ASTONISHING PROGRESS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 688, 13 December 1909, Page 7

ASTONISHING PROGRESS.

V. THE, MAIN TRXTNK. ' : ; ' TRADE, ; SETTLEMENT, AND LAND. It is of course , almost a certainty'(write bur travelling correspondent), that the. greates trado .development in the North Island durin the next ten'years will be along the'Mai Trunk railway line. Towns all: aldng.the rout are , - developing fast, and even now the,good traffic is : enoTmous... Every' day. heavily-lade trains ;pass; up and down the line, hauled i each, case until '.recently, by.- two engines, bu these are .now...fcing replaced', by., niamro.ot' locomotives, which do the nihoty-milo exprcs run between Taumarumii and.Taihtipe. Of th towns along the line, Hamilton seems destine to become\the Palmerstbh North.of the"Aucl land province. Aβ a stock .centre,, it-.'may poi sibly. exceed : the importance' of its-souther, rival. ..Tβ Kuiti has also possibilities as a fart centre owing to its fine back country nud-nint nificent climate. The town, however, is in a embryo stage.- Amongst the smaller, centre: Taumaruriui, Rangataua,: and- , Ohakune Eas are'making thq,greatest progress. New builc ings are springing up every, week around. j'ai niarunui, arid the, town is now closing up nets tho'station. ;In course, of time: :tho pumic streets' of Taumarunui'will bo transformed int the starchy .neatness, of -similar thoroughfare at Rotoruft, and with its headquarters on th banks of the Wanganui River, the place wil alwaysi have an nttraction for travellers. ■'■'■ tit is not known that' within a fe' miles of the finest-totira,fores in New Zealand, now beihgi developed' by ; ■ wealthy! Wellington: provincial '.'syndicate, v. I Borne plawa these/ totara giants- are , so thic that they grow one hundred .trees to the acn and the .sawmill, cutting: generally is expecte to last, for thirty years. ;.-'■'-.-- ' ;':' ' :. : : T'Ohakune- East, ,whicU is;that- portion ', c Ohakune near tHe railway station,-is follow ing.fast .on' the. heels of ,Eangataua. ■'~ Nβ' buildings are, going up every; day, and ne' etreets are also., being > formed; and the plac how boasts ft post iuia telegraph office. •Rangt tana should • soon bo under Town. . Boar management. Its population now must, be ove fotir, hundred people. The Rangataua distrii is heavily wooded,; and the work of clearin away the stumps for streets and building; pui .of a .vary laborious;nature. '.'At pri sen,t these; places, and further down tg'..'i'a hape, are sawmill centres, 'and. the screeoh >[ circular,, siws- ;: and the, ■'■'. shrill .whistl* of log-haulers. are heard ■ everywhere. along tl line. ■■'But in.the next',few years there i likely, to be';.a'great development of 'agricu ture and, farming on the Maiii Trunk. , Tl valleys everywhere are ns productive asthoi bf-Brancepeth or Tupurnpuru, and it has no been found .that.the great plains are wort cultivating. .'The soil nas been analysed; an will:bo' subjected ;tb treatment which allov science to triumph over natural disadvantage. Portions of the Karioi Plains, near Wftioar aud Waitangi, have been plonghedr and ai growing; good turnip [crops.. : The land f urthi back from the line, extending from aroun Utiku and Taihape, and tip through to Bai rimn and Kakahi is well worth inspection, bv it'eanaot be done properly from the windows t a railway train., .;..; ■■ '.; ■ '.'Vv'