DRAINAGE OF WET LAND.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20027, 8 September 1930, Page 4

DRAINAGE OF WET LAND.

_—# — ■ VALUE OF PUMPING. PRAISE FOB TAI TAPU SCHEME. A number of local people who were Interviewed by l a representative of Tint Paxss yesterday expressed them* •elves as being impressed with the possibilities of an extension of the system of drainage of excessively wet land- by pumping, such as is now in operation in the Tai Tapu district and was described in Thb Press of Thursday. Hhey stated that the scheme would undoubtedly prove Advantageous if it were used to provide sub-soil drainage or to dry off land suitable for pastoral or agricultural purposes. To Improve Burwood Land. Mr J. Cullens, engineer to the Christ- . church Drainage Board, expressed the view that there were distinct possibilities in the system if it were extended to certain portions of the Drainage Board's district. Consideration was now being given, he. said, to a proposal to drain an area of land abouta square mile in extent near Burwood on both sides of thetramway lino between tho Avon, and the'-trotting ground.' The land herfe was owned by the Travis and other estates and was low-hrliig, Bounded on two sides by sandhills, it was very damp, but it was • - consid&fed 'that pumping would be instrumental/ in .. effecting a' wonderful ; improvement *Hd thUsenable'the land

to be put to better use than was possible in existing circumstances. The presence of so much water as was on the properties at the moment had caused the land to become water-logged and sour. This state of affairs, however, could be overcome by drainage. City Sub-Soil Drainage. The City Engineer (Mr A. U. Galhraith) sees- in tho use of pumps the , possibility of better sub-soil drainage. When he first came to the Gity, he , said, he was struck by the unsatisfactory statti of the sub-soil drainage. Water was to be found at a depth of about 18 inches from the surface, whereas it should not be closet than five or six feet. Any system of drainage which would bring about such a change was to be desired. When on the West Coast some time ago he came acropg considerable areas of land which were swampy in character. In this state it was practically useless, but in his opinion it could be made valuable it drained properly. The Dutch System. "Tho scheme in operation in the Tai Tapu district is an adaptation of the Dutch system," said the secretary of the New Zealand Shipowners' Federation (Mr W. H. Nicholson). Large areas of low-lying land, he continued, were to be seen all the way from Rotterdam to Schiedam and elsewhere in Holland studded with windmills used for pumping the water which was , drained to a corner of the fields. The water was pumped over dykes into drains and sometimes canals along which barges were towed, the water level being considerably higher than the - surround ina country. In the Tai Tapu .scheme the banns were seven feet high; whereas in Holland the dykes wore about 80 ieet in height. , Mr Nicholson said that the windmills were driven mostly by the prevailing breezes,, which as iu Christchurch,

came from the north-east; He thought that had electricity been in general use when the drainage system in Holland was tirst laid down, that country would never have attained such picturesquoiiess as had been brought to it by the windmills, for which it was so well known. He considered that the Tai Tapu scheme could, with advantage, be adapted to other parts of the Dominion, particularly the North Island, where there was a good deal of swampy jand. The largest, area of such land "in Canterbury was, he thought, around Lake BUesmere, but there were other places, where the soil was affected by proximity to lakes and lagoons to which' attention might well bo given.