COST OF RIVER PROTECTION

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22358, 23 March 1938, Page 12

COST OF RIVER PROTECTION

ESTIMATE OF £3,000,000

MINISTER ASKED FOR HELP IN NELSON

[From Our 04m Reporter.] NELSON, March 22

“River protection is a gigantic problem, and it would cost £3,000,000 to carry out complete works in New Zealand, even with the use of modem machinery,” the Minister for Public Works tthe Hon. R. Semple) said today to a deputation which urged him to undertake protection work on the Wairoa and Wai-iti rivers at Brightwater. This is the first official announcement of the financial magnitude of the task facing the Government in preventing erosion. One member of the deputation said that 30 acres of his holding of 87 acres had disappeared down the river, ana he feared that with the next flood his home and sheds would be swept avmy. The shingle banks were above the level of his property, and the rivers were choked with willows. Mr Semple said that river erosion was an immense problem, as economic loss was being suffered through land being swept into the Pacific Ocean. Surveys had been made, and an approximate estimate of the total cost of £3,000,000 had been submitted to Addressing Mr J. Corde, chairman of the Waimea County Council, tne Minister said: “You fellows have been terrified at the prospective sms of Labour, yet we have been doing things that no other party has been prepared to tackle “ The survey of the Wairoa and Wapiti rivers would be completed within two months, after which, said the Minister, he would consiaer the request. , .