LITTORAL DRIFTS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1505, 30 July 1912, Page 9

LITTORAL DRIFTS.

AND . WAXGAXUI ENTRANCE/' (By Tcl'egrnph-Spccial Correspondent.) Wanganui, July 2!). Tho amount of easterly and southerly weather which has been experienced duriii2 (he past few week* has bren responsible for a change in tho conditions usually obtaining at the mouth of the river. 'With the westerly or northerly-westeijy weather, lyhieh normally prevail?, the littoral drift ojt the coast is towards the south, and the tendency is for the Iμr channel to lead outwards in a southerly direction with a long line of sand banks tailing off in the same direction from the Oxw. The recent weather" has, howover, forced tho channel lo deflect some-' what to the north, and has driven the sand banks close up against the south mole. Tho present set of circumstances affords an excellent opportunity of realising the reiniirkaUe changes for the butter. . which the harbour works have effected. Prior to tho building of tho moles westerly weather had a habit of forcing the channel so far to tho soutli as almost ' to be parallel with the coast, thus, niak- . ing a tortuous "dog's-hind-leg" kind of ; sailing- oonrso that was very difficult to navigate with a niazo of sand banks and shoals on either hand. A sjiell of sourhorly or easterly weather used to have the " effect of straightening up the channel though it always brought poor titles. Ijn- ' cler present-day conditions, however, the ' variation north or south of the channel is very small incited, and, whatever the 1 weather, it runs out in practically a straight line, with good, deep water. Almost th-3 only observable effect of the recent weather is a change in the position and area of the sand banks which fringe s the spit on the south side of the entrance This not ciily shows that tho moles con- " tinuo to do their work in the direction of scouring tho point desired, but also proves tho gr?at value of the tidal compartment, which augments the force of the river current during the ebb. Their " combined effect is to produce a plain, " straight channel, and to maintain it me = of shoaling, no matter what the weather conditions are.