PROGRESS OF PLAINS.
A YEAR IN RETROSPECT. BRIGHT FUTURE INDICATED. To Hauraki Plains residents the year which is now drawing to a close may not have appeared to have been of outstanding achievement or to have marked any progress as would be comparable with that of the hectic years about 1920. However, the progress has been marked, and the following summary may surprise many. The past year has been a very satisfactory one, and the indications point to it being the beginning of a new era of prosperity for the district. As will always be the case with Hauraki Plains the prosperity and contentment of the farming community weather. In this respect the past year will depend very largely upon the has been a satisfactory one, for the amount of rain has not been excessive or so distributed as to cause flooding, or even prolonged saturation., The rainfall totals for the past 15 years, while not sufficiently defined to absolutely prove that the Biblical cycle of seven fat years and seven lean years still prevails, certainly give an indication that there may be some justification for such belief. It is the incidence of the rain rather than the total amounts that determines the effect, and it is on swamp lands that the effect is noted. There can be no denying that in the years 1922-28 the land of the Hauraki Plains was wetter than in the years 1914-21, and the farmers less prosperous. The past year, being a dry one, may therefore be the first of another seven “fat” years.
The drought which the province experienced last summer and autumn was felt on the Hauraki Plains, particularly from the end of February until it broke on April 9, but the district did not suffer to any extent in comparison with other parts, and the benefit of the dry weather was felt throughout the winter. There was very little poaching of land, and little or no talk of the housing of dairy cattle, while in comparison with previous winters less stock was removed to the hill country.
Again, in the early spring a drought threatened, but the heavy rains of October 8 and the following days came at an opportune time, and pastures responded wonderfully, with the result that the spring production of dairy produce reached new high-level records. This was clearly demonstrated at the Ngatea butter factory, where the quantity of butter manufactured daily has been on a par with the previous, season’s figures, despite the diversion of the Waitakaruru supply to the new cheese factory. The high rate of production has been maintained, and the country is now in such a state that no great harm will result if the summer and autumn months are particularly dry. The showery weather of the past two months has given a great impetus to the making of silage, with the result that most farmers now have stacks of succulent feed available for their cows in the autumn should there be a shortage of pasture. The early mowing of the rank grass for ensilage made the pastures more succulent and undoubtedly contributed, and will continue to contribute, to the high milk yield. The showery weather of the past week so interfered with hay-mak-ing operations that it is probable that in future years farmers will not risk hay but concentrate on silage. In addition to there being a high milk production, the year has also been one in which high quality has been maintained. The Ngatea butter factory again secured the blue ribbon of the butter world—the Weddell Cup—with the excellent average of 94.412 points per cent, for its season’s export output of 1170 tons of butter, and the Hauraki Plains Co-operative Dairy Company’s cheese factory, at Tuura, just missed winning by a fraction of a point a similar honour in the cheese competition. Prices for dairy products have been satisfactory, and the activities of the co-operative pig and calf marketing concerns have secured good returns for farm by-products. Aids to Production. The year has seen many movements started with the purpose of increasing production and removing disabilities. The Hauraki Plains West water supply scheme so demonstrated its merit last summer that other districts took steps to secure similar facilities. In June the Waitakaruru Canal settlers authorised the County Council to raise a loan for extending the water-mains to their road, and this work has been completed. Settlers of the Kerepeehi block, and of Awaiti, have undertaken co-operative supply schemes. Possibly due to the change in Government, many Cabinet Ministers visited the district, and settlers lost no opportunity of representing and demonstrating to them the peculiar disabilities encountered locally. This has had the result of having a resident investigator appointed by the Agricultural Department. That the seriousness of the problems is sufficiently realised is demonstrated by the visits of experts from the Agricultural and Entomological Department. Their chief concern at present is in connection with the grassing of the foreshore land at certain particular points, and with insect pests. The problems of Orongo, and of fescue generally, are being tackled by the Government, but as yet a solution has not been reported. However, it must be very gratifying to all farmers to know that the tall fescue problem is receiving attention, for the spread of this grass of late years has been such as to cause serious concern to thinking farmers. The whole question of the spread of noxious and injurious weeds deserves much more serious consideration than it gets, and the position is not improved by the fact that the County Council has not a noxious weeds inspector.
