GALATEA ESTATE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 82, 19 June 1945, Page 6

GALATEA ESTATE

OPENED TO EX-SERVICEMEN LINK WITH THE PAST Memories of the pioneering days in tlic Bay of Plenty are recalled in the announcement by the Rehabilitation Department that the large Galatea Estate or at least a substantial part of it, is shortly being opened for the settlement of exservicemen farmers of this war. Bought from the Maoris between 1870 and 1880, this estate which contains about 22,000 acres was held by the Troutbec'k family till it was sold to the Crown in 1931 by Mr Ewen Troutbeck at a price approximating £100,000. - Since then it has been progressively developed and subdivided, being treated with English grasses and gradually changed from purely sheep country to substantially good, dairying land. At present it is carrying no fewer than If! 000 sheep, 3500 head of run cattle and 14 herds totalling about 1000 Jersey and Jersey Ayrshire cross cows milked on a sharemilking basis whilst Crown lessees are also milking some GOO cows. The historical associations of the Galatea Estate go back to the days of the famous Maori Chief Te Kooti. Situated as it is about 50 miles south-east of Rotorua and the same distance south of Whakatane, and bounded by the Rangitaiki and Whirinaki Rivers, on the south-west and by the Urewera on the east, it lay in the path of many of the northward raids made by the rebel chieftain from the wild Urewera Country. In later and more peaceful days the bullock wagons laboriously hauled the wool clip over much of the same country'to Gisborne, a distance of well-nigh 150 miles. It is hoped to settle eventually about 100 men from this war on the estate. The sections now on offer and which will be balloted for toAvard the end of June number 13. Tliey are all fully develox>ed fenced and equipped. Every section has a house and there is a gravity water supply system supplying almost 6000 acres. There is a school on the estate and the nearest post office and store is only about four miles away at Murupara.

An estimate of the type of country can be gained from the fact that for the last few years the Galatea group including Crown leaseholders of whom there are at present 12 and sharemilkers have topped the Bay of Plenty herd testing area. However, servicemen applicants who must have been graded "A" for dairy farming in the Bay of Plenty Rotorua and South Auckland districts? are warned that Galatea experiences occasional dry seasons. They are also expected to have knowledge of lucerne which is. considered necessary for successful farming in this distrit. The sections will be offered on a renewable leasehold basis with . an ?■ option of AvJiat is known as the Bryant tenure or agreement for sale i and purchase. Four sections are also offered in the Northern King Country for exservicemen graded "A" for mixed sheep and dairy farming in that district. Three of them arc near the township of Aria and the other near Pio Pio.