THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 1929. INLAND WATERWAYS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20338, 20 August 1929, Page 8

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 1929. INLAND WATERWAYS.

When navigation and drainage conditions on the Waikato River were being discussed at the week-end, representatives of the Auckland Harbour Board mentioned the possibility of the Waiuku Canal appearing again as a scheme within practical range. This recalls the fact that there is available, on record officially, a mass of valuable data bearing on the inland waterways of the Auckland Province. It is, perhaps, of little more than academic interest to discuss canals, when existing transport facilities seem, if anything, ahead of transport demands. When railways and motors are disputing the patronage offering, and the depredations of the one are accused of making profitable working by the other virtually impossible, there seems little point in proposing seriously to provide a third transport facility to compete with the existing two. Conditions at present are unstable, if not actually confused, and it is not improbable that new developments, not yet discernible, may alter them materially. The emergence of the motor vehicle as a serious competitor of the railway means that road transport, long thought to have been conquered by the railed track, has revived in importance. The canal may yet have its day of renewed importance, especially in areas like the river valleys of the Auckland Province, where canalisation and increased efficiency in land drainage may go hand in hand. Especially if sentiment in favour of relying on native power resources instead of costly imported fuel gains ground, there may come an impulse to examine again the possibility of inland waterways for the transport of heavy goods such as fertilisers, machinery, building material and the produce of the soil. ■The most up-to-date and readily available information on Auckland's waterways is to be found in the report of the Inland Waterways Commission. In 1921, it investigated the whole question of linking up harbours and rivers so that there might be something like a round trip from Auckland through the Thames and Waikato Valleys, and back again. The vehicles imagined were barges of shallow draught and high carrying capacity. The question of a ship canal connecting the Waitemata and the Manukau was touched on briefly, was not viewed favourably, and was not', therefore, considered in very great detail. This commission was far from being first in the field, as it acknowledged by frequent references to earlier inquiries. It was able to quote, for example, a report dated February 1, 1860, containing plans for, and an estimate of the cost of, a caftal between the Waitemata and the Manukau, via the Tamaki Isthmus. There was no recommendation that an elaborate system of canals should be undertaken immediately. The commission sketched various projects that might be attempted when a return justifying the expenditure involved was in sight. As the first and most immediately feasible work, it considered the Tamaki Canal, to connect the two harbours. The area surrounding the upper reaches of the Manukau was suggested as the scene of Auckland's great industrial development of the future. Considering what is happening at Westfield, Southdown and a number of other points on the railway route as far as Otahuhu, the probability of this prediction being fulfilled will not be seriously disputed. The commission, therefore, suggested that the Auckland Harbour Board, as the appropriate body to undertake the work, should consider cutting the canal, impounding the waters of the Manukau above the Mangere Bridge, and conducting extensive reclamation work along the existing foreshore of the great lake that would thus be created. With roads, railway sidings, and barge traffic on the impounded waters, the report suggested that there would be sufficient transport facilities to hasten development of a great industrial area and justify the cutting of the Tamaki Canal.

The linking of the Waitcmata and the Manukau was only the first step the commission considered. The value of the work would bo greatly enhanced, it believed, if the Waikato River could be brought into service for further barge traffic. It therefore advanced, as possible, if not so immediately feasible, a connection between the Manukau and the Waikato, via Waiuku. 89t.11 these sites. Tamaki and Waiuku, it may be noted in passing, were old Maori portages. The commission submitted tentative plans for a barge canal, or, alternatively, a , barge railway, of specially wide gauge, across the divide from

Waiuku to the Awarua Creek on the Waikato side. Thus the Waikato and itg tributaries would be given direct connection not only with the new industrial district on the Manukau shores, but'with the Waiteraata Harbour, and the busy Auckland wharves. A further linking canal, much greater in length, and believed still further in the future was described. This would connect the upper reaches of the Piako River —and therefore the Thames estuary —with the Mangawara Creek, which discharges into the Waikato at Taupiri. South of this point the Waikato is not so difficult of navigation as in long stretches between Taupiri and the sea. The commission believed that with this cut made deep enough, small coastal steamers would be able to ply between Auckland and not only the upper reaches of the Waikato, but the valley of the Waipa. Admitting that the cost of this canal, some 27 miles in length, would be so great as to make it out of practical range for many years, the report nevertheless suggested it might be considered as an alternative to the Waiuku Canal, because of navigational difficulties on the lower Waikato. Assuming both could be constructed, (he possibility of a great circular water route through the central vallejs of the Auckland Province at once appears. With transport in its present condition, every phase of the scheme outlined would need to be very carefully tested before even the elementary beginnings were seriously considered. The chief interest of all the information gathered is its demonstration of the great length of undeveloped waterways the Auckland Province possesses.