PARENGA GUM & FRUIT LANDS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1843, 1 September 1913, Page 3

PARENGA GUM & FRUIT LANDS.

a BIG SETTLEMENT SCHEME. OUTLINE OF THE PROPOSALS. Mr. G. E. Aldertou, of tlx© Auckland firm of Messrs. T. Mandeno Jackson, is back in Wellington, and states that sinco tlio matter of settling tho I'arenga lands was referred to recently in tho columns of The Dominion, considerable interest lias been manifested by people in. the Wellington," Taranaki, and Hawko's Bay districts, and the iirm has been deluged with inquirers about, tho project, and, as a consequence, lie said lie would luce to give readers of The Dominion further information on the subject, a "\Ve read a good deal in the press lately," said Mr. Aiderton, "about tho settlement of tho land, and tho need for pushing matters along with greater speed; but my experience is this—and our linn liavo handled most of tho big estates in 'the Auckland Province —that while there are any amount of people anxious to get on the land, there are very few who have the capital to enablo them to do so; and at the present time, the money is not in the. country to lielp them. The Advances to Settlors Ofßco has not nearly enough money for tho purpose, aiuftlie banks are sitting tight, fho time has now arrived, it appears to me, for tho formation of private development companies to assist in this work. There are any number of large ] estates languishing for the want of working capital, and where tho owners : are willing to retain a substantial interest ill a company which will furnish : tho working capital to develop a property, there is sound and useful busi- ' ucss to be done. In other words, it is : possible to get working capital for any j sound proposition, while it is now impos- ' siblo to get both the purchasing price j and also tho requisite working capital. '• So long as the working capital cau be ' .furnished, owners will have to bo content to see their properties fully de- 1 veloped, and if thfc is dene, it will great- I ly benefit owners and tho country. 1 There are plenty of openings of this ] kind. The settlement of the Parenga 1 estate is an example. Sere we have in 1 all 89,000 acres in one estate, which is 1 too big for any one man to handle. 1 Till recently it was in the hands of 1 tho Yates family; when Mr. R. Keene, of Wellington, bought it. In the meantime, he is retaining a half, and the : other half is being taken over by tho 1 Parenga Gumfields and Fruit Lands Syndicate, which will have a large working capital. This again for' the better and more practical working of the settlement scheme, will be divided into. two separate • syndicates. The first will concern itself only with the gumfields. These, which i aro tile richest and most extensive in New Zealand, will bo thrown open on a very liberal scale, and diggers by merely paying a liccnso will be free to sell their gum and buy their stores just where they like. At tho present time the Austrians, being aliens, are not allowed under the Kauri Gum Reserves Act, to dig on Government land, but at Paronga they will 'have! a free field by paying a license. Hundreds of Austrians will seizo this opportunity, and, ; moreover, they 1 will take up land and mako permanent settlers if given tho chance and treated fairly. They aro very hard-working peoplo, and make most excellont settlers, as most of them aro skilled agriculturists. A Block for Fruit-growers. • "Then a subsidiary syndicate'has been formed, composed of practical nurserymen, who will tako over a block of tho land purely for i fruit-growing. : , This syndicate will have sufficient- capital to lay off a fruit colony of probably 4000 acres. Tho colony will be properly roaded and cut up into sections of from '20 to 50 acres. Tho syndicate will find all the plant required to work the orchards, and undertako to plant, cultivate, prune and spray tho growing trees for the owners wliether tlioy livo on tho land or arc absentees. This work will bo doiie just as it is done in California, where companies undertake all tho expert work for the owners. Progress payments aro mado as tho work is done. Under these two heads of management tlio gum lands will bo worked first for its gum, and the other land will bo put to fruit-growing—chiefly apples for export, for which there is always an unlimited demand. The success of these schemes will depend entirely on good management and i>roper organisation, and as we believe we have secured tho right men, the settlement of the land should prove highly beneficial to all concerned. It must prove very attractive to all classes of people, both to investors and those wanting to