DRAINAGE PLAN

Taranaki Daily News, 17 February 1933, Page 3

DRAINAGE PLAN

THE MAKURI SWAMP AREA PUBLIC WORKS MAKES OFFER EXPENDITURE OF £25,000 LAND TAKEN FOR SERVICE CLOSER SETTLEMENT AIM To a keenly, interested audience of farmers effected at Douglas on Wednesday evening Mr. P. Keller, district engineer to the Public Works Department, outlined a scheme for the draining of about 2500 acres of the Makuri swamp at a cost of roughly £25,000, based on terms of such an unusual nature that for a time the farmers were at a loss to appreciate the full meaning of the Briefly, the department suggested that it would undertake to construct a main drainage channel through the full seven miles of the swamp, build and metal a new road paralleling a channel, cut secondary outfalls to drain "fingers _ of the valley, attend to the work of tertiary or farm drains, fill in old watercourses and remove stumps or logs from the so that on completion of the work m areas previously effected by the water, about 18 months time the swamp land would be cleared of all obstructions to farming, drained and roaded ready tor intensive and highly productive farming operations. . . In return for these services owners who benefited were. asked to pay no money but to cede to the Crown for the purpose of closer settlement land equal in value to 40 per cent, of the cost expended. In assessing the amount to be ceded the ultimate value of the reclaimed land would be accepted by the Crown. For instance, if the cost of reclaiming an acre of level land was £lO, theij the owner would return 40 per cent, in value of, £lO, or £4 in land of which the suggested final value would be in the vicinity of £2O per acre. In such a case the owner would cede one-fifth of an acre valued at £4 and would retain to himself newly productive land to the value of £l6, as against the present value of the swamp generously assessed at about £B. There was a proviso in the proposal that the land to be ceded should not exceed onequarter of the total area of flat land directly improved by the introduction-of the scheme. ' After devoting nearly three nours to present in a position to vote decided by a weighing the merits of the proposal those majority of 10 to 4 to support the scheme, and conditions outlined by the Public Works Department, subject to the proviso that after the detailed surveys were completed a committee or settlers and representatives of Government Departments that win be confuted to the satisfaction of the Minister of Public Works, should, have power to decide upon the. areas, or equivalent cash value, to be* ceded to the Crown. The meeting also agreed that a committee already in existence, consisting of Messrs. J. Wood (chairman), J. C. Robins, W. H. Wallace and W. Bredow should continue to function in the meantime. PUBLIC WORKS ACTIVITY. Mr. T R. Anderson, chairman of the Stratford County Council and of the Stratford’ Unemployment Committee, was elected chairman. There were about 30 settlers present. . The chairman explained that at the last meeting of the Unemployment Comceived for relief labour to assist in clearmittee at Stratford a request was reing the Makuri drain. In the subsequent discussion it was proposed that the committee arrange a meeting with ratepayers interested in the draining or the swamp area with a view to the evolution of some . comprehensive scheme. Since that meeting was called he had learned that the Public Works Department had been engaged in working out a plan of its own, and for that reason the district engineer and the assistant engineer (Mr. J. E. Anderson) had been invited to attend. Mr. J. Woods, chairman of the Huiroa branch of the Farmers’ Union, and of the committee previously set up to consider the matter of draining the swamp area, gave a concise resume of the steps already taken by settlers. Some time ago, he said, a meeting was convened at Huiroa and a tentative scheme discussea, in respect of which a small committee was set up to carry on negotiations This committee petitioned the Unemployment Board to establish camps at intervals along the swamp with a view to carrying out drainage operations on a fairly large scale. This petition received the support of local bodies and the Stratford Chamber •of Commerce, but the committee never even received a reply from the board. • The chairman: I believe that seeming discourtesy can be explained by Mr. Keller; The Unemployment Board evidently placed the matter in the hands of the Public Works Department.,' Mr. Keller: In effect, that is so. At the invitation of the chairman Mr. Keller then proceeded to outline a proposal upon which his department had been working recently, but firstly, m order to reassure Mr. Wood, he traversed the steps taken by the Unemployment Board and the investigations made by the Public Works Department. DETAILS OF THE PLAN.

