THE PIAKO SWAMP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14240, 10 December 1909, Page 6

THE PIAKO SWAMP.

■■■'■'■ — '.■' "*" '.'■.':■:";.-('^al^tt SUCCESS OF DRAINAGE OPERA* * TIONS. [BY TELEGRAM.— COIUIbSrONBEKT.] i Wellington, Thursday. ' ' Mr. William C. Brkakall, who has been the engineer in charge of the draining of . the Hauraki Plains (Piako Swamp), and who is now on three months' leave of ab- j sence preparatory to his retirement, elates 1 ; I that the operations have been wonderfully successfully, and that by the end of the present financial year there should be 15,000 j' acres, of the 90,000 acres in , the block, j available for settlement. "It is beautiful , land," said he, " and will prove as rich » / block as there is in New Zealand. It is & rich alluvial soil, that will cut up admirably into small dairy farms, a property, that, if taken up by a private company, would yield a profit of a-quarter of. a mil- j lion in four years. A party of four suf- j veyors are at present cutting .up the land .'] into areas ranging from 150 to 300 acres in extent, and this area (the 15,000 acres) has , only taken two years to drain." "Ho* ;; is it to be disposed of?" Mr. BruakaJl was , asked by a Dominion reporter. "Well,, that is, to my mind, a very importM*, question," replied he. " Under the present' Land for Settlement Act these lands W only be disposed of by ballot, but I do netthink the.Government would be doing ju»-S tice to itself if it disposed of these lands' by ballot. • The unearned increment is goinfc to be too great for that. Take the <***. the swamp I reclaimed at Northern W&Wj now known as the Raupo settlement. Anyone could have bought that land before * was drained for 7s 6d per acre., VrnW happened? It was sold for £2 10b an acreJj ; and some of the lessees had paid .onlj s , year's rent of half-a-crown an acre, wnent they were able to sell out at £10 to fiJj an acre." "What tenure do you prop** for Hauraki?" "I think the Government] should sell it, by auction. What the Ua will bring is the best value to go upb»> * could to-day sell any amount of it at** an acre. It should be put up for auction, either for cash, for occupation with right ox purchase, or for lease. This would mean an amendment of the Act, but that njgw easily be got over by an amendment *° the Hauraki Plains Act of last session. « that is not done. I am of opinion that u State will lose heavily. It is a mWj*" property, and the disposal of it should" safeguarded in some such way as I W ge»t," •■ :