STEMMING THE ADVANCE OF THE SAND.—For years fertile farmlands in the vicinity of Helensville have been threatened with obliteration by the sand drifts which have come in from the West Coast, but it is believed that extensive planting of marram grass by the Government has now checked the menace. The top picture shows how methodically the planting has been carried out and how well the grass has taken. In the left bottom picture is shown a small area of marram planted by a harassed farmer before the Government agreed to take over the job. Owing to the coming of the summer the planting has now been suspended, but maintenance men, shown in the third photograph, are daily at work on the dunes.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 305, 23 November 1932, Page 4

STEMMING THE ADVANCE OF THE SAND.—For years fertile farmlands in the vicinity of Helensville have been threatened with obliteration by the sand drifts which have come in from the West Coast, but it is believed that extensive planting of marram grass by the Government has now checked the menace. The top picture shows how methodically the planting has been carried out and how well the gr ass has taken. In the left bottom picture is shown a small area of marram planted by a harassed farmer before the Government agreed to take over the job. Owing to the coming of the summer the planting has now been suspended, but maintenance men, shown in the third photograph, are daily at work on the dunes.