MAIN TRUNK BACK BLOCKS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 794, 18 April 1910, Page 10

MAIN TRUNK BACK BLOCKS.

' PROSPERING SETTLERS. „ I am. often - asked (writes our- traveling correspondent) why I don't go in .for % motor-bike, or'drive a gig, instead ■>f travelling about'on Horseback. My : usual reply is that 1 do a good deal of cross-country work, making short cuts l>y which I s&vs'; a.- gcod many miles, and as th<we short cuts sro generally in hilly .country a. bika or, gig would J>e quite ont of the ..question. For instance, I wanted t-o go from Tiriraukawa .to "Te Kumu," Dr.tjAnscm's run, ten miles by road, four across country. I was surprised to see what .'a nice bit of .country tie doctbrihasVgot, especially -when one sees so much hilly to steep land alfeTound. It carries a large hum'ber of &Beep and cattle'which -were looking in tiptop . condition. There was a wonderffll growth,..of.'/grass on tho place. ■ i - ■' • . In tho'iTe -, Kapu district there had ' not been quiioi&s much bush' down as usual. 'In fact, to tell the truth,"most of. the Settlers ( l®pe very little standing now,- and in thei majority of cases, .fair burns had taken; place, and. the turnips with whiofc-had ;been sown "were grand. 'I_.did of a single case ol blight mtli&jKft' bums. Hero again the laud is carrying a wonderful number of sheep/. I heardj, of. several - cases where tho. run had eariied three sheep to the acre aIF-thq'year .round, and done them well too. that quality must be . really firsts "cMiss, and ' ithe prices at which sections have changed .hands—some. £8 .to' £9. per'acre-rqom-■pare very favourably, withjja'de. - ' -'. •' sjj.s I had called in to see a farmer oil ® -iPnkemapu Road, • when . "tingraj-lingy :-ting, ting,", and lo! behold! there;,-was s the telephone. -.- Seven. farmers had-pilt up their own line which' .ran into - Tiriraukawa ■ Post! Office,, where, if' they* wished to speak'to anyone lkyond their own system, they, are;, switched; on „to. the Government lino; In- hiliy'rcoun;' try and with indifferent roads in'.winter • ■iho telephone-las proved a boon' in-, deed, to these back-country, settlers.--They would not be without it'.now-for any, money. They have' erected their ■ 'line and don© all the.;work in connec-. tion at a cost far; below that which' is-. jlow charged by the Telegraph Department. I have:lately;.come across two or. threo districts where ; thd - fanners have asked-for an installation by the Department, but in each case the price lias ■ been quite' prohibitive. >.-Why. is this?- ; . ': There, was one. feature about. these To Kapu and Tiriraukawa districts which showed that the. settlers had got over the worst of their difficulties, and that was that on nearly every farm the old slab whare had given place to- well-built dwellings, all pain-ted^:. and with ni<» gardens'attached. In some .cases tho whare is used as a wool-shed, '•or stable, so that ; its 'usefulness 'is'-by - mo means ended. . The old slab .fences, too are giving way to substantial wire ones, and altogether-these farmersha.ve. ;now- got nioely on their feet. Some' 1 :3iave been -able-to..increase:their holdings by .buying out ' their neighbours./ . They nave battled for a good many years with unmetalled roads, but now they are- in a;fair .way-to haves a., good., hard, road made : right. into i . IM these districts ;t6o, Irsiiw some Vei-jf' l -find orchards." /One in ! particular, belonging .to. Mr. Mickelsen; ;had a wonderful crop of, apples and, pears; There? .'•is another feature about these . farm,' and that is the general absence of rushes, in the paddocks, showing -that it is dry country, which no doubt accounts, toa great extent, for the heavy scarrying capacity of the, land, and the exoellence of the sheep raised in the district.