The department set out its proposals in a lengthy memorandum which explained that under the proposal'it was contemplated to improve the lands concerned to a condition where intensive dairying might be immediately undertaken and the lands brought to their maximum capacity as soon as possible. To this end the department proposed to undertake: —

(1) The straightening, by a new cnannel, of the Makuri stream from the common junction of the Makuri, Mohakau and Akama Roads to a point to be determined upon some distance below the Stratford to Taumarunui main highway. (2) The formation and metalling of a new road alongside thi* channel connecting the end of the Toko Road with the Makuri, Mohakau and Akama Roads at their common junction.. Any other unformed roads already existing in the valley would be closed and their areas merged into adjoining properties. (3) The cutting of secondary outfall and catchwater channels to drain the principal “fingers" or ramifications of the main valley, including the new regular and straightened secondary channels in substitution of the ) irregular and tortuous courses of the Upper Makuri, the Mohakau and Mangaere streams. <4) The cutting of tertiary, or farm drains, adequate to the drainage reouirements of high class pastoral lands. " (5) The filling in of all watercourses which might be substituted by new channels. • . The proposed works would occuny fiom 18 to 24 months, and on their completion the area would be cleared of all far mmg obstructions, drained and roaded. It would be in a conation very' suitable tor subdivision end, d’spo—il bv sale or share-milking. Within two years the farmer would be able to devote his

whole attention to more productive work on his farm and would be relieved of the necessity of carrying out those pioneering developmental works which for many years to come would seriously interfere with his earning capacity. While certain of these works could be carried out by the owner, a great deal, in tne absence of suitable tools and plant, could be done only at heavy personal cost, while matters such as the mam channel and the road could not be undertaken at all. COMPREHENSIVE SCHEME. After detailing the functions of a Drainage Board which was the settiers alternative to the departments scheme, and drawing attention to the usual method of financing such a work as the new road, the memorandum explained that under the proposed scheme the department would, in addition to its ordinary functions, take over the constructional functions of a drainage board, and would also carry'out on a comprehensive plan the farm draining for the individual farmer himself. In return for these- services it would expect substantial consideration from the land owners served, not in cash but in land to be ceded to the Crown for closer settlement purposes. It would expect a payment in land equal to 40 per dent, of the cost expended on the services, wholly excluding sections normally free for road formation and partly excluding those normally subsidised for road metalling. Incidentally a 40 per cent, return on expenditure, based on relief rates of pay, and efficient mechanical plait would ■probably be not more than a 25 per cent, return on the cost of similar work carried out In normal times, at normal rates of pay and with such plant and equipment as the individual settler and a drainage board would be likely to employ. In other words, a present proposed expenditure of £lO would be inSed to about £l6 under ordinary C °ln dl oXr- to arrive , correctly at the basis for individual repayment, the ex X would be kept separately for each property traversed, but in the an Sde P of any detailed survey it was impossible to forecast the P robable C ° S g within fairly wide limits, say from £8 to £l2 per acre of river flat. > ESTIMATE OF .WORK, To assist in the application of the proposal to individual cases it might be reasonably assumed that (a) The cost of the improvements might be the average of the above Stoned S 3 to (b) The average value of tiiese lands in their present condition and at tne present day- prices of produce would be £ (c) Pe, lhe average value of these same lands after the proposed improvements would be £2O per acre. . Then,’for each acre of'flat land Improved 40 per cent, of £lO, or £4, would be returned to the Crown in land valued at £2O per acre. In such case the settle would cede one-fifth of an acre (value £4), and would retain land to the value of £l6, as against a present value of £8 with the prospect of an eventual Sue of £20,-but only after manjr years and at a developmental cost to him of Settlers concerned were asked were prepared to offer their property m the area for improvement as indicated pn a basis of a 40 per cent, return to the Crown in land value, with say, a proviso that the land returned should not exceed one-quarter- of the total area of flat -land so improved. The roughly estimated cost of the work was given by Mr. Keller as follows: Constructing seven miles of mam drainage channel £5OOO, building and metalling the new road, also of seven miles, and carrying out bridge work Where access lay on the other side , of the channel £7200, cutting secondary channels and catchwaters £4200, making farm drains, etc., £lOOO, filling in old watercourses £4700, stumping and logging £2OOO, snagging work in a particular area of the swamp near Huinga (Baylys farm) £lOOO, total estimated cost without detailed surveys, £25,000. These figures, said Mr; Keller, were approximate only but were close enough for the purpose of the meeting. They included all such items as the cost ?of establishing and equipping camps, freight, plant. and . material. Wages had been taken in at standard relief rates as for married men, ' QUESTIONS BY FARMERS. Many questions were immediately fired at Mr. Keller. He explained that owners of land m the swamp area were bound to derive material benefit from the scheme. They would not be required, unless they so chose, to - contribute in cash, and although they might find themselves with a slightly smaller area, it would constitute a much better farm, unhampered by waste areas of swamp land. The chairman: Speaking from a purely county point of view I would like to impress upon settlers concerned that the only alternative to their handling of the work themselves lies in the formation of a drainage' board—that is, if you turn down this proposal. Mr. W. H. Wallace disagreed with the opinion that the swamp was waste land. At any season it was not entirely useless, he said, and during dry spells it was in’fact a very valuable asset. There, was always good dry weather feed in the swamp. / . Mr. Keller explained that the department did not propose to take away the best parts of the drained area. A fair thing had to .be done naturally, and the Crown was prepared, within reason, to take the good with the bad—some hills with some flat, according to the configuration of the valley. Mr. L. Bunn asked if the land to,be ceded would be,- selected before or after the fanners were committed to the scheme,;.. - "■ . ■. ■' ■

