PONGAROA AND WAIONE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1044, 6 February 1911, Page 8

PONGAROA AND WAIONE.

EVIDENCES OF PROGRESS. (From Our Travelling Correspondent.) Pongaroa is ceTtainly on the move, uiien there a short time ago I noticed several new buildings ami dwoiling-hou?-ss. There is no reason why Pongaroa should not becomo an important business centre. Tho nearest towns of any size aro Pahiatua and Daunevirkc, and thev aro thirty to forty miles away.,... With a.: good ro.vh cut to the beach goods can now be shipped and received by sea. • ■ Tho day 1 travelled on the road'l met several brakes .taking „ loads . .from, tho steamer. In the summer' the. road" is good, but l am afraid littlo traffic would l>e done when tho wot weather again set in. Tho good folk of Pongaroa havo a considerable amount of faith in the future prosperity of their town, and I think; they havo reason for it.

Of course all the land is taken up, and in many districts in tho small areas. No doubt tbci;e is some excellent land. in the Pongaroa district'. On tho other hand, there is land whicll should have been cut up into nothing less than 500 acres. Speaking to a farmer, I said his section was'a good one for lambs, as it. was in the rubblo belt.-"So it would be," he said, ''if there- was sufficient, but. V havo only ■ seventy-eight.. acres', . and • the only thing .1 can do. is to .'milk.a' few cows" '

In the Waiono district,. about ■ seven miles north of Pongaroa,. there is some 'wonderful sheep country—as good;as any I have seen. Some of tho farmers told me tbev can' winter three, dry sheep to the acre, while two and a. haif capacity is quite common. Some people may say that the land is too good for shcep-farm-ing, and ought to be turned into dairy 1 farms. No doubt, land of that carrying, capacity under ordinary conditions would 1 be, but most* of this land is very hilly and quite unsuitable for dairying. Dairy cows cannot give their- best yields when they are slipping-aud scrambling-up and down steep hillsides all day; they require flat land ( or nearly so) where..they can. soon fill themselves up and then lie down to chew the cud. 'In hilly country, i all their time is taken up in feeding. ' There is a wonderful improvement in j the roads in these -districts .since three' years ago. The main road to Pahiatua is now metalled almost all the v,*ay, and ; a good many of the other roads are in capital condition. It must be a great comfort for tho settlers, as the Poi)garoa roads were for many years a -scriousf 1 hindrance to successful farming. However, are common in new bush districts, which have, invariably, wet climates. In time, like* all the other hardships of pioneeriug—and goodness I knows they aro many—even bad roads | disappear.