of water, numerous " cuts" have been made, necessitating the removal of many thousands of cubic yards of spoil. A large steam hauler is now at work hauling the dead willows which were poisoned last year from the stream. Gangs of men are severing the trunks and branches into firewood lengths and packing them in heaps so that they will not interfere with the farmers' grassing operations. Some three miles of this willow-blocked channel has now been cleared. A specially designed machine is proving itself well capable of removing all willow growth from the

bed of the stream at the average rate of ten chains per week. It is anticipated that the remaining seven miles to Te Kuiti borough boundary can be thus cleared in 18 months, allowing for winter conditions. During its operations the board has given work to the unemployed within its area, the work allotted thus becoming of a useful and productive nature. Some 40 men are daily at work under the board and this week's allotment from the Unemployment Board's funds is £75. The Te Kuiti Borough Council has now arranged with the board to provide an additional 18 men with an allowance of £100 per week. Thus a force of 60 men will now be employed, and it is anticipated that this important drainage scheme, reclaiming some 12,000 acres of rich country, will be completed by the end of this year. With the surrounding fertile valleys rendered arable and with the inevitable increase in population, the future of Te Kuiti town and district cannot but be well assured.