River Protection

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28472, 30 December 1957, Page 11

River Protection

Sir,—Mr Hiram Hunter rang a wicked bell, when he told us the Waimakariri could kick us to —? We must face facts. Our rivers drop their cargo of sand and gravel until they dam themselves. Then they go exploring the soft spots of our plains. I have recently been reading about the blue metal industries of Sydney, which run a quarry with a face 110 feet high, where they crush metal for the Sydney demand. Their turnover is £6.000,000 a year, about two-thirds of Sydney’s demand. Just imagine how we could change the face of t Australia if we shipped sand ahd gravel in 100,000-ton self-unloading ships around that country. With a compressed air system for easing the waves, they could discharge

into shallow self-unloaders. No water from Australian rivers should flow into the ocean. With our sand and gravel and their cement fresh water storage lakes should be erected.—Yours, etc., L. C. WALKER. December 28. 1957.

Sir,—Not unreasonably, Mr Hiram Hunter finds it difficult to understand “how any body of intelligent men can persist in building up the banks of the river (the Waimakariri) with shingle.’* However, is there any essential difference between his idea of dredging and the present method of using bulldozers? Both methods fail to deal with the root cause of the menace to Christchurch and its surrounding countryside. Perhaps if a few thousand was spent on afforestation in the catchment areas the Waimakariri would finally be brought under control. —Yours, etc., H.J.E. December 27, 1957.