During the year two attempts to break in fescue-infected land at Orongo have been commenced, and while it is yet too early to say what result will attend the efforts, it has
been demonstrated that the cost is high." Opening of Lands. Although no further areas have been opened for settlement during the past year with the exception of the Kerepeehi block to certain soldier settlers from Kaihere, the work of the department has been such that land ballbts cannot now be far off. It has been announced that the Kerepeehi block will be made available for selection by April next, and although the upset price has not yet been announced, and is expected to be rather high, present-day inquiries indicate that there will be numerous applications. The progress of the WaitakaruruMaukoro Canal, and the Pouarua Road canal, and the fact that relief workers are now engaged in digging boundary drains for the sections along the Torehape road, is a pretty sound indication that it will not be so very long before the big area between the Kai-here-Ngatea-Pipiroa road and the hills will be sufficiently drained to be thrown open for selection. With that area settled Hauraki Plains will be a very different place. The Government has other areas, particularly between Kerepeehi and Netherton-Awaiti, which should also be opened for settlement in the near future. The Lands Drainage Department has little work in view, with the exceptions already mentioned, and the Piako River improvement, and it is unlikely that the Government will continue to hold land when the Lands Department leaves the district. Government Works. In October last the Lands Drainage Department commenced using a big excavator it had constructed for widening and stop-banking the Piako River. Work was started at the Horahia bend, and is to proceed as far as Kaihere. A Bucyrus machine will follow the long-armed machine and give particular attention to battering the bank and to the stop-bank. As yet little progress has been made, but the effect is noticeable in the height of the river, for abnormally high tides coinciding with freshes in the river which a few years ago would have caused flooding and restricted floodgate action have passed unnoticed. For the same reason there has been little talk during the past winter by Piako riverbank settlers of using electric pumps to assist gravity drainage. Roading. Whereas in years gone by the peculiar local problem in connection with roading was with metalling and supplies of metal, it is now confined to maintenance methods. The great increase in the amount of motor traffic, consequent on the opening of the Pae-roa-Pokeno highway, and the numbers of locally-owned motors, has shown the unsuitability of the Plains roads for that class of traffic. The maintenance of a high crown and a moving surface is necessary to prevent potholes, and on the score of economy, but the narrowness of the track and the proximity of deep drains render this class of road undesirable. Accidents due to skidding are almost a daily occurrence, and only service buses, lorries, and big cars may be driven fast. It is therefore strange, and regrettable, that the Main Highways Board will not recognise as constructional work for subsidy purposes the council’s proposal to have one mile of highway in each riding bitumen-sealed each year out of rates. The work would be subsidised at the higher rate for construction if a loan were raised, and the council is being assisted by the No. 2 District Highways Council to have the decision altered. In the meantime the council is doing what it can to widen and flatten the roads, and is using other sorts of metal. Another danger common to all the roads of the county is that of straying stock and horses, and the appointment of a ranger is long overdue. In the matter of metalling, the year has been a notable one. In January last the Lands Drainage Department let a big contract for the metalling of the Patetonga district roads, and much work has been done. It is hoped that by the end of the present season there will be a continuous all-weather road right through Patetonga. The Pate-tonga-Morrinsville road was completed in May last, and the NgateaKaihere section was linked up last autumn. Other roads in the Ngatea loan area metalled last summer are the Orchard West and Rawerawe river roads, while between Turua and Kopuarahi the Ngataipua East connection was made, and at Kerepeehi the Kaikahu Road metalling was extended. A short length of Pouarua Road was metalled out of the Pipiroa riding general rates. At the present time the Hopai West road is being widened and formed ready for metalling, and the preliminary arrangements are being made for loans for metalling the Mangatarata and the Kerepeehi township roads. It is to be regretted that once again this annual review has to record that nothing has been done in connection with the Waitakaruru-Miranda road. Another road of which nothing has been heard of late is the Awaiti-Tiro-hia connection, which would open up some 2000 acres of land. Bridges. Contrary to usual, there is little to report in connection with bridges. Efforts to secure the Pipiroa crossing have been made with little success, but a decided step has been taken by the council in setting aside a sum out of the profits of the ferry for the purpose. The liability for the Orchard bridge, and also for the Puke bridge, has been removed by the council from the special rating areas and spread over the whole county. The bridge over the Waitakaruru Stream canal was opened last autumn, and repairs were effected to the Orchard bridge. Wharves. The negotiations between the County Council and the Lands Drainage Department relative to the sale of the Piako River wharves and the wharf at Waitakaruur for the sum of one shilling were completed last month, and as soon as the documents are
signed the liability will become the council’s concern. Drainage Boards. The operations of the three drainage boards in the district have been mainly routine. The Netherton board and the Hauraki Plains West have got into their stride and are giving satisfaction tp ratepayers. A set of by-laws by the three boards acting together was brought into force in September. The great reduction in rates due to local control has moved the settlers of the area west of the WaitakaruruMaukoro canal to endeavour to get away from the Government’s administration, particularly as they realise that when the Elstow Drainage Board takes over the Awaiti basin in the coming yeai’ the Government’s rating area will be further restricted. The Hauraki Plains West Board has been asked to absorb the area, and it is considering the matter.
