AWAKINO COUNTY.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 379, 19 July 1911, Page 3

AWAKINO COUNTY.

(Our Special Correspondent.) Perhaps one of the least heard of counties in the Auckland province 13 the Awakino County. It extends from the Mokau river on the south to the Kawhia heads on the north, with an average width of about fifty miles. In the northern and southern protiors the majority of the land is settled. In the south the holdings are principally large ones, whilst in the northern part the settlement is much closer and the farms held by settlers vary from 500 acres to about 2000 acres. The southern part is chiefly comprised of big runs. Mr A. H. Battley owns the largest of these runs. They have been under occupation for some considerable time, with the result that a large area of country is under grass. The northern part comprises the districts of Manga-o-hae, Pomerangi, Kirite'nere, Moeatoa and Marokopa. These districts have been settled for about seven years and some splendid pioneering work has been done. A decade ago it was all standing bush, beautiful in its pristine loveliness. The axe of the pioneer has, however, been at work, and nooks and hills that were once beautiful are now clothed with green grass. There is very little settlement in the central part of the country. The only blocks that have been opened for settlement are the Manaotaki, Mahoenu, and Waikawau, with the result that a large area of Crown lands is lying idle undeveloped. There is one redeeming feature ot the idle country that little of it belongs to the natives, so that when it is opened up the country will be made productive by the white settler. The class of country throughout the county on the whole is very good, and there is little or no third-class land. The greater majority of it is essentially sheep country with the exception of the Kiritehere and Marokopa valleys and the Mahoenui and Awakino districts, which are splendidly adapted for dairying. In the Marokopa district a start has been made and a new factory has been completed. The valley is mostly comprised of rich river fiats and swamps, on which a considerable amount of drainage has been done. A case in point as regards the drainage done in that district is that of Mr C. Haylock, who has several miles of drains on his property. Mr Haylock and family took up that property some seven years ago. He relates how he and a couple of his sons had to take off their clothes and wade through the swamp to a piece of dry gronud where his house now stands. They had no option but to wade to get on to a dry spot on their newly-acquired property. Since that the scene has changed: the swamps have been drained and converted into rich pasture. Mr Haylock, who will be the largest supplier to the new factory, has been milking for the past couple of seasons, and has been manufacturing cheese on his own property. The prodact he exported to the Homeland, where a ready sale was found at a very satisfactory figure. It would really be necessary to view Mr Haylock's property to truly understand the very excellent work that he his family have done on this frontier of settlement. Other settlers in the district have done equally well and splendid improvements have been effected generally. The district is very fortunate in having a sawmill in its midst, where settlers were able to obtain building material for the erection of their homesteads. The principal timbers available for such purposes are rimu and matai. In the Mahoenui district there is fully an area of about 6000 acres adapted for dairying purposes. The only drawback at present is that the roads are so bad that it is impossible for farmers to be able to get their produce in to the railway, which condition promises to prevail for a few years to come. There are some who say that the holdings are too large for dairying, but 1 have personally ascertained from a number who hold land there, that were the industry of dairying to become established they would be prepared to let thtiir property go at a reasonable rate. The position is at present that settlers in this locality are isolated for the want of roads. They only have access to the outside world for some six months in the year, the balance of the time their so-called road is only a quagmire. The Kiritehere valley is also an ideal dairying piece of country, but unfortunately in itself is scarcely capable of sustaining a factory as it stands at present. This is due to the fact that an area of country of 20,000 acres in the Whareorina andMangamangerois locked up by the Crown at their very door. Fully 8000 acres of this piece of country is suitable for dairying. This piece of locked up country, despite the clamour for land, has been surveyed and cut up into sections of from 500 to 1000 acres for the past five years, but for some unexplainable reason have never been put on the market. In the Awakino and Mokau districts a factory could easily be carried into effect were the settlers so desirous.

It is practically during the past seven or eight years that this isolated country has began to make itself heard. After the settlers got on the land especially in the part the first outcry was for roads. That cry has been maintained up to the present day without any really tangible result. For instance, it has taken the Department practically seven years to form a sledge track from the Marokopa Heads as far as Mr Hally'3 property at Moeatoa, a distance of ten miles, whereas the next four or five miles in the direction of the main Trunk line—the Mangakokopa road—has never been further gone on with than the mere making of a bridle track along the sidings. The people in this part have had a very trying time in endeavouring to bring their claims before the Public Works Department. They have been petitioning about this road times out of number without any success. The present means of communication whereby they can get the necessaries of life is by the uncertain tidal port of Marokopa. During the winter months a boat can only get in on rare

occasions, with the result that settW rs have very often to go short of the ordinary necessities. Winter is not only responsible for such occurrences, for it was only last summer that there was a shortage of (lour, sugar and tobacco—the first and last mentioned items being practically at a premium. Many might think that tobacco was not a very serious item to be without, but it is in a case like this when it is a man's only soloze when he is cut off from the world. In the A wak in.-, and Mokau districts similar troubles are met with daily, and it is disgraceful the way in which these settlers are treated.

Administrative Departments have, argued that any neglect on roadir.g in the Awakino County was due to the fact of the county being inoperative. The argument may be sound in this way: that settlers should help themselves. If so the matter is extraordinary, inasmuch as the outcry of every city detail is attended to, and the farmer left out. It is not a matter of common occurrence that such a taunt is held forth, for if a deputation of those men who went back waited on a Minister regarding a main road whereby they required better access than that of a bridle track, the usual first question is "Are you prepared to help yourselves? If so a subsidy of £ for £ will be granted to you. If you are not, well then, nothing can be donei n the matter." Settlers are tired of such rubbish, and rightly so, because they go back and open up the land and endure hardships and trials for themselves, their wives and families that are practically unspeakable. The roading in the Awakino County is a matter of serious moment, and one that deserves more sympathy than that which is extended to it.

The county hag an excellent future ahead of it.' The fact of the Mokau Jones estate being developed is very much in its favour, as there are many hopes that those who are on the outskirts of settlement will receive consideration. Although practically in ; isolation more will be heard of this fine tract of country in the near future. Open up the Crown lands ; hidden away in this forlorn spot and give those that want land an opportunity of going there. If ao the district will soon be ranking amongst the ; foremost of the Auckland provinces. The land is there, and the right sort > to give the white man and the pioneer the opportunity of testing its prospective value and the result will be easily proved.