RECLAIMING THE WASH

Evening Star, Issue 18784, 7 November 1924, Page 2

RECLAIMING THE WASH

Preparations for the reclamation of land cm the Wash have now been begun (writes & correspondent of the Loudon Times ), »nd it is anticipated that in two or three ■weeks’ time the work will be actually started. The scheme _Ls part of the Government programme for the relief of unemployment, but its initiation has been largely due. to the efforts of Lieutenantcolonel Woodwark, the member for King's Lynn. Although it is stated that nearly five thousand acres of sea-swept soil are ready for reclamation, for the present the work is to be confined to between 400 and 500 acres of Crown land at Wingland, about four miles from the village of Terrington, near King’s Lynn. Part of the area la in Lincoln and part in Norfolk. If the experiment proves a success, operations on & larger scale will doubtless follow at a later date. The amount of the present contract is understood to be about £15,000. The land selected is covered with a rich alluvial sea deposit, in some places to a depth of between 3ft and 4ft, and is thus nxtremely suitable for use after recinmar ,S9B M ftgrissiiojd &ni

The work is being carried out by a wellknown Norfolk firm .of contractors, and only the most modern machinery specially adapted for the purpose will be used. It is estimated that it will be at least a year before all the 500 acres are enclosed. Soma idea of the difficulty of the work will be gathered when it is realised that across the 500 acres run two creeks, one of which is no less than 22yds wide. These will, of course, have to be filled up. The main idea of the scheme is to build a new bank to a height of about 22ft above sea-level by teams of tractors and special “scooping"’ apparatus, starting from a point in the 1871 bank-and stretching in a westerly direction for a mile and aquarter. The new bank will then continue m a south-westerly direction, and after crossing the two creeks will meet a recent extension of another bank built in 1869. After the work of enclosing the 600 acres has been completed it is proposed that the land shall he laid down to grass and graze for a couple of years, after which it will be ploughed up by specially deep steam cultivators, and will then be available for use as arable land. Experts anticipate that m about three years’ time this land Till be worth upwards of £IOO per acre.