CONTROL OF EROSION

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29004, 18 September 1959, Page 12

CONTROL OF EROSION

Wider Scope Of Council (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, September 17. New Zealand had a responsibility to see that its great natural advantages of soil and climate were retained, said the Minister of Works (Mr Watt) in the House of Representatives this afternoon, when the House was debating the Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Amendment Bill before its committal. The bill is an outcome of recommendations made by the 1957 Select Committee on soil conservation and rivers control. “The great increase in development and production in recent years has brought problems that did not exist previously,” said Mr Watt, “and it is more important than ever that we protect our land and homes.” The Minister said that under the bill all land not covered by catchment boards, soil conservation councils, or the Waikato Valley Authority would come under the supervision of the Soil' Con-

servation and Rivers Control Council, and would be declared catchment territory. Some districts with no authority were prepared to accept the responsibility of conserving land Catchment boards would not be created up and down the land for the sake of making more local bodies, but only where there was work to be done Treasury Representation The Minister said the appointment to the council of the Secretary of the Treasury was a wise move. This year £lsm of the taxpayers’ money would be spent by the council, and it was best for the Treasury to be conversant with the council’s work. Mr C. G. E. Harker (Opposition, Hawke’s Bay), chairman of the 1957 Select Committee, said that if the act was to function effectively it must be administered in a conciliatory spirit. Catchment board members, he said, must be prepared to meet farmers on their own ground in an endeavour to reach agreement in conservation and control negotiations. Mr N. E. Kirk (Government. Lyttelton) said the bill set out to piotect the ratepayer. The limiting of the amount of the administration rate to be raised was a step in the right direction. Mr J G. Edwards (Government, Napier) said that some of the worst erosion in New Zealand occurred in areas outside catchmept board control. The bill provided for those areas to be brought under jurisdiction.