SAND DUNE AREA

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 227, 23 August 1935, Page 8

SAND DUNE AREA

MANAWATU COASTAL BELT. STEPS FOR RECLAMATION. Another step forward in the P r ®T posals for the reclamation of the sand dune area on the coastal belt between the Manawatu and liangitikei Rivers by an afforestation scheme was taken on Wednesday afternoon, when Mr H. H Sharpe, Wellington district engineer for the Public Works Department, conferred with the interested parties at Palmerston North. Appreciation was expressed of the information made available in the comprehensive set of plans recently prepared by the department, and it was unanimously decided to approach the private property owners in the area to enlist their "support for a general afforestation scheme protecting both Crown land and their own. A small committee was formed for this purpose. Arrangements for their co-operation are to be discussed at an early date, and if these can be satisfactorily concluded it is hoped to establish for tree planting work a single men) camp under the control of the Public Works Department in collaboration with the Unemployment Board. It is estimated that the inward drift and continual movement of 10,000 to 15,000 acres of sand can be checked by the tree-planting. It is understood that the Foxton Harbour Board is wholly in accord with the proposal, and will discuss it next week.