watu, the Wangaehu, the Rangitikei, the 
Turakina have all followed the same 
course with the same disastrous conse- 
quences. In the Hawke’s Bay district 
similar conditions have produced similar 
results; and all over New Zealand, 
wherever the bush around the sources 
of streams has been cut away, floods 
of varying degrees of intensity and 
destructiveness have inevitably followed. 
Already the penalty paid for our reck- 
lessness has been a heavy one, reckoned 
only in the money value of land washed 
away or overlaid with debris, in stock 
drowned, and property destroyed, and in 
the huge and increasing outlay on 
34 
bridges that must be constantly repaired 
and approaches that must be continu- 
ally lengthened, and groins and embank- 
ments that must be perpetually 
strengthened against the encroachments 
of these turbulent streams. Surely this 
constant and steadily, increasing drain 
upon our resources calls for a little fore- 
thought and prudence on our part, and 
emphasises the demand that the authori. 
ties should arrange for an exhaustive 
investigation into the well-known and 
generally admitted connection between 
the cutting away of the bush and the 
increased frequency and destructiveness 
of floods throughout New Zealand. 
