NEW FREEZING VENTURE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 783, 5 April 1910, Page 8

NEW FREEZING VENTURE.

. IN BAY OF PLENTY. Though the proposal*, to erect freezing works at. Tauranga is still hanging fire, a step. forward is being taken by the settlers- around Opotiki and Whakatane, in the centre -of the, Bay of Plenty. They liavo now in hand the formation of a ; company to establish freezing works at Ohiwa., Ohiwa is a small settlement on the harbour of that ' name, < midway between Whakatane and Opotiki. It is tho best port in the bay, . arid though away, from the present townships . it .is •generally considered that, it will ;m timo s become the principal shipping and commercial oentro in the Bay. . ,In. cons6qiienc6 of the opening up of close.on/tOO,OOO-acres of bush land at the back of Opotiki, and other areas around Ohiwa ana, Whakatane, the number of sheep' in the two counties ,has more .than dbujjle'd in, the last four years, and there promises to be oven a'greater increase in, the future. In the prospectus of the new company, theprovisional directors point olit that the combined counties of Opotiki and Whakatane .contain an area of about one arid-'three-quarter- million; acres of C.fown and". Native., lands still lying idle ; and unproductive, and fully a million acres of. this area; is , adaptedj fbr carrying sheep. .As time - goes* .on portions of this, large area "of land will l from tinio, to time, it is hoped, be available for. settlement, • and .no doubt! will ,bo readily taken up, and utilised to the most profitable advantage. The process, of the gradual occupation and profitable utilisation of this idle land .will have-tho effect of augmenting the number of sheep, ani^.cattle to such an extent that it is anticipated! that in the near future fully I*ooo,ooo sheep will be. found depasturing upon the land within, the Opotiki and Whakatane counties. . .Hitherto the . sheepfarmers -in these. ; counties, haTC. had to content themselves | with raising . sheep ifor wool-growing- only, as many other districts had to do in-days I prior to'- their; being, in # close touch' with.a freezing works,' but/in - districts where farmers ale in close touch' with such an institution, fat. sheep, aiid . lambs have become to the farmers a'source of considerable revenue, and there is no Teasori with the establishment of • up-to-date freezing .works : .at Ohiwa - why sheepfarmers in the Bay of Plenty should not reap all the . advantages. ..which the proximity to such a valuable institution* confers. ' . -The estimated cost of .tho works and site is put down ; at £16,000, the company being formed with a nominal capital of J230,000. r .;, : :: ..