WAIKATO SWAMPS

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 91, 17 April 1923, Page 11

WAIKATO SWAMPS

DRAINAGE POSSIBILITIES

SCOPE FOR ENTERPRISE

WEALTH AT AUCKLAND'S DOOES,

The drainage and reclamation of the great Waikato swamps has been one of the triumphs of New Zealand pioneering. A little more than half a century ago the wide expanse of plain built by the Dominion's largest river and its tributaries was more morass than dry land. The level stretches of raupo and rushes, of manuka and flax, seemingly so easy to traverse and subdue, offered more effectual barriers againat the progress of settlement than forest-covered ranges, says the "New Zealand Herald." They stayed the march of British forces operating against the Maoris more persistently than the earthern forts of Bangiriri or the fighting forces of the Ngatiinauiapotos; they absorbed the energy and capital of the early settlers who first attempted their subjugation, and gave financial ruin and bitter disappointment ; the stalwart labourers working thigh-deep in their stagnant waters and brown mud to cut the first drains were broken in health and spirit; and yet, with the strange persistence of our race, the fight went on, and a victory equalling in importance and romance some of the famous military exploits has been won.

The apparently hopeless wastes of swamp and morass have been turned into some of the finest farming country in the Dominion, and to-day form the basis of a dairying industry which is unequalled in the world. It is no exaggeration to say that the old swamps of the Waikato produce more wealth than all the goldfields of the Dominion, and their production is likely to increase with time. Hitherto most of the drainage work in the Waikato proper has been done by private individuals or. companies with very primitive appliances, the peat-cut-ting spade and the long-handled shovel being the chief implements. •" A change has come over drainage work," however, since the Government introduced the wonderful ditch-cufting and excavating machines from America. These, in the form of powerful scoops and steam shovels, can move a ton of peaty material as easily and almost as quickly as a labourer could handle a shovelful; they can march with their own power through bogs where a human being could scarcely walk without being engulfed, or.they can float on rivers and streams and build stop-banks a hundred feet away. GOOD WORK ALBEADY ACCOMPLISHED. The introduction of modern machinery whilst speeding up and cheapening the reclamation of swamps, has made possible the drainage of districts which has been deemed impossible under hand lab- : our, and since there are still large areas I of wet country remaining in the Waikato, agitation has commenced with the view of inducing the Government to organise and carry out this class of work.

No more profitable and useful public work lias ever been undertaken by the State than the reclamation of Auckland swamps. The old, useless Piako*area lias been turned by Government engineers into farm -land that produces over £1,----000,000 worth of butter-fat and stock each year, and i s capable _o.f doubling this output. The Rangitaiki* Plains, once over-run by the Urewera rivers, is now a well-settled dairying ■ and maize-grow-ing district. For every pound spent by the Government in draining these swamps ten or twenty pounds have been gained. The old failures in the- Waikato and the successes of the present drainage work show that swamp reclamation is not :% matter for private work, for no private individual can command the machinery or the organisation needed for such a task, and, moreover, without combination and proper legislation the conflicting interests of land owners cannot be unified and harmonised. EXTENSIVE WAIKATO AREAS. Large areas of swamp still exist between Hamilton and Morrinsville, and these are eminently suitable for improve, ment by modern machinery; but by far the greatest area of 'unreclaimed fen land lies about the lower Waikato. There are ,huge areas tapped by railway and navigable river, and within a few hours' journey from Auckland' City, which, so far as production is concerned, are in much the same condition as they were when General Cameron thrust his military roads through the district. It has to be confessed, however, that the low-lying areas adajacent to the lower Waikato, which are covered with flood waters every winter, offer different problems to those which have been so successfully solved on the Hauraki and Rangitaiki plains, but- they offer no problems which cannot be solved

Attempts have already been made to deepen the channel of the Waikato by containing its current within certain limits by means of groynes, but it is probable that, since a gravitation system ot drainage may not be attainabe a system common enough in the eastern districts ot Lincolnshire and Yorkshire and almost universal in. Holland and Belgium; can be applied. TKi s would moan that the rivers and streams will be banked to keep flood waters from overflowing; gravitation drains will be cut wherever necessary, and pumping will be resorted to' in order to drain the low-lying portions. ADVANTAGES OP PUMPING. Pumping for the drainage of land may seem an expensive proposition at first, but it has many advantages. There is no need for great outfall drains, which are usually very expensive works. Moreover there are no restrictions regardimlevels, for ordinary centrifugal pump! can take the place of many feet of fall. it the banking system is complete the only water to be dealt with by uunipintr is through springs and the ordinary rainfall, and that only when-the rivers and streams are above the drainage levels: lhe existence df great coal mines in the heart oi.tho districts to be drained, and the expected hydro-electric supply' should provide as cheap a pumping power as can be found anywhere, and since there are no natural difficulties to encounter, it is almost certain that a system of drainage by pumps would be almost as economical as some gravitation'systems. This proposal is certainly worßi the consideration- of the landowners of the Lower Waikato and of the Government. If a moderate expenditure of money and labour can do for the swamp lands in this part of New Zealand what has been done so successfully in other districts, we should have another Hiwraki Plain almost at the doors of Auckland city, and opportunities for largely increasing the exports of the Dominion.