Little progress has been made with the scheme for draining the area north of Waitakaruru, as the County Council, which is the drainage board for the district, is still waiting for the Lands Drainage Department to prepare a suitable scheme. Relief workers are now employed by the Public Works Department in erecting a stop-bank round Huirau Point, Turua, but the work is proceeding very slowly.
Power Board’s Operations.
Aside from the installation of meters, the operations of the Power Board have not been of a spectacular nature. The Public Works Department’s feeder station at Kerepeehi was completed early in the year and supply given the board for this district. The Patetonga district reticulation was completed and supply given in May, and the board has now under consideration the extension of its mains to Torehape. Mains were run along the Kerepeehi-Kaihere road to give supply to the soldier settlers on the Kerepeehi block. Street lights in Ngatea township were relighted in May, the Public Hall Society having undertaken the liability for maintenance charges. In Kerepeehi the lights have not yet been relighted, despite the fact that since March 6 there has been a hall available in which to hold money-raising functions. In May last the County Council had street lights installed at many of the road corners throughout the ocunty. Government Business. In comparison with previous years, the expansion of Government business has necessitated little expenditure on public buildings and services. At Ngatea the district high school has been added to by the erection of a detached class-room, which will make accommodation available for the large increase in the number of pupils at the school. Additional land has also been given.
Only minor structural alterations have been required to post offices at Waitakaruru and Kerepeehi. The number of telephones connected has increased considerably during the year, particularly at Waitakaruru and Ngatea, and the department proposes to replace the overhead wires with underground cables for a distance each side of the exchanges at Turua and Ngatea in the near future. The utilisation of the Auckland service cars for the carriage of mails between Ngatea and Waitakaruru and Auckland commenced during the year, and has been much appreciated, but there is still room for further improvements, particularly in regard to local mails. A rural mail delivery service has been authorised for Waitakaruru, but nothing came of the proposal to apply for a service from Ngatea to the Pipiroa-Waitakaruru district.
Private Enterprise.
Banks have established three new receiving agencies on the Plains during the year, and two new business houses have opened, while one business, the Kerepeehi bakery, which was burned down, ceased operations. The butchers of the county united into one company. To the company the County Council delegated authority to provide a public abattoir, but as yet this has not been built, possibly on account of organised opposition from the northwestern part of the county having an effect on the granting of a license by the Government. Public Activities. In public activities the women of the county have shown the most interest during the year. The Plunket Societies of Waitakaruru and Turua have raised considerable sums for Plunket rest-rooms by means of queen carnivals, and throughout the county many bazaars have been held for church purposes. In Turua the Town Band raised £l4O for uniforms, but the money is still in the bank pending the clearing-off of the debt on the instruments. A ratepayers’ association for the Waitakaruru-Pipiroa district was formed in February, and it did much work for a few months but now enthusiasm seems to have waned. Branches of the N.Z. Labour Party are active in Kerepeehi and Ngatea. Sport. In the realm of organised sport the year has not been a satisfactory one, and in most clubs the standard of play has been low. Few districts of the population of Hauraki Plains have so many sports clubs, and this is the weakness, for few clubs are content that their members should take part in any but the highest grade competitions, and the system of control is such that the governing bodies do not interfere, though they all recognise that fewer clubs and more grade teams would improve the standard of play without depriving enthusiasts of the chance of participation. In Rugby football steps have been taken to alter the system of control, and it remains to be seen how this will work out; but in none of the other winter or summer sports has the realisation of the need of a change yet become sufficiently acute to enable anything to be done.
In both football and cricket the desirability of central grounds is recognised, but as Ngatea is the most suitable place and has no public domain,
the project has not advanced to any great extent. Athletic sports flourish at Kerepeehi, despite the loss of the showground for the coming meeting, and the second annual Hauraki Plains school athletic sports at Ngatea promise to eclipse the first meeting, which was such a great success. There are now five valuable trophies for competition among the eleven schools, and as very nice trophies for individual prize-winners have been secured the competition should be greater than before.
A proposal to hold horse races was mooted in Kerepeehi last summer, but it did not receive the sanction of the racing authorities of the Dominion. Enthusiasm waned in Kerepeehi, as it did in Ngatea in the previous year, when the difficulties of forming a bowling club were realised. Ngatea’s swimming club did much good work last summer, and its floating pontoon bath enabled a great many young children to learn to swim. The bath was launched in January and was hauled up on the bank some months ago for repainting. It will probably be relaunched as soon as the weather becomes suitable for swimming again. ' This summary of the past year shows that much has been attempted and much has been accomplished. It has not been as much as in some previous years, but the district is still virile, and it has men of vision who can be depended upon to carry on the work of progress. The prospects are bright, and if forward movements receive the support they deserve, and parochial interests are not intruded, Hauraki Plains will become a better place for everyone.
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Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5518, 30 December 1929, Page 2
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3,107PROGRESS OF PLAINS. Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5518, 30 December 1929, Page 2
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