secure on a moderate outlay an assured income. Compared with other methods of making money off the laud, fruit-growing stands out on its own, both as to the small amount of capital involved and the largo prospective profits. The Value of Apple Culture. "If, for instance, a man goes sheepfarming he must bo equipped with two essentials, capital and practical experience. To gross £1000 a year ho must., have 1000 acres'of good land, which he cannot buy for the purpose under £8000, and at loast another £1500 will be required for stock, involving altogether a capital of £9500. Deducting 5 per cent, interest for his capital, namely, £475, leaves him a net income for his labour of £525, and out of 'this he has to pay rates and working expenses. Practically, he will clear, say, £400. "Now, tako the case of a man who selects apple-growing as an occupation In tho first place ho need have no practical experience, bccauso ho can liiro the requisite expert labour and all necessary plant at a minimum cost. In tho second place, he will require only a nominal amount of capital, and that is not all required immediately. Ho will require, say, 20 acres of land, which is ample, and he will pay no more for it than tho sheep-man does, namely, £8 per acre, ' He will then have to plant and cultivate his land, and this expenditure will oxteud over five years, at tife end of which time the trees should yield a case of apples per tree. Tlio cost of planting and cultivation for that period should not exceed £25 per acre, but we will assume £30. Thus tho cost of a 20-acro orchard should bo;— £ To 20 acres of land at £8 160 To planting and cultivation, £30 600 760 The payment of this money is spread over five years. Hence the orchard man can have his orchard in full bearing at.less cost than the sheep man had to pay for his stock. And what aro tho returns? At the end of the fifth year the orchard should yield 120 cases of apples per acre, worth net os. a ease, or £30 per acre. That would be £600 for tho year. Every year tho income would increase with the age of the trees. In ten years the income should be easily £2000 per year. There are several 'orehards of smaller area than this in the Auckland province, yielding at that rate. And there is one littlo apple orchard over in Havelock, 25 years old, that" yields the fabulous sum of £800 per acre. Confirmation of this can be obtained by those who care to inquire from tho Agricultural Department. It is urged by some that one fins to wait too long for tho orchard to come ; into bearing, and get returns. This is [ not so. It at, any time a man wants ■ to sell out he can always do so, and . at » considerable profit. There is no .>«tt« or Bafer westmout foe hia m-

ings. It is a savings bank with unlimited security, yielding enormous profits. And the sum invested is only a bagatelle. We liavo the markets of tlio world open to us to take our apples lust as they tako our frozen meat, and tlio frozen meat trade has furnished us with tho steamers to carry our apples in cool storage. Wo have thousands of acres of land lying idle suitable for applegrowing, and all we want is capital, organised co-operation, and system to mako it. as great and as profitable an industry as it is to-day in Tasmania. And tho Government to-day is taking a hand iii this promising industry and is willing to help in every way. A Chance for Every Man. "This is an industry which is open to every man, 110 matter what his occupation or capital. To the city man it offers unique advantages. He .can seouro without moving from his oilico an investment which later will provide him with an income, that no superaninua-t-ion fund can furnish, and moreover it will give him a beautiful home, where lie call (retire in an environment of charming landscapes, orchard lands, and flowers, and with all tho utilities of civilisation. Tlioso who know what fruit did for California caii realise what we may do here. At Parenga, wliero the climate and. surroundings aro very similar to Southern California, thero is no reason why it should' not 'be to Auckland what Los Angeles is to San Francisco. It was the city people in the western towns of tlio United States who took up the summer lands, of Southern California and converted them into beautiifuL orchards for profit and summer homes, and a district once a desert is now the most beautiful in the world, with palatial residences, charming bungalows,and the centre of the best social life. l'Vuit and a summer climate did all this, and made more men wealthy and independent than all the goldmines. ' "Now at Parenga wo have al the conditions that made Southern California, and more. There the raimall