LAND FOR SETTLEMENT.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5404, 25 March 1929, Page 3

LAND FOR SETTLEMENT.

WAIHI - WHANGAMATA DISTRICT. MINISTER ASTOUNDED. A sti ong case in favour of opening ing for. .settlement an enormous area, of land lying bewteen Waihi and Whangamata was made by a deputation which waited, on the Minister for Pubic, Works, the Hon. E. A. Ransom, at Waihi on Friday, and later in the day whqn the tire Minister was taken to view the land he was very much impressed, and s,aid that he would state the position to Cabinet in veg-y emphatic terms. At the Waihi Borough Chambers, Mr J. B. Beeche, president of the Waihi Chamber of Commerce, brought forward the question on behalf of the Waihi Chamber of Commerce and the Waihi branch of the Farmers’ Union. He mentioned that the Waihi Plains, previously thought to be absolutely useless/had been taken up and successfully farmed, with the result that the present, season’s return for but-ter-fat would probably be £BO,OOO. Along the; load to W h «ngamata there were big areas, suitable for fanming, but they had been provisionally reserved for afforestation. If the provisional reservation was lifted) the land would be snapped up very quickly. As the Minister was an experienced farmer, the deputation hoped he would view the district so that he would recognise the value of. the laud and be in a position to present the question very forcibly to the Minister of Lands and to Cabinet. Mr H. M. Hazard, a former Commissioner of - Crown Lands ini the Auckland province, told the Minister that he had an extensive knowledge; of the Coromandel peninsula land and its forest. It- was on the recommendation of a qommissicki which investigated the forests of New Zealand in 1913, and of winch he was the chairman, that the; present Forestry De-, partment. was formed. That department, to ensure sufficient area for afforestation', had had extensive areas of land provisionally reserved. By no!w the department .should, be in a position to kno.w which land was suitable for afforestation and which., for farming, and many of the provisional reservations should be lifted. From his knowledge of. the Whangamata dstrict he could say that the land! was. not the most desirable for afforestation, and many parts could very profitably be used for dairy and! sheep farming. For climatic reasons some! of th© land should be afforested. 'Mr M. F. Hazard, a surveyor of. over 30 years’ experience in the distrie,t, spoke of the difficulties met with in the past in securing titles for farm land, as the district was in the mining area. After majiy years of representations tjie Waihi plains: were made available for selection, and though the opinion ctf the Government officials was thaifc the land w’ould not pay for surveying, all sections were taken up and were now worth £2O an acre. The Herd) Testing Asso-. ciation c.ould show that the} average returns were better than those 0f any other district sewed by that association. A few years ago. he had, oh instruction from the Auckland Survey Office, surveyed all the land between Wailii and Whangamata, and had laid out roads. However, no .sooner was, -this done than the land was; provisiotaally reserved for State forest. No protest 'was ma.de at the time, as it was thought that .when the areas suitable for afforestation had been aeflneff and permanently reserved for forest the rest would be made available for settlement. However, alt applicatibins for the land—and they had been, very numerous—'had beeif declined as' the land was still a forest reserve. It was desirable, that the Forestry) Department should speedily define what lapd it desired, so that the reservation on the balance of the area could! be lifte;d. Much of the lajid was quite unsuitable for forest, and) forest had never grown on it. The. wooded area contained, sufficient forest for climatic purposes.

The Minister said t.hat he had been very interested in the disc.isssioit A full report would be< transmitted to the* Minister, of Lands, togetiher, (With a recommendation. He was. particularly interested to learn- that there was a chance; of the town of Wai hi being sustained when the mining died away by land settlement. The position would be discussed with the Minister ip charge of state forests, and he was sure the, question would' be carefully looked into. He was of opinion that reading should always precede settlement, and if the la,nd was to be dpened up it woultt be with considerable; pleasure that lie would instruct his department to go ahead with the reading. The Minister then went to view part of the land, and was conducted by Mr A. M. Samuel, M.P., to a hill bn Mr Otto Bjerring’s property. This hill watt in grass, and' frqni its.. top could be seen on one side the green paddoc.ks, big haystacks, and sleek cattle of Mr ‘ Bjerring’s and on the other side miles of rolling country of. a similar formation, but covered with tail ti-tree and a feiv 1 widely scattered trees. The contrast was very marked, and the two. views we;re a striking demonstration of tehe misdirected actipn of the starte Forest Department in maintaining tShe reservation- on land which could be easily brought in and made equal to Mr Bjerring’s farm. In.the main the country is rolling hills, with flat table-lands resembling much of Hawke’s Bay or or, neairer home, the hinterland of Pukekotie. The soil is similar to that of Puliekohe, and Mr Bjerripg, assured the Minister that .splendid clover cro.ps were grown, and that h<e preferred thie soil to that of the Wiiikato farm he previously owned. It i readily responded to manure, and wigs very easy to bring, into grass. The Minister was told that officials of the State Forest Department had asserted that b®jcaus,e a few Rewarewa tr<jes were growing the soil was too poor to be of any use ; but perhaps t he Forest Department men chose not to see the- cabbage trees, wha;ie> I'rowth wa.s always ;i. sign of good! land.. The Minister had intended visiting

Whangamata, a nd wpkild thejn have passed through many miles of. similar land, but the whangamata Settlers’ Association during the morning had advised against making the trip, a,s heavy rain had fallen on the ne.wly formed roads.

Settlers of the district, officers of the Public Works Department, and mepibers and officials of. the Oihinemuri County Caunc.il who were present assured the Minister that there were thousands of acres of similar land between Waihi and Whangamata withheld from settlement by reason of thq forest reservation.

Mr Ransom said) he was satisfied that the reservation should be lifted and. the land thrown open, and he asked a press photographer who >vas present to take photographs from various points for his, usie when representing thq position to Cabinet.