STORY OF A RIVER

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 120, 23 May 1945, Page 4

STORY OF A RIVER

LUCKY NEW ZEALAND

A LESSON FROM AMERICA

"You New Zealanders don't realise how lucky you are," said Mr. Sydney Greenbie, special assistant to the American Minister and general representative of the Office of War Information, in a broadcast last evening. New Zealand, he said, had no vast open prairies which were swept into dust storms, flayed under blizzards, or gnawed by great river systems.

New Zealanders, he was satisfied, could in their own country make a paradise for themselves. The energy of a million and a half people could be converted into the energy of a thousand million, if the streams were properly harnessed so that they would save the soil, nourish the land, and turn the wheels of industry.

Mr. Greenbie told the story of T.V.A., which in the United States means the Tennessee Valley Authority. It was a story, he said, of a river valley, a great mountain watershed, and the means by which the people had been rescued from flood, drought and poverty by the application of modern science and engineering. It was the story of a devastating river now harnessed and providing all the benefits of modern civilisation for 4,500,000 people. The Tennessee, and its twin river, the Cumberland, ran into the Ohio River. The, latter ran hundreds of miles to the Mississippi, which eventually reached the Gulf of Mexico. There were 4221 miles of running water.

One of the first acts of the late Mr. Roosevelt when he became President was to send a message to Congress explaining what he thought could be done by harnessing the rivers. Thus the Tennessee Valley Authority became a Government organisation, with all its operations confined in one regional administration, its headquarters on the spot, and operating in co-operation with - local bodies. When the work was completed the waters of the whole region were controlled by 29 great dams, ii/verything could be controlled by an operator pressing a button. All the way the waters are now regulated, and no longer do they pour on their way to swell the floods of the Mississippi and wash away valuable land.

Mr. Greenbie described the dams as broad and beautiful lakes, across which steamers, pleasure boats and barges went to and fro. Where towns and farms were submerged by the making of dams people were provided with new farms and homes. Eight million acres of land formerly worn down by erosion had been reclaimed and turned into flourishing pastures. The slopes of mountains from which the forest had been cut had been replanted. The total cost was 700,000,000 dollars. This huge sum was advanced by the Federal Government to the Tennessee Valley Authority, and was being paid back by the increased wealth of the region. It was estimated that the whole project could be paid off in from 30 to 60 years by the sale of electric power.

Mr. Greenbie said that the Tennessee Valley plan had been so successful that it was now proposed to deal with seven other regions in the same way. What had been achieved in America might have some application in New Zealand, although the Dominion problems were on a smaller scale, and conditions were not in every respect the same.