A LAND OF PROMISE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2190, 3 August 1889, Page 2

A LAND OF PROMISE

Mr Ylnojut Pyfce'a opinion of the oouotry to be opened by the Otago Oontral woa thna oxprcßaed In the course of the deb&te on the BUI * — I see m the very heart of tbe Middle lal&nd a vast country adaptable for o trying o large popuUtlon — a happy and contented population, I see thatooontry at th) presant time m a state of absolute dedolntion, vrhore the wild wind whiet*es weirdly through the tall Bnow gracs on the plains, bo that whan the traveller pasaea he seems to be paßsing through a wilderness of ghosts heaving thole everlasting sighs, Every aora of that land la fit for cultivation. Pas* aengora whe go aorosa It nea that the road la gravel mostly. Of or nrsb it 1b gravel. Any man not a fool or a Government Eoglnoor mikes the roac where tbe giavel is most apparent. Se«iag that, people cay that it la all gravel : but it la nothing of tho sort. Tbe land (a full of lime and many other rloh and valuable essentials cf culture, The land is rlah m produotlona. I defy anyone heto to point out any Bpot elsewhere m God's earth whore for 25 years you can grow white crops without the least pa'tiole of m«nure; but it la bo there I was laughed at la this House for saying that the corn grew there ao tatl that, after 20 yaars of cropping, tho tallest man m the House would not bo Boon miN I aay that again, and I oac prove it by bringing the stalks here. What should you do when yon lave oountry like that ? What does Mr Federll say 1 Ho says that no oountry he h*B seen In the world (a so oapable of growing the olive and the mulberry rb the Dunatan Plains.