RECLAMATION IN THE MANAWATU

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 69, 15 December 1919, Page 4

RECLAMATION IN THE MANAWATU

9 | IJLPORTANT PROPOSALS. (Special Correspondent.) Palmcrston North, December 12. Some littlo time ago the question of thu flooding of lands .11 the lower Manawatu district was brought "ip ct a meeting of the Farmers' Un.oll on a remit Vrom Tiakitahuna. The matter was then referred t ( > tlio Advisory Committee 01 the Manawatu Sub-Provincial Braneli. 'L'iiat couiin.tteo met on Saturday mornin" Mr. 11. Vile, president, being m the'chair. Other membens present were: Messrs. 11. l r . W. ILubbard (Tintoa) and W. I'. Neilscn (Tiakitahuna). Theri) were also present: Mr. J. LinWatcr .chairman of tho Kairanga Gounry Council) and Mr. J. M'Ewen (secretary o, the Tiakitahuna branch). Messrs Hugh Akers and W. li. Birnio (owners of lami interested), with Mr. &. 'lickpil> "•*'.> were in attendance by invitation. The chairman said thfit 111 accordance with istructions the secretary had written to Wellington and had endeavoured to obtain information as to the report of a commission which .had liiciuucu , into the matter, but had received 110 reply from the Department. Mr Akers explained at length what was being done by private enterpr.se so far as the Makerua was concerned. 110. Baid that landholders in that district were becoming considerably alarmed at tho constant flooding of their property. 4t one time it was. cousxlerwl that the water was doing good to tlio llax, »ut things had now siltorod. ill? thix v.is practically dying out, and goat a rue was taking charge of tlio countrymeant that the land must bs drained and 6tcps taken to get rid ofMhe we™. If that were done lie trusted that within ten to fifteen years the country dra:iiou and cleared would be convened into profitable dairy farms. The great dnliculty was that in many places the surface of tho swamp was considorab-y o'.vcr than that of tho river. It would therefore be necessary to tank up the river in places and cut off some ..fJio projecting points. Tho channel <.t the linioliiaru would have to bo deepened, and at times it would be necessary In reic\e some of the low-lying lands by puur.)in?. If some practical fuhame were not adopted soon it would moan t.iat the settlers would have to-get out. lie. with others interested, were, '.mpoiM-i,; spccial machinery from Amcr.cn lor t Jin purpose of building up the ban its and dredging the channels. The.v were quite prepared to find the necessary money to deal with their own sections, but lie pointed out that theirs was on y a small proportion of tlio area ahectei Be suggested that the whole work sh< Id be done by a drainage board or tliiou D li 1 some special board, and that some airon»eniente should be come to for one miiin outlet instead of a number of drams ns at present. 110 mentioned diat,lw svndicato lie represented were dealing with about. 10,000 acres of the Makeirw swamp. Mr. Jiekell produced the report of a commission that was set up to inquire into tho matter 111 1.,(W, which he read, and by means of a map traced the various schemes suggested Ho .itterwai'ds went 011 to esplain that 111 all 29 settlers bad combined 111 the private scheme mentioned by Mr. Akers to endeavour to save their prnperli-s. He also pointed out. that wherever 1.110 lood waters covered the land goats rue li.ul spread to such an extent as to mnko , tile properties absolutely useless lie expressed approval of the report, of the., comm'ssion, and said that the only «>' to overcome the difficulty was to straight- 1 on the river by cutting off tho corners aiul .raising tho hanks. This would reduce its length by between eleven and twelve miles, and would have the desired effect! The cost would be . bout JCVC.OGO. and would affect about 10, MO acres of land. 1 Mr. Neilscn (Tiakitahuna) sa:d it had been' decided to cull a meeting of all interested at Uangiotu in a few days, and lie would be glad if Messrs. Alters and Jiekell would attend. This they agreed to do. t On the motion of Mr. Linklafer hearty votes of thanks were passed to Messrs. Akers and Jiekell for tho valualdo information given.