A BIG LAND DEAL.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1508, 2 August 1912, Page 9

A BIG LAND DEAL.

WELLINGTON RESIDENT BUYS 80,000 ACRES. I.N THE "CII.OHIOUS NOIiTH." One of the biggest land deals uliii-h havo been miul a in New Zealand for suiiK' time past has just been completed in the north of Auckland. Mr. Kichard Keene, of' Wellington, who at mie.time was very largely interested in the Island Hay Estate, which, oil being cut up for residential purpose?, realised n large fori line, has within the past week or so acquired the whole ;:f the big "I'aranga" estate of SO,OOO acres, situated near Mangonui, and extending practically from coast to coast just south of Doubtless Bay. Mr. Keene, who has been all over the estate during the past month, is enthusiastic over the prcspects of the land in the north of Auckland. "I *have made investments in land in nearly every part of New Zealand at onn time 'or other," said Mr. Keene to n D:ijiiniox reporter, "but for some reason I cannot explain have always looked askance at north of Auckland lands. My visit' there lias changed my ideas completely, and X believe there will be a great future before the place. There are over 80,000 acres in the Paranga Estate, which 1 have acquired—all Hat or undulating . country. Of. the block, 20,000 acres or thereabouts is splendid dairying country, ns good as anything: in Taranaki, for which people are paying from JMO to .£7(l an acre. Then there are about 30,000 acres of good gum lands. About ,£2O,(MJO worth of gum was taken out of tin! estate last year, and there are 101) Austrians.desirous of taking up leases of blocks for gum-digging new. It is an ideal place, too, for fruit-growing—grapes; peaches. Apples, anything you like grows freely, thanks to a generous climate. The hilly country is •of white clay formation, which dees -not iook too good, .but. this paspalum grass is going to do wonders up there, aiul it will all be excellent sheep country. Save for an occasional shower, the weather has been very tine, and the country is looking grand* . . "The estate extends along the ccnst, which, is freely indented with those beautiful little bays which gives the 'glorious north' its name for beautiful scenery. One of them is the beautiful Spirits Bay, which has frequently been written about. The estate is well roaded, and. there is plenty of metal for, future road works. There are already townships and settlements on tlie estate, which, with the Burning of the railway (which will touch one corner of the block), will grow with the development of the country. M.v intention a little later is to cut up about 20,000 acres int0,.20, 30, and 40-acre blocks fruit farms, for which the land i is eminently suited, and alsa to cut up other portions'into, dairying farms, and establish factories here and there. Mangonui is at present 21 hours from Auckland by the Northern S.S. Company's steamer Chelmsford, but later I will get hold of a' boat that will do the trip in about 1-1 hours. One .tiling that endorsed my opinion that the land must be gfiod is the way m which it was peopled by the Maoris in the old, days. Nowhere in New Zealand do they seem to have been as numerous and prosperous as in the north of Auck-land,-until their ranks were decimated by tribal wars. There was a pa practically on every hill in the estate. In one place 1 saw nearly u hundred skulls —evidently the score of some old-timo battle, an'd'in another We found from 50 to 6u Maori ovons, showing that at one time there must have been a big gather? ing of Natives there.!' Mr. Keene purchased the Paranga Estate from the trustees of the Yatos Estate—the patrimony left for the late Mr. Gustavo Yate. One of the deceased settler's sons,- Mr. O. Yates, is nt- present manuging the estate tn ill*. Keeuc s behalf. .