SAND DRIFT IN THE NORTH.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 9855, 24 July 1914, Page 7

SAND DRIFT IN THE NORTH.

300,000 ACRE® THREATENED. WELLINOTON, July 22. Tli© sand drift of the narrow tongue of that terminates the North Auckland! Peninsula is the subject of a paragraph in. the report of the Kauri Gum Commissioners. Discussing thus matter, the Commission states: ."A matter affecting that portion of the narrow peninsula extending northward from Ahipara for fifty miles to a point within about three miles o{ the North Cape is the rapid advance of the sand drift, which threatens, if unchecked, to cover the whole of the area indicated/ The stretch of country within the limits' described comprises an area of 301,000 acres, of which 100,000 acres are Crown lands, represented by areas included in kauri gum reserves, education reserves, and unoccupied Crown, lands. Your Commissioners were much impressed with the seriousness of the position, and at various meetings endeavoured to obtain specific evidence of the rate of progress of the drift. Although the evidence given was not based on any actual measurements taken, and is of a somewhat general character, it at all events tends to emphasise the necessity of some immediate action being taken to check the advance of the sand. 'Tour Commissioners are of opinion that the reclamation and subsequent afforestation of the 100,000 acres of sandy waste included in the narrow peninsula, and the protection of the balance of the lands from the advancing sand drift, is a matter calling for early and serious consideration."