is light, and expensive irrigation works had to bo undertaken. At i'arenga, nature supplies a suliicient rainfall lor all requirements. Southern California, was a Darren waste requiring irrigation to make it productive. Ad Paicnga thero is suhicicnt wealth lying in trie ground in tho shape of kauri gum to enable the man. wno takes up land to maintain himself and provide tho money to plant and cultivate his orchard. This is unique, where a man can practically dig up gum like digging potatoes, and get tlio money he wants to make his orchard. Aiid to-day kauri gum commands tlio highest prico ever given for itj and mere "dust and cmps" is worth more than bold gum was at one time. Tho Labour Problem. "Expert diggers make £1 a day, sometimes pore, iiich pockets may yield \ery largo sums of money. But tins part oi the business is olily lor the practical gum-digger, and lint for the city man taking up orchard land. It is, however, a most important factor in two ways. First, it*will locate in the district fully oliu diggers, and these will furnish to a large, extent the necessary labour for breaking up and cultivating tho land, and this labour question cannot be overlooked in an industry like fruit culture, which requires in its initial stages a large amount of labour. 'These diggers will bo chictlv Austrians, and as they aro nearly aIP trained men in orchard and vineyard work, their labour will be invaluable. Secondly, these men will work and cultivate the laud on a sharo basis, so that whatever gum is' taken from tlio land, part will go to tlio owner. The gum taken from tho land when being ploughed up in some cases will pay for the land and its cultivation, and. every timo it is cultivated moro gum is discovered. "Recently a very clever niacluno has been invented and patented by Mr. Raymond, of Auckland, for cleaning gum, and this is likely 'to revolutionise gum values. Hitherto, the digger had to clean tlio gum by hand, which is very laborious and involves much waste. Tho machine referred to will savo tho digger all this trouble, and ho will bo ablo to work longer on tho field and make moro money Tho machine is valuable in that it can clean tho smallest particlb of gum, which previously could not bo dealt with by hand, and consequently even tho smallest gum can now bo treated. This machine, which is now in full work, must inevitably greatly increase tho valuo of gum lands. Mr. Mears, of London, head of tho firm of Wilitefbourne and Co., tho largest gum merchants in London, was recently ill Auckland and saw this machine. He said he had spent thousands of pounds in London experimenting' to discover a process to clean guin by machinery and had failed to do so, and as a consequence they employed 200 girls in their London warehouse doing tho work. This machine, ho said, was tlio ouiy one ho had ever seen that .would do the work, and .if it could do it at tho right price, it was a great invention. Tlio machine now running can do tho work at a quarter of the cost of hand work, besides cleaning small gum which cannot bo done by hand. "Now, this class of land in the North which is so rich in gum, is also tho very best land in ' the Dominion for apple-growing. This has been proved years ago and is not- merely a supposition. This is a point .that can bo confirmed by inquiry at tlio Government Department of Agriculture. The best orchards in the Auckland provinco were, planted on gum lands, fcio that when wo say the land is of the best class for apple-growing and - also contains a wealth of gum, which is obtained in tho cultivation of the land, it is a combination which is quite unique. Tlio. land is open, lovel country, ready for tlio plough, 'and requires no expenditure for clearing. On the reverse, as soon 'as the plough begins work, gum is turned up. Generally speaking t ; his giim is worth about one shilling a pound. It. varies in value on tho field from £30 to £200 a ton, and when cleaned for export, very considerably more. At Parenga there aro huge deposits of what is known as "chip" gum—smail gum from tlio size of a pea to that of a walnut —and men often collect from two to threo sacks of this in a day. It is found ini the swamps and is worth, in the field, lis. 6d. a sack. This is used chiefly bv the linoleum makers, and thero is an unlimited demand for it'. Hitherto, this has been merely washed and exported, but it can now be treated, by, the machine abovo referred to, and its export valuo will bo greatly enhanced. "Theso lands wili- i*ot boon tlio markot for a littlo time, as the surveyors havo yet to do tlio necessary cutting-up work, but when ready the matter will bo fully advertised in Tub Dominion."