FLOOD MENACE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 223, 20 September 1935, Page 16

FLOOD MENACE.

PROTECTIVE WORKS. HAWKE'S BAY SCHEMES. PLAN TO RAISE £160,000. (By Telegraph.— Special to " Star.") NAPIER, Thursday. After nearly 50 years of dispute the Haw ke s Bay district is approaching the stage where the effective control of two of the troublesome rivers which harass its settlers is becoming an accomplished fact. Differences that have existed have really been composed since the earthquake of some four years ago. This put a new complexion on the. rivers problem in its entirety, altering- tho niateral conditions to such an extent that decisive and effective action became ■virtually indispensable, overshadowing rivalries and sectional interests. It ■was in such circumstances that the diversion of tho Tutaekuri River, which had been the subject of a standing argument for decades, was undertaken somo two years ago, through the medium of a comprehensive scheme costing £120,000.

Application For Finance. Now that the diversion of the Tutaekuri River has been adequately tackled, attention is being turned to its neighbour, the Ngaruroro River, which has been made the subject of a similarly comprehensive scheme. The project for the control of the Ngaruroro has now been approved by the Hawke's Bay Rivers Board, and an immediate application is to he made to the Local Government Loans Board for sanction to raise the necessary finance. A sum of £100,000 is involved, of which the Rivers Board's share is only £53,000, thanks to the liberal assistance offered hy the Public Works Department and the Unemployment Board, each of which is ■willing to meet one-third of the total cost. The effect of the scheme will be to dispel the menace of flood from somo thousands of acres of valuable farm lands on the Hawke's Bay flats, rendering them readily capable of cultivation instead of exposing them to progressive deterioration as a result of recurrent flooding. At the same time the scheme will relieve the district of the heavy burden required annually to finance temporary protective works. More than £2000 a year is spent to-day On works which are destroyed bv the next flood.

The Price of Disputes. The final lesson to be learned from, the project, however, is that of the cost of the argument in the field of local politics. The scheme is to-day costing £160,000 only because in the last 20 or 30 years the river has intensified its encroachment on the countryside, and because the value of the land which the board will have to purchase has risen • with the times. Had effective control of the river been undertaken when it first became necessary, it could have been done much more cheaply and without any sacrifice of effectiveness. Whereas adequate control is to-day costing £1.60,000, the corresponding protection, if undertaken 20 years ago, could have been secured for probably £50,000. The difference of £110,000, not to mention thousands of pounds which have been spent in the intervening years on piecemcal works, is the price of uncompromising. argument.