SWAMPS OP THE NORTH.

Northern Advocate, 25 April 1921, Page 4

SWAMPS OP THE NORTH.

RAVAGES BY FIIiE

V:is< damage has been done in various yours to Slate assets in the way of .■\v:ii)ij)s ol ilio North by I lie ravages of fires. sor:u times caused by accident, but more lreqnently s'arting from burning necessarily done by giimdiggers in order 1o dear away scrub to facilitate their operations. The Porotaniwha swamp, in 1 '; r llouhora, Ims been on fire for the last four or live months, and, v,-rites a traveller now in the North, is ...ill binning; and there are also fires In other swamps. When onee a fire breaks out it usually continues right through the summer months, and some have been known to extent far into the winter. Apart from the burning of gum, which usually abounds in the Northern swamps, there is still great to the Dominion in the destruction ,f humus, rendering the land practically useless for agricultural purposes, for the usual experience is that tho .rood- which permeates the soil of the *wamp is destroyed down to the water level. It is, of course, only the drain- ■ oil or partly-drained swamps that take fire; hence the necessity for assuring, that drainage works shall be carried oilt under a properly regulated isystem. Vet when the Kauri Gum Commission inspected one swamp in the North on Crown property, it found that a drain about a mile in length had been cut by gumdiggers an-.l was still being extended for the purpose of getting at the gum in the swamp without, any consultation of th? Land* Department authorities. One of the problems which lias been committed to the Commission for inquiry is how the system of gumdiggers' fires should be regulfitcd. The Teneral trend of the evidence so far is -hat burning should be permitted only in the months from April to September or October. Some witnesses also consider that it should be done under ' the supervision of officers to be ap- ! oointe-l by the Department, who should ' ave charge of tho swamps in well-'d©-"ned districts.