£40,000 RISE

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 54, Issue 32651, 28 November 1945, Page 5

£40,000 RISE

PROJECT FOR THE PLAINS COPPER DEFICIENCY COMMENTS BY MR SUTHERLAND Pleasure at the fact that the production from the Hauraki Plains had risen very close to £1,000,009 was expressed by Mr A. S. Sutherland (National— Hauraki), when speaking on the Hauraki Plains (Drainage Operations) Report in the House of Re- ( presentatives. That was the value of butter, cheese, cattle, pigs, etc., produced on te Plains, he said, and represented an increase of about £40,000 over last year. That was very satisfactory, because the land had only recently .been developed. Stop-banks had been constructed' for about seven miles along the Hauraki Gulf foreshore, and they- had' been of immense benefit to the people of the area, because they .had prevented spring tides from flowing on to much valuable land. Further stop-banks had been erected along the Waihou

river, and that, too, had been a, very good' scheme. There was reference in the report to the ferry across the.Piako river, at Kaihere. That service was interrupted for a period of 15 days, while the pontoon was being repaired'. Now that the war was over, it was time that the construction of a bridge at Pipiroa was considered to replace the ferry. It was on an imporfnnt highway running from Thames, to Auckland.

Mr Sutherland congratulated the chief drainage engineer, Mr R. L. Innis, and his staff on the valuable work they had done during the past year. During the war years the staff had been depleted, numbering only 40' men, compared with . 200' in prewar years. He hoped now that , the war was over, the staff would be built up again to its previous strength. Then one could look for a speeding up in the work of land development, drainage and land settlement on the Hauraki Plains. He hoped that blocks ready for settlement would be handed over to the Minister at an early date . for the settlement of returned exservicemen. The land was fertile, and required no fertiliser- a great advantage at the present time.