RANGITAIKI DRAINAGE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15613, 20 May 1914, Page 11

RANGITAIKI DRAINAGE

DIVERSION OUTLET. OPEN;' : ; RIVER FALLS 1 FIVE' FEET. ] 'AREA 0F.87,100 ACRES : BENEFITED./ [IIT TELEGRAPH—OWN CORRESPONDENT.] ''• . Witakatane, Tuesday. TBI main, outfall of the scheme for the drainage of the Rangitaiki swamp lands was opened, at midnight, : with : ' highly satisfactory results. Within an hour after the opening of the sluice-gates at tlio mouth of the new Rangitaiki diyerfiion, the water had fallen three feelV and by eight o'clock this morning it 'had'. . dropped five feet, and was still /.falling fant. The water-level is alveady . below . tils lowest summer level. ,>: / '-~':; / -''. :: '

ft was interded that the sluice-gates should be opened with some • ceremony next Tuesday, but'owing to an exceptionally heavy flood the assistant land drainage engineer (Mr. 0. N. Campbell) dotided that delay would be dangerous. Shortly after the gates were' removed all hands had to turn out to secure the' Priestman dredger, which has been used in the cutting out of the diversion channel. ' It was being carried out to sea in the tremendous rush of- water, but with difficulty was securely moored. Great satisfaction is expressed by the many settlers in., the district at the. completion of tho new cut. A large numlior of people drove out from Whakatane to view the. scene, which is now an animated one.

Drainage operations in the Rangitaiki Plains were commenced at tip. beginning of 1911, under the authority of the Rangi-'. taiki Land Drainage Act of 1910, which provided, for the financing of the scheme by loans not exceeding,a total of £50.000 from the. State Advances - Offices (local authorities branch). Tho area affected is 87,100 acres, of which the greater part has -Aeon occupied by settlers cither' in freehold'or under leasehold tenures. The chief work was the diversion of the Rangitaiki River by the excavation of a canal from the Oherero Bend, through sandhills, is a direct course to the sea. It is this cut which has just been completed. The canal i? nearly two miles long, and reaches the coast about seven and a-half. miles vest of the river's natural mouth, at MaMa. - A contract for the diversion was let to Messrs. Rich and Jeffreys,- their lender being £11,123, but subsequently they abandoned the work, and it -has been completed by the land drainage branch of the Lands-Department, which has also carried out the other works of the scheme. ':..•' ■

The loans advanced for" the work up to March 31, 1915, amounted to .£54,293, and the expenditure totalled. £27,345.- The whole of the moneys raised under the Act for the drainage and reclamation xt the. plains will subsequently bo repaid by the settlers by mains of a' special rate, levied, according to the benefit derived by them from the works. ' Since the passing of the Act and the commencement of drainage operations the values of lands in the plains have greatly increased. The benefits that will result from the scheme of, drainage are fast becoming apparent; The country is being rapidly watered and turned into pasture lau'a, a, noticeable feature being the sweetness of the land and ' the ease with which .it is "brought in." : Settlers are as yet mostly -foeaged in cattle raising. and ■ fattening (the swamp being already noted for its fat bullocks), out the whole area must eventually become dairying country. A cheese factory has ' already been opened on the co-operative system, the suppliers being jdl swamp settlers, and the butter factories it Matata and.Whakatane are each drawing supplies of cream from /settlers On the swamp lands. ' "/ . ....';/.