OUR EASTERN LANDS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 154, 10 May 1909, Page 2

OUR EASTERN LANDS.

Southern visitors to the King Country, or travellers by the Main Trunk line are always impressed by the vast extent of open country which lies to the eastward between Te Awamutu and Te Kuiti.

The idea which strikes them is that this country which can be ploughed and made to grow root crops and various fodders, should become the winter feeding ground for the flocks and herds raised and bred on the higher hill county , • A u It has already been recognised by those who know anything of the King Country that this great Rangitoto, and other adjacent blocks were capable of close and profitable settlement, either for dairying or fattening stock. It is no news to them that practical southern farmers form a high opinion of the capabilities under a proper system of cultivation and crop rotation. What is surprising to them, and disappointing too, is the fact that although the Government have purchased large areas of these arable lands, no attempt has been made to throw them open for settlement.

Mr W. H. Grace, Government Land Purchase Officer, in his report on operations in this locality says: "All the areas acquired to the north-east of the line from Otorohanga to Mangapehi railway stations are of good quality, and will turn out well for small settlement purposes, and I greatly regret that the limit placed on purchasers has prevented my acquiring more of the said lands. This remark also abpplies to Tokanui and Rangitoto A. Blocks. I would point out that the vast country above described is practically unoccupied." Undoubtedly Mr Grace's regrets will be shared by all who have the interests of the King Country at heart, but what is there to prevent the Government throwing open for settlement some of the areas they already possess. There is not the slightest doubt that any block put up for selection under a decent tenure would be eagerly ballotted for, and there is no doubt that when once the settlers got to work on these lands they would rapidly bring them to a state of productiveness. They are not the class of lands which can be simply cleared and put into grass;they would, no doubt, have to be farmed after the Canterbury or Waikato method —short terms in grass followed by suitable crops. This is not the easiest class of farming and it msans, as a rule, that the land would have to be worked in comparatively small areas, but this is really an advantage to a district because it means a denser rural population than mere grass farming gives, and a higher rate of production per acre. The rapid settlement of these eastern blocks would m=an much to every township on the Main Trunk line, because it would make them centres of distribution for the ever increasing farms. It would increase the output of dairy produce and live stock, and thus give a great spending power to districts that at present yield practically nothing which is marketable. It is difficult to estimate correctly the area of lands in the districts mentioned, now held by the Crown, but it may be rightly stated at well over 200, 000 acres. Is there any member of our present Parliament who will rTOfc recognise that to keep such a large area unoccupied is a shameful waste of money and opportunities, and that to cover it with energetic and enterprising settlers would benefit not only the King Country,but the whole of the Dominion.