A FEW OPTIMISMS,

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 7, 3 October 1907, Page 2

A FEW OPTIMISMS,

Tho. great, rich, elevated, cold, heav-ily-timbered torritory along the Main Trunk routo beyond Tiiilutpc has suddonly leaped into boomland. The latest news on tho question is that tho wealthy, harcMicaded farmers of Manawatu are banking money in tho district. Our special Manawat-u representative writes:— The Price of Land. 1 In view of tho tendency of Manav/stu farmers aud those from othor localities .to acquire land in tho region of Taibirpe, I interviewed a 'loading Tailiape farmer to gleau sopie facts for your .readers, about, that interesting' district. He pointed out that the average land can be acquired for £10 per acre in Taihape, and for £9. at Mangaweka. The young anil wiergotic farmer who takes up a bicck has a bright prospect before him. The bush country for grazing purposes can hold its own with land in othor places at £30,t0 £40. It is quite possible to carry three sheep to tho acre. The land is specially adapted' for carrying store sheep and cattlo, as proved by the number brought out this season. j Its Adaptabilities. Our correspondent-adds:—There are -farmers in Manawatu, Feilding, and f&iarton who also have holdings around 'Taihapo, and speak in glowing terms ,of tho good effects upon their stock. '.'lt is remarkable, they say, how 'quickly the feed will grow when a 3field has been shut down for a short 'time.' A usualfeature in the general .run of bush couaitry is that for the 'first few years the carrying capacity is about threo sheop per acre, but after about fifteen years it begins to .deteriorate, and in some instances will ■only carry one and a half sheep. This, •I am assured, is not the case with .Taihape land—a virtue which is attributed to tho papa element of its soil. 'The formation is heavy clay on papa. . iAfter a slip tho naked soil will grass (Over again in about eighteen months, While in othor localities tho ronewal takos many years. Similar country to 'Taihapo exists in some parts of tho .Rangiwalvia (district, which has been {opened up for a number'of years. .Marton Man Makes a icod Deal. A Marton resident, who purchased , ; a-thousand acres between Mangaweka sand Taihapo at £7 per aero, has, in !four years, earned tho price of tho /landi.by grazing store sheep and cattle on it, and has a banking account to boot. Many other instances of this ■naturo aro reported. Thcro are othor possibilities which as yet can hardly Mjo realised until the Trunk lino is expended. Butter-Box Timber. 1 Butter factories are entertaining expectations of a bountiful supply of white pino for boxes, and already hundreds of trucks of timbor are boing despatched to the coast. Some idea,of tho value of dand covered with milling timbor can be gained from tho fact that £5000 was paid as a half-';slrar-o in a 21-year nativo louse block which contained 1500 acres of milling iforost. But tho torritory possesses a full measure of tho one great disadvantage of a now district, viz., bad roads. .However, .the sun will shiue out durVing the hot summer months, and the •'weary settler will ho able to glide along happily, whistling to the popping of ginger-beer corks upon roads ■that at present could do tho disappearing trick with a ktnwLanti 4ruy.