DRIFTING SAND

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 81, 7 April 1925, Page 9

DRIFTING SAND

FORESTRY OFFICERS INSPECT

COMBATING RELENTLESS

ADVANCE.

Good agricultural land in various parts of the Dominion is being seriously threatened by the continuous and unrelenting drift of sand, and although much has been done by the State Forestry Service in endeavouring to combat this, further experimental work is at present being carried out, and the problems which face many valuable farms have been undertaken. Altogether there are 92,000 acres of dune country in the Wellington area, and 183,000 acres in the Auckland district. The menace to agricultural land has become manifest particularly along the coast of the North Island between Wellington and New Plymouth, and the north coast of Auckland, and with a view to ascertaining the best methods that could be adopted to treat the matter, Messrs. S. A. C. Darby and G R. Crowley, of the Palmerston North branch of the Forestry Service, recently embarked upon a tour of inspection of the land along the coast from Paekakariki to Patea. The inspection was completed on Thursday, states the Manawatu "Daily Times," and Mr. Darby stated that there was comparatively little land in the area mentioned which lent itself well to tree-planting, but in three places was the sand drift menace very acute. These places were between Kai Iwi and Okehu, between the Rangitikei and Wangaehu rivers, and a stretch north of Otaki. At the first-named spot the sand had been swept up from the sea up the face of a fifty-foot cliff, forming a dune on the top of the ridge The theory advanced for the spread of the sand dune country is that before the advent of the European population to these shores, the greater part of the sandy land was more or less stable, and Dr. L. Cockayne, hon. botanist to the Department, declares that over-grazing and injudicious stock of land has caused it to become loose.

When this theory was placed before some of the settlers along the coast, they refuted this suggestion, and declared that over-grazing would not have this effect upon the land. However, in the three places mentioned, there is evidence that immediate attention is necessary in order to protect some of the valuable pastures in the vicinity. As the waste sandy country is privately owned, very little action is being taken to have the adjoining farms protected, but it is interesting to recall that the Government, by exercise of the Sand Drift Act—a measure introduced in 1908 —has power to undertake the work itself.

It is likely, therefore, that any big scheme, which is likely to be undertaken will be executed at the hands of the state. In many countries, the protection of land in this way is recognised as the function, of the State.

It was for this experimental work that the Service esablished [established] an experimental station at the Rangitikei heads in May, 1921, on an area of 3000 acres, and later instituted a nursery, with a capacity of half a million trees, from which to feed the surrounding country for forestry planting. Although things are at present in the experimental stages, Mr. Darby stated that these were progressing very satisfactorily, and it was expected that some good results, would be achieved.