EROSION CONTROL

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 6, 2 October 1941, Page 6

EROSION CONTROL

Plans For Operation Of New Act LONG-TERM SCHEME “It must not be assumed that the passing of the Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Act will result in au immediate cure for some of the evils of soil erosion at present existent, said the Minister of Public Works, Mr. Armstrong, in a statement last night. “The main work will be to lay down a long-term programme by means of which some of the worst dangers will be gradually overcome and the foundations laid for much useful work to be done in the future, “The war will, of course, have an adverse effect on the operation of the Act. Twenty per cent, of the engineering staff of the Public Works Department, for instance, are on service overseas. Other departments whose services would be utilized are likewise affected. Surveys and investigations cannot, therefore, be carried out on the same scale as they will be after the war is over, and there is very little likelihood of extensive flood control schemes being undertaken in the near future. “However, I am taking immediate steps to have the members of the Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Council appointed, and I am quite sure that, in spite of war conditions, the council will be able to do a great deal of essential preliminary work and make plans for work to be carried out after the war. Such work will, of course, be very suitable rehabilitation work for some of the men returning from overseas.

“I would again emphasize that the basis of the whole work is long-term planning, and unthinking people must not expect to have their erosion and flood damage problems solved overnight by the passing of an Act of Parliament, or that the position created by 100 years of indiscriminate destruction of the protective forests and incorrect land utilization can be improved other than by means of many years of patient work and careful research and Investigation. However, I think that the passing of the Act has at least laid the foundations for such work.”