SWAMP DRAINAGE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLII, Issue 20465, 9 July 1936, Page 8

SWAMP DRAINAGE

WORK AT HIKURANGI NOT A SUCCESS By Telegraph Hr.-.,, WHANGAREI, July 8. The Hon. R. Semple to-day inspected the Hikurangi swamp drainage area of 50,000 acres. The sum of. £360,000 has been spent on drainage operations but the land is still subject to severe flooding after heavy rain. This, it is contended, is due to the outlet for the converging drains being too small. Mr Semple said the Public Works Department engineers took no responsibility for what had been done in the lands Department. From what little information he had gleaned the Lands Department evidently started at the wrong end of the job. Before an expenditure of £360,000 had been undertaken there should have been a comprehensive survey and study of the habit of the water, its volume, plus the capacity of the outlet. “We have nothing to do with promises made by past governments,” said Mr Semple, “but if it is possible to do something to justify the huge expenditure here, that is our responsibility The expenditure of hundreds of thousands of public money with little or no return is a disaster inflicting a dead weight on unproductive debt. Before any further money is spent here a thorough investigation will be necessary. We are not going to push ahead indiscriminately unless we know what should be done and that there will be no more waste.”