LAND DRAINAGE IN SOUTHLAND

Southland Times, Issue 23990, 4 December 1939, Page 8

LAND DRAINAGE IN SOUTHLAND

FARMERS DISCUSS POSITION A special meeting of the OteramikaGorge Road branch of the Farmers’ Union, to discuss drainage in Southland was held at Mokotua on Saturday night. Mr B. Clearwater was chairman, and Mr L. A. Niederer, Southland County Council representative, and Mr J. Hargest, M.P., were present. The chairman said that the reason for calling the meeting was to discuss the possibility of pushing forward land drainage in Southland. The Government had recently declared its intention of placing men under Scheme No. 13 on land-development work under Scheme 48, and Southland farmers might desire to take advantage of the proposal. The Minister of Agriculture (the Hon. W. Lee Martin) would visit the Royal show at Invercargill and the Farmers’ Union had arranged a deputation to meet him and discuss the drainage. The meeting that night would assist the deputation by giving its views on what was considered necessary. Mr Niederer outlined the history of land drainage in Southland in recent years. The Southland and Wallace County Councils had sponsored several land drainage Acts which although they had done something had not been really effective, he said. The chief obstacles were the difficulty of getting all the farmers in an area to pull together, and also the refusal of Government departments to take the responsibility for the drainage charges where they held mortgages. Mr Hargest emphasized that the continued productivity of Southland depended largely on land drainage. There were still large areas in Southland well fenced and well roaded, but not fully productive because of lack of drains. Unfortunately, he said, not much of that land -would bear the charges for some years after the work was done, as it took a long period for the benefits to be derived. He said he had piloted a Land Drainage Amendment Act through Parliament in 1938; that aimed at simplifying the work of county councils in ordering the cleaning of existing drains, but the old difficulty remained. The Government departments refused to be bound.

He explained the procedure being adopted under Scheme 4B where contracts were let to relief workers and the Government reimbursed the farmer up to 75 per cent. There was a full discussion after which the meeting unanimously agreed that just as irrigation in Canterbury and land clearance in Westland were regarded as a national responsibility so should drainage be in Southland, and the work could be done effectively only with the use of machinery. It was decided to support the deputation.