A Trip to Birmingham

Feilding Star, Volume X, Issue 96, 19 February 1889, Page 3

A Trip to Birmingham

Being assured of a fine day, by the fact that Captain Edwin had foretold gales of wind and storms of rain, we engaged a conveyance from the genial Mr Daw, and started to visit the rising settlement of Birmingham. The day was scorching hot, tempered with a gentle breeze which made travelling very delightful notwithstanding the warmth of the sun. The road for the whole eighteen miles is in splendid condition, and on either side are to be seen the forms of prosperous settlers for the whole way. Where was but a few few years ago the virgin forest, we now see comfortable well finished houses, surrounded by paddocks in which are grazing well fed, and well bred, flocks and herds of sheep and cattle. The number of horses is also very noticeable and there can be no question that for breeding stock of this description, there is no better country and climate in the world. This not a mere chance opinion, but is the statement of a gentleman whose experience in other countries justifies us in having the most perfect confidence in him as a competent judge. In fact the process of clearing is being carried out to such an extent that the question naturally presents itself to one's mind, whether it is not being rather over done. Surely formers ought to leave small forest reserves to be utilised for firewood, fencing, &c., in the near future, when the forest trees have been cleared back to the dividing ranges. We notice that in many places ornamental trees and shrubs, and fruit trees are being planted in abundance, and from the nature of the soil and climate, they cannot help, with ordinary attention, doing remarkably welL At Cheltenham things looked busy as the two sawmills there keep a good number of hands employed. Although, as we have said, things looked busy and prosperous, yet it would be a direct benefit to the settlers and other employers of labor if a Blue Ribbon Lodge were started in the neighborhood. There would be plenty of work for the officers for the first year. Shortly after passing Cheltenham the road rises on to the terrace, and afte that, for nearly the whole of the remaining distance, it is one straight line, the o oly apparent variations being the undulations caused by the rolling formation of the country. Fortunately the grades are all easy, and not at all trying to the horses. Arriving at Mr Church's store, in the Kiwitea, his splendid orchard with clusters of tempting looking fruit on the trees, naturally attracts attention because it is a convincing proof of what may be done by a judicious selection of trees in the first instance, with abundant care after they have been planted. It is from this point that the more recent clearings may be said to begin, and on each side are to be seen hundreds of acres of well grassed and well watered land, which, in the present as well as in the future, axe guarantees of the prosperity of the residents. Good substantial dwelling houses, strong stab or wire fences, commodious woolsheds and out houses, all speak in uruuistakeable terms of the fertility of the soil, and the courage and energy of those enterprising men who have changed the whole face of nature and turned a wilderness of bush into a hundred smiling homesteads. Arriving at Birmingham one is struck with the handsome hotel building erected b.y Mr Lowes. If the outside is attractive the interior is still more so, because the private and public sitting-rooms, the bedrooms, and dining room, are equal, if not superior, to those of any other hotel on the coast. The table was all that could be desired, and the splendid vegetables, supplied from the hotel garden, were a pleasant surprise seeing that the place is little more than a year old. There is a local brewery, which supplies first class beer to the hotel, Mr Lowes considering that the article being quite as good as any he can get from distant parts of the colony, he is only doing justice to himself and the brewer by " encouraging local industry." There is also an excellent store, owned by Messrs Fowler Bros., where goods, rations, and all requisites for new sellers can be obtained at prices quite as cheap as at Feilding, or with a slight advance to cover the cartage. It goes without saying that Messrs Fowler Bros, are doing a good business, even although the stores in Feilding sent up carts with goods every week to compete. Bushfalling, burning, and clearing are being pushed rapidly forward, and it is not too much to say that next year a most substantial addition will be made to our wool exports by the clip from the Birmingham settlement. The idea most impressed on the observant visitor is that the place can't help going ahead. The soil is remarkably fertile, almost volcanic in appearance. Spring water is in plenty in every gully ; the climate is — well everybody knows what the climate is about here — the best in the world. The settlers seem of the right kind. They have gone there with a firm determination to make permanent homes for themselves and families, and there can be no question as to their ultimate success in achieving that end. The small farm settlements at Apiti and Pemberton are each doing equally well seeing they both have the same advantages. The only drawback at present is the unfinished state of road communication, but as that will be removed before the current year has expired it need hardly be taken into account when estimating the existing state of these settlements. The fact that Mr Daw has determined to start a line of coaches to Birmingham is a good sign; and as the Apiti and Femberton townships become connected by a good carriage road the line will be extended. Feilding being the base from which these new settlements c tend their progress must be of material advantage to us now and for all time.