THE WANGANUI RIVER

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 83, 9 April 1934, Page 6

THE WANGANUI RIVER

ITS OUTLOOK IS CHANGING WILL IT BE KEPT NAVIGABLE? SENTIMENT AND PROGRESS. (By “ Posiedon.”) Two types of service have been rendered by the Wanganui River. It has been one of New Zealand’s favoured tourist attractions and a* the same timehas afforded a means of access to a vast area of sheep country. To-dav it stands in danger of losing both attributes and the fault, if fault there is, is due to man’s desire to progress. The river’s value from a tourist point of view began to diminish as the bush land was cleared and the attra." tive fern-dominated scenery was swept away to make room for pasture. Thai was inevitable. Many another attractive locality has been spoiled by the same activity, and now can boast only of a few gaunt rata trunks along ridges that at ono time were strangely beautiful in their raiment of natural forest. Steep country, much of it of sandstone quality, has stood the river in good stead, however, in that it has not been suitable for pasture and man has hft the natural bush alone. There ar.* many areas along the waterway that will ever remain in their natural state, and most of them will be noted for giant matnaku ferns. It is not because of pasture development alone that the river is now seriously facing a now out look from a tourist point of view. I', is being rivalled by a road. Navigation Problems. While the waterway served as a means of access a duty fell upon the State to cone with navigation problems. The Mauri navigated the river in by-gone days, but service to a white population grappling with pioneering difficulties in bush country, required something far more substantial than canoes. In the early eighties the Government of the Colony consid ered that navigation of the river was necessary and. apparently, there was an intention to establish a State-owned service. Opposition was voiced immediately and resulted in the creation of a private company, which chartered a steamer called the Tuhua. That venture failed, but as the result of it a State-subsidised steamer service was formulated, and the late Mr. Alexander Hatrick, in the early nineties, obtained an annual grant of £4500 from the Government. That service has continued to the present day, catering for settlement requirements and for tourist traffic. In 1891. sponsored by the Hon. John Ballance, legislation was enacted creating a Wanganui River Trust, a body charged with the duty of keeping the river navigable. The Trust was financed by annual State grants and is in existence to-day. In 1922 there was agitation afoot to vest the control of the steamer service ana accommodation houses in the trust, and in contemplation of such a change a rating area was defined. Naturally, it needed only a whisper of the word “rates” to raise intense objection, and property after property had itself contracted out of the proposed rating area, with the result that the small slice of territory left to carry the burden proved altogether inadequate, so the pioject was abandoned. Nevertheless, the, Wanganui River Trust Act was amended a<id still gives power to the trust to take over the steamer services and run tourist accommodation, and rate settlers and others to do so. Then Came the Road. Into this state of affairs came the Wanganui River Hoad and it has changed the whole outlook so far as the river is concerned. It is now possible to travel over metal from Wanganui city to the accommodation house at Pipiriki, and then on to Ractihi and the Main Trunk line. The journey, while it certainly lacks the quiet restfulness of a trip by steamer and does not afford the best of opportunities for seeing the scenery, is much faster. Settlers welcomed the road and in tribute to its facilities for making quicker deliveries the Bost and Telegraph Department is beginning to insist that mails be carried by motor transport and not via the river. The present mail contract, which covers a three-ycar term, is conditional upon mails travelling from Wanganui to Koriniti by road and thence by riv Or. From that one can see writing on tlie wall to the effect that the next contract will specify carriage by road all the way from the city to pipiriki. Motor-cars v. Steamers. Without contract money for steamers it is natural that the present River Services Company must revise its operations, anti indications are that in time there will be no subsidised upriver district mail delivery except that furnished by road transport, and the question exercising the minds of those who value the river from a scenic point of view is whether it will bo kept in a navigable state, particularly in the upper reaches. This is a matter which affects the River Trust and that body has been active in applying safeguards in con nection with the new system of mail delivery. The Government, apparently, has accepted guidance from the trust and the new mail contracj: enforces an obligation on the contractor to keep the river navigable from Kauarapoa to Kirikau, but wheu the contract ex pircs and delivery of mails becomes a matter entirely for the road, will the necessity of providing a navigable river channel disappear altogether? Many people think that that is what is being aimed at, and in Ihe wake of such a happening would follow the wiping out of the River Trust, except perhaps as a domain board, the functions of which would be to safeguard the many reserves of native bush and plantations resulting from commercial enterprise— work that might easily be vested in affected county councils. Future not Clear. At present the future is not clear, but there is a general impression that in a short time the navigation of the Wanganui River will be called into serious question. It will then be a matter of determining whether there is sufficient tourist and goods traffic to warrant the maintenance of a service. Access to settlements along the valley on the opposite side to the road must be considered also. Carriage of cream, wool and merchandise must still go on, but it is believed that, ultimately, the better road connections inland, on both sides of the river, will serve the •settlers more adequately than the river ever did. Crossing places will probably be established to permit produce to reach suitable points on main road outlets. There is a possibility of the State still subsidising steamer or launch transit on the better scenic reaches of Ihe river, lo cope with the requirements of tourists. It is coni

potent for the trust itself to take • hand in that direction. All these matters are in the molting pot. On the one hand sentiment dictates that tiie old waterway, rich ia Maori legend ami still incomparable as a scenic at trai l ion, should be maintained as efficiently as possible. On the other, the demand for quicker access to f avour || ie T i ver roa q t