THE NORTHERN ADVOCATE Registered for transmission through the Post as a Newspaper. SATURDAY APRIL 19, 1947. Ten Year Plan For Northland

Northern Advocate, 19 April 1947, Page 6

THE NORTHERN ADVOCATE Registered for transmission through the Post as a Newspaper. SATURDAY APRIL 19, 1947. Ten Year Plan For Northland

The Government’s ten year plan for the development of Northland, outlined by the Minister of Works to representatives of local bodies yesterday afternoon will be read with keen interest throughout the peninsula. In contra-distinction to some other areas, where drastic changes from past policy have been decided upon —the Rimutaka Tunnel, linking the Wairarapa with the western railway system, thus obviating the mountain climb, is a case in point—Mr Semple was not able to make any dramatic announcement concerning Northland.

At the same time he produced a programme of developmental works which not only emphasises the intrinsic value of Northland’s soil, but sets out the industrial and commercial potentialities of the territory.

Facts and figures quoted by the Minister will surprise people, even Northlanders, who have not made themselves acquainted with the extent to which development has taken place in Northland or of the possibilities that exist for greater growth if necessary works are taken in hand systematically and in accordance with rightful priority. It is the purpose of the ten year plan that these things should be done, thus avoiding the haphazard methods adopted in earlier days, when plans were necessarily made to meet the immediate needs of isolated localities, thus hindering, very often, the development which would have eventuated in wider areas if long-range planning had taken place. Mr Semple stressed the fact that the plan submitted was not to be regarded as the last word on the subject of Northland’s advancement, but was rather to/be used as a basis for development by regional authorities.

This is as it should be, for while it is essential that broad lines of policy must always be laid down, subsidiary branches should be capable of alteration or adaptation in the light of experience. This makes difficult any searching analysis of the ten year plan at the present time, for Mr Semple has merely assembled a large number of projects, each of which is highly important in its own sphere, but which may not be put in hand for a number of years. The real value of the plan consists in the fact that a comprehensive survey of Northland's present and prospective needs has been made, thus allowing regional authorities, local bodies and the general public to know what is on the drawing board and to visualise ultimate effects if the plans come to fruition. Many of the projects included in the plan have already been mooted or set in motion by local bodies, but this does not detract from the effort made to put in their proper order all works that may reasonably be ex-

pected to be completed within ten years. The existence of the plan, of course, does not ensure that all the schemes will be completed, but that will depend upon the extent to which local bodies and the people facilitate the carrying out of the plan. Realising that the land is the main source of prosperity of the Dominion, the Minister said at the outset that the conservation and further development of farm land formed the basis of the ten year plan.

For that reason much attention is to be paid to increasing grassland by big swamp drainage schemes; to reclaiming vast areas of coastal sand dunes; to providing ample supplies of lime; to clearing willows from streams; to improving existing highways and to making new ones; and to encourage Maoris to farm their land.

These are only some of the land settlement schemes included in the plan, and all, it will be agreed, are to be heartily commended. It is good to hear that a large roading programme is projected, for, as everybody who uses the roads of Northland knows, lack of maintenance has resulted in serious deteri- ' oration of road surfaces, while a great deal needs to be done to straighten many stretches of highway and improve the grades. Work of this nature, together with the replacement of some 500 bridges, big and small, is foreshadowed.

Transport by road, sea and air is set down for improved facilities, this constituting an interesting phase of the plan, as does the extension of electrical reticulation. The industrialisation of Northland is included in the plan; in this connection Whangarei people will be gratified to learn that the Minister is alive to the possibilities of the schemes outlined by the Harbour Board, which is convinced that the combination of a deep-water harbour and a large area of fiat land at Kioreroa would make ideal conditions for an industrial centre, while at the same time providing a lai-ge and conveniently situated aerodrome. Other centres, like Whangarei, will be greatly interested in the planned erection of public buildings of large dimensions to meet the growing demands of Northland.

We have mentioned only some of the proposals contained in the ten year plan, which would be reviewed each financial year by the Commissioner of Works and the Minister, who would recommend to the Government the works which should be started in the next financial year.

However, as Mr Semple explained that the Government is not to be committed to start any particular work at any particular time, no useful criticism of the details of the plan can be made at the moment, but it will be gratifying to hear that plans for some of the works are well forward.