DRAINING THE SWAMP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18685, 15 April 1924, Page 13

DRAINING THE SWAMP.

THE EANGITAEKI ASM. SCHEME NEAR COMPLETION. [TOO MANY LARGE HOLDINGS. THE GOVERNMENT PURCHASE . No. XT. " • Within a year it is expected that the Tiaiigitaiki drainage scheme will be completed, and the whole of the 100,000 acres ■will be free from the menace of serious flood, and adequate outlet \ facilities provided to enable landowners to thoroughly drain their farms. As in the Piako and every other drained swamp area, maintenance work will continue to lie a permanent charge on the land. In such fertile soil weed growth, particularly that of raupo, is very rapid and if neglected would soon choke the outlets and reduce the efficiency of the scheme. A striking instance of "the obstruction rushes and water-weeds create in a channel was observed last winter in the older portion of the Hauraki. Up to the point where clearing had been carried a drain had ample capacity to carry off the water of a heavy rain. Above the section in which rushes remained the water banked op as if a solid block had occurred.

What the Swamp Will Be, Rangitaiki, no longer a swamp, but not yet quite a plain, is the block of country covered by a span from Whakatane to Matata. The Bay of Plenty bounds it on the north, and a sweeping curve of hills shuts it in. The hills rise almost abruptly and when this rich territory is fuily developed and closely settled it will present an alluring sight to the traveller when he comes across the hills from Rotorur. or from the Opotiki side where another span of rich land sweeps inward from the sea.

The traveller, if he is a etranger, may have decided from the nature of the rough land through which he has passed, thai he has left the lands of high productivity and is more likely to reach barren desolation than a bay of plenty in actual fact. And suddenly there will spread out before his astonished eyes as fair a scene as ever rejoiced the heart of a man with love for fertile fields and growing crops. Those southerners who in earlier years went seeking for virgin country where they might reap the full reward of their labour, saw the possibilities of the R»ugitaiki and their judgment was absolutely sound. It was * land of promise they had found, and it was only because the draining of these wonderful acres was too great for pioneers to accomplish with limited resources, that the day of fulfilment was delayed. They have not been the only people in New Zealand to find- the land of their heart's desire, but who have grown old waiting for the fruition of their dreams.

The National Aspect. But the disappointments of the individual are mere chips on the stream of life, and whatever tribulations the Hangitaiki district may have had for this individual and that, do not weigh in a general survey. The seaward territory over which Mount Edgecombe stands sentinel is destined to become one of - the choices districts in a favoured country, the economic life of which is based on the fruits of the soil.. The city is not- developing the province the developing province is founding the city, a tact jo remember when considering our land resources and particularly the potentialities of the rich swamp lands . that are being acclaimed. To pay our way and prosper is the immediate objective, but the making of a nation and the strengthening of an Empire is the great co-operative job in which we all find ourselves engaged, whetner we . realise it or not. And just as Briain's fertile shores ware the original base of the greatness of the island kingdom, so must the lands of this Dominion be the base of the national edifice we raise. It is just this fact that raises the drainage of such a swamp from the plana of the purely material—the plane of pounds, shillings and pence, where the individual counts and calculates and judges the results by the "rake-off"to that of the highest patriotism. To-day one may meet men who talk gloomily about the Bangitaiki "hanging lire " who suggest that because the land boom has burst, the Bangitaiki has burst. The place has not begun. If their attitude of mind had been common to Britons down through the centuries, English fens would still be marshes and never a sea-wall would have been raised. Too Many Largo Holdings.

The district has not developed as rapidly as could have been wished because ranch of the land is held in area« too large for the individual to handle. It is noticeable that where close sub-division has taken place, development is most marked. A little farm . well-tilled should be tne guiding principle on land of such . high fertility and that ideal is bound to come if from no other cause than economic pressure. Recently the State bought an area of 1000 acres and there are rumours that it is negotiating for more. The resulting sub-divisions should silence the Jeremiahs. The otlKsr day, one saw on the farm of a soldier a paddock on which two crops of grain were grown this season, the first of early sown maize that gave a hizh yield and the second of oats now stacked. .There is another soldier's farm of 100 acres taken up in a raw state, but, cow «vei7 acre has been under the plough. As part of large holdings, the owners of which were unable to raise sufficient finance as a consequence of the boom, these fino farms probably would have been running a few rough stock or if .developed would have been carrying the burden of other idle acres. If by Government purchase or by the means of sub-division being provided by private capital, closer setlement is pressed forward on the Rangitaiki a national ser- . vice will be rendered.