RIVER PROTECTION COST.

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 70, 24 March 1938, Page 5

RIVER PROTECTION COST.

"River protection is a gigantic problem, and it would cost £3,000,000 to carry out complete works in New Zealand, even with the use, of modern machinery," ' stated the Minister of Public Works (the Hon. R. Semple) at Nelson on Tuesday, to a deputation which urged him to undertake protection work on the Wairoa and Wai-iti Rivers at Brightwater (reports a Nelson correspondent). This, is the first official announcement of the financial magnitude of the task facing the Government in preventing erosion. One member of the deputation said that 30 acres of his- holding of 87 acres had disappeared down the river, and he feared that with the next flood his home and sheds would be swept away. The shingle banks were above the level of his property, and the rivers were choked with willows. Mr. Semple said that river erosion was an immense problem, as economic loss was being suffered through-land being swept into the Pacific Ocean. Surveys had been made, and an approximate estimate of the total cost of £3,000,000 had been submitted to ;?im. Addressing Mr. J. Corde, chairman of the Waimea County Council, . the Minister said: "You fellows have been terrified at the prospective sins of Labour, yet we have been doing things that no other party has been prepared to tackle." The survey of the Wairoa and Wai-iti Rivers would be completed within two months, after which, said the Minister, he would consider the request. .^_____