THE HAURAKI PLAINS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19558, 10 February 1927, Page 8

THE HAURAKI PLAINS.

The drainage problems of the Patetonga area of the Hauraki Plains, which have been investigated by a committee set up by the Minister of Lands, have only local significance. For the benefit of those who are unacquainted with the drainage of the land along the Piako River, it should be emphasised that the main scheme, which has already brought a large portion of the 100,000 acres of the area into production or partial production, has not been under critical review. The upper land in question is part of a natural ponding area where deep peat rests upon a clay bottom which in places is below sea level and therefore undrainable by ordinary gravitation. Unfortunately, there is a group of settlers who were permitted to take up sections upon land upon the fringes of this depression, and in their cases remissions of rent and arrears have wisely been granted. That an expert committee should be set up to deal with a scheme that is roughly estimated to cost £150,000 solely to benefit part of an area of 30,500 acres is a.nother matter, about which the Minister has been sufficiently non-committal to discourage the hopes of the people concerned. The proposition can hardly be considered to be economically feasible. To date, the whole scheme has cost in the vicinity of £500,000, and to swell this sum by over one-fifth to increase the capacity of the outfall system right to the sea could hardly be justified seeing that the lower lands already drained ; do not require it and, therefore, could not be expected to bear portion of the cost. The ponding area of the upper reaches is a safety valve during flood. It enables the river and canals to carry off the water by degrees, and much of it musii remain .waste land, The

general position of the Hauraki Plains has been improving steadily, particularly since the stop-banking of the .Waihou has prevented the overflow of flood water into the Piako.' Last winter the rich settled lands escaped flood difficulties, and there is every reason for believing that the district, which already has high production, will reach higher standards still under the improving farming methods which are apparent everywhere. The success of the Hauraki drainage scheme is proved by the production of the land. Last year the drained area sent away over half a million pounds worth of exportable produce, a sum that is more than half of the total cost of the works to date. Thus the work has been a splendid national investment—a fact that should not be forgotten in any consideration of the purely local troubles in the Patetonga riding of the county.