NOTES FROM THE MAIN TRUNK LINE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 480, 13 April 1909, Page 2

NOTES FROM THE MAIN TRUNK LINE.

Old residents inCartorton arid Danuovirk'o, no doubt, still remember tbo pessimistic prophecies which were 'indulged, .(in regardingthoso places \yhoa the,.timber industry ; there.was Hearing its-f lose. It !wns stated: that., tlio districts;,would bo.ruined, because the - land was not good enough-.for small farm purposes.; Ten years after nearly all tlit sawmills'had, boon, cleared from Uartcrtori, that district was. supplying one-quarter of , the total, amount of cheese mariufactured'hillsow Zealand; while for some years:Dam>evirko has boon favourably known as' a pros- • parous stock centre, and evwi.iiowa portion of its country is being mtilised for dairying purposes. What was .'said about' Cartortoir and Dahncvirko in years-gone by is being said about Ohakime "to-day. The villago "Knowall" in Ohakunofwill tell thocasual visitor that,the place will be-nothing, when "tho sawmills have petered out"; and' that when all tho bush has beer, cleared "it will .bo. terrible cold, blowing from the- mountain." This dolorous cry aho,ut the mountain reminds ono that the sn'hie tiling was said about Straf-ford. And yeitrs'afterwards, if. we happen to moot tlieso individuals who' pose as prophets, wo should possibly'hear them say something to the effect that'if-'they knew as much twenty yeari ago as they : know now, they would be worth thousands instead of a few hundreds, or perhaps nothing. Tho, foregoing ideas flitted across tho mind of a Dominion representative as ha drove over tho country between Ohakunc and llaetihi, a rising stock centre,--.eight miles from the railway, lino .and. seventeen, miles east,from l'lnirilri. A largo- area'-of land has been partially cleared, and sawlnills in all directions are accomplishing new work every day, so that the land may./bfeomo more reproductive ■to the producer.-. The country seems to .be admirably jilted for mixed farmi ing purposes, but the possibilities are that • a largo section of it will ultimately become a dairying ■centre.- Thorp is already a butter factory at Kaetihi, and <\ cheeso ■ 'factory a few miles from Olmkuiie. 0119 ■ cannot but admire -the enterprise which has erected an up-to-dni;o chepso. factory in ' a bush. wilderness. This factory, by" tho ' way, was built •in October last, -before even tho Main Trunk 'jinn had been; completed, • and this season it will turn out-20 tons of 1 cheese .valued at £1220. It is truo that there are only live suppliers, bill their number, will increase. The floors lire of'strong concrete, and the appliances -arc of' ' the | latest kind. The stage for .receiving ' tho milk-' is dilforont to that of the ■majority of factories, in that it is not opim'.to the ."making room" in tho ordinary way.r The manager of the factory, Jlr. H. J].; Trevor, lateof Folkestone, England, contends that tlio existence of a large aperturo between tho "making room" and the ]andin©.stnge con-' duces to a higher temperaturo.; li> tho height of the season tho daily >milk "supply is 300 gallons; just now it-is >1«) "gallons, and tho factory will possibly* olosu" down about tho middle- of. May. Tlio establish-, rnont is. a proprietary o.iio, owWd by Mr. TreVibr, and each supplier is guir.inteed od. per pound - for his butter fat, - One, of the suppliers conducts tlio testinfff •' Tho milk is of h'rst-class quility, and tlMlgrado and quality .of tlio clirese are all 'that'can be desired. It can easily be scen : ''that settlement must be rapid, where, tho tfiiiry factory ■ follows so fnst on the steps of •'Hie' sawmill. There "are -large areas of splendid country between. Oiuikmio and Pipirild'; ,; arid thoso • people who aro now 'willing lo ftike. up the. burden for a few years V, : ould' dW\htless find thonisclycs well.-repaid for the "term which ■ they might have put in as "Wobationary pioneers. ■ . ' (11