A DAIRYING DISTRICT

Hokitika Guardian, 23 May 1929, Page 1

A DAIRYING DISTRICT

Tucked away ill the midst oi' a range of somewhat uninviting West Coast hills is the dairying district of Murchison. There are numerous well grassed flats surrounding this centre, and just as many that could lie made productive, hut the fern and blackberry have been allowed to get away. Smaller valleys are fainy numerous between the ranges, and though the altitude is fairly high these valleys provide a great amount of feed well into the winter. Isolation has been the bughoar of the locality, but the dofinito decision of the authorities and the putting of that decision into practice to push on the railway, will remove this disability in the course of a few years. A great concession achieved recently has been the decision of the Railway Department to lorry goods form the terminus 25 miles north at railway rates. The cheapest private rate over this length is 30s, but it is now passible to obtain fertilisers from Nelson at a total cost of 7s 8d a ton. Another facility that is being anticipated is the opening of a main road over the Lewis Saddle to Canterbury. It is really the northern part of the Coast and southern Nelson that require a Canterbury connexion. The southern end is served by the railway. The Murchison district carries on a substantial pig raising industry, but it takes 7s a head to lorry the pigs over the 35 miles through the Gorge to Tnaimnlmn Junetion and another 5s to Addington market, practically the only outlet. The Lewis Saddle highway would not assist this kind ol trails, port, but it would be a- great boon to cattle breeders and fatf/ners. That the district is a productive one may be judged from the fact that a dairy farm was sold recently at the surprising price of £lB an acre, with a proportion of it still unci on l ed.