Mr. Keller: All I am asking. for at present is general .approval of the scheme. Matters of valuation and selection are outside the province of engineers or the Public Works Department. We are mainly concerned in doing the job, but I would suggest that .a committee be formed consisting, of interested farmers, together with representatives' of the Valuation Department, Lands Department and the Public Works Department. This committee could go very fully into, all questions of valuation after detailed surveys have been made. Meanwhile I want you farmers, if you so approve, to express your recognition of the justice of ceding to the Crown a piece of land in return for the work proposed to be done. To another questioner he said it was only reasonable to expect settlers’ con-' tributions to be in proportion to the direct and individual benefit gained. It would be no concern of one farmer what amount of work was done on another’s land. Personally, he believed the increased value of the land after drainage would be the best basis upon which to allot the Crown’s share. EQUITABLE TREATMENT. / In reply to Mr. E. S. Rutherfurd Mr. Keller said the suggestion that ,the land return should not exceed one quarter of the land definitely improved was inserted so as not to deprive . tiny owner of good sections. He realised the scheme at present bristled with details that would have to be worked out, but which could be solved. For instance there was the question of so taking the Crown’s share that a farm of decent size and shape would be available for subsequent settlcmciil. Mr. Rutherfurd commented upon the benefit of a neW metalled road running

from near Huinga to beyond huiroa and showed how facilities in transport would enhance dairying operations all through the valley. ■ That the scheme was worthy of consideration, especially in view of the recent Small Farm Act, was the opinion x of Mr. J. C. Robins, District Public Trustee. At present, he said, everything was still vague, and landholders had to be satisfied Jhat they would derive substantial benefits. To his mind there was a good deal of merit in the scheme, more especially as any land owner not troubled by the swamp would not be required to contribute. It seemed to Mr. Robins that settlers could not go very far. wrong in approving the plan with the idea of making application to the department to proceed with the preparation, of detailed surveys. Once this was done more definite information , would be available as to the effect of the scheme upon individuals concerned. He believed the position at present was* that Mr. Keller could not move further until settlers gave their approval and applied for the survey. Mr. Keller: That is so. , Mr. A. Marfell mentioned: that in his opinion the department had under-esti-mated the 'cost of clearing and stumping. . . A voice: It may cost £lOO an acre. Another farmer, however, pointed out that the department would use modern machinery and proper stumping equipment. THE SCHEME APPROVED. Dealing with a question of labour costs Mr. Keller said the main channel and the road would cost about £12,000, or nearly one half of the total estimated expenditure. Mr. Percy Thomson, Mayor of Stratford and a member of the Stratford-Un-employment Committee, commended the scheme to the settlers. In the past, he said, unemployment work had been concerned only with small schemes in the . district. Now a chance was presented of developing a large operation that had for its object the increase of production, the improvement of more or less waste lands, and the settlement of more families. The unemployment problem was not always going to exist, so it behoved settlers to move now and take advantage of the opportunity. He also said that with the completion of the Strat-ford-Main Trunk railway the department would be able to throw its whole energy into the work, and gave farmers the assurance that the committee at Strat.ford would assist in every possible manner. Mr. M. Ford also favoured the scheme and said Mr. Keller should be thanked, be having brought it forward and given the settlers the opportunity of discussing it. To Mr. Wood Mr. Keller said he did -. not think the detailed survey would cost settiers anything. This would be a matter his department would have to shoulder itself. .

The resolution was then framed and adapted, ten of the settlers competent to vote favouring it and four opposing it