VIII. 
TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW? 
AAI HERE is one phase of this question 
en that I must not altogether ignore, 
though it will be impossible in a 
general sketch of this kind to 
treat it in full detail. I refer to the ef- 
fects produced upon river and harbour 
navigation by the floods which result 
from the clearing away of the bush. 
New Zealand is not, of course, the only 
country in which this evil has manifested 
itself. If we turn to America we find 
an imposing mass of evidence already 
collected under this head. In an article 
entitled “A Continent Despoiled” Mr R. 
Cronau shows how at least a billion tons 
of soil are swept away every year from 
American hillsides into the rivers and 
harbour mouths, not only robbing the 
country, but depositing the silt and spoil 
where it does permanent and irreparable 
harm. “Year in, year out, our Govern- 
ment spends millions upon millions to 
dredge river channels and harbours that 
become clogged with gravel, snags, and 
mud, deposited there by the floods.” In 
almost the same terms, Mr. M. G. Seck- 
endorff, in an article on “The Elimination 
of Waste,” in a recent issue of ‘“Munsey’s 
Magazine,” drew attention to the appal- 
ling waste of money that is one of the in- 
direct effects of soil-erosion. “The soil- 
matter annually carried into lower rivers 
and harbours,” he tells us, “is computed 
at 780,000,000 tons. Soil-wash reduces 
by ten or twenty per cent the produc- 
tivity of upland -farms and _ increases 
channel-eutting and bar-building on the 
Tivers. The annual loss to the farms 
alone is fully 500,000,000 dollars”; and 
he proceeds to point out that the fertile 
soil thus irretrievably lost to the country 
lvolves its people in still heavier loss 
When, accumulated in rivers and har- 
hours, it compels them to remove it at 
€normous expense, 
THE COST OF SILT. 
| And in New Zealand, as I have already | 
sihiee oe cen ath: Busdeneoton cent 
e stantly entailed upon us 
all by similar causes producing ‘like 
effects. Everybody who has lived near 
the mouth of any of our rivers knows 
What a bar is, and how seriously it 
impedes navigation and trade. The silt- 
ing up of our bar-harbours and -the 
blocking of river-mouths along our 
coasts have already cost this country 
untold wealth, and the evil is steadily 
intensifying itself with the progressive 
destruction of the bush. It would, in- 
deed, be interesting to get a return of 
all expenditure incurred in the Wel- 
lington-Taranaki district alone jn the 
attempt to dredge and keep open the 
Patea and the Wanganui and other 
streams. And within a short time some 
systematic attempt to cope with. this 
danger will become absolutely impera- 
tive. J can hardly sum up this portion 
of my argument better than by quoting 
from an article on this subject which 
appeared some time ago in the Welling- 
ton “Evening Post.” The writer deals 
first with the silting evil in general 
terms. “In all parts of the Wairarapa, 
and, indeed, throughout New Zealand, 
farmers and Jocal bodies are faced with 
the trouble of the silting up of the 
river beds. Gravel and debris are 
brought down the streams in flood time. 
The lifting up of the river-beds forces 
the streams to deviate all over the 
country by their own natural law. The 
result is that in the progress of years 
a river covers an area miles in width. 
But this erosion process is not by any 
means the worst of the story; and he 
goes on to refer to the destructive effect 
of the deposition of silt at the river 
