OHURA VALLEY.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 449, 20 March 1912, Page 3

OHURA VALLEY.

MANGAROA. The growth of Mangaroa can be guaged from the fact that within the past two or three years the number of children attending school has increased to such an extent that the present school building has had to be abandoned, and the worn carried out in the Public Ilail. The Education Board, however, rightly recognise the future of Mangaroa, and on Tuesday tenders closed for the erection of a new School to accommodate 120 children. At the last meeting of the school committee the teacher, Mr T. B. Mooney, reported that the number on the roll was now 57, and the average attendance 51. The committee decided to apply to the Education Board to have a proficiency examination held in Mangaroa as soon as possible. Mr A. J. Bierre tendered his resignation as a member of the committee, and Mr J. Kallil was appointed in his stead. Mangaroa is rapidly approaching the status and appearance of a town. Duirng the past year a number of new buildings have been erected, including several up-to-date shops. The post office is in the course of erection, and will be a handsome structure when completed. However, there appears to be one mistake about the building in that it is not lofty enough. Four new shops in the main street- for Mr J. Austin are rapidly appoaching completion. Messrs Bullard (new commissioner), Kennedy and Ratenbury, of the Taranaki Land Board, have been on a tour of the Ohura. The weather experienced was very bad, and a number of matters that the board wanted to deal with had to be left undone. There is every evidence that a great and prosperous future is in the distance for Ohura, attainable quicker, if the means of access were of a better nature. However, the fact of the railway having been commenced at the To Koura end is giving settlers heart and a certain amount of hope that their present isolation is within measurable distance of being remedied. Settlement has been in the country for the past ten years, and many are the hardships and trials that settlors have endured on this frontier of settlement. The Ohura can be truly defined as the heart of the King Country, and but for the fact of the existence of the Main Trunk railway being adjacent to its eastern boundary the farthest outnortions would be in a considerable plight. Indeed, the position is bad enough at present, and many of the settlers in the interior are from 40 to 50 miles from the. railway their only means of access being over unspeakable roads. The Ohura county, which contains 336,000 acres, is divided into seven ridings, having a total popualtion of 143G

nersons, 930 of which are males ami 497 females. These people are all located practically in the townships of Mangaroa and Matiere, and the more closely settled districts of Tatu and Otangiwai. These localities are in close proximity to the so-called main road, which leads to the railway. The imagin ati v e on e can, therefore, perceive the largo expanse of country which the balance ol the population have to travel over on bridle and bush tracks. THE MAIN ROAD.

The condition of the main road to Ongarue is one that calls for serious comment, it being the only one that gives access to the exports and imports of the. Ohurn. Its present slate is dopSorahle and wretched, and. if the weather as at present being experienced, continues much longer, it, will very shortly become impassable for vehicular track and unless something unforseen takes place will continue to be so during the winter months. Recently the cost of carry in;: has been raised to £5 per ton from 10s. Business people are very much afraid that the cost of cartage will again be raised before long, and many of them anticipate that before the winter passes the cost of freight will go as high as £ls per ton. This is attributed to the fact that there were hopes for better weather at this time of year with the result that a considerable amount of supplies are awaiting to be carted in to supply the consumption of this growing district. A settler informed me that he remembered once that the freight waß £lO per ton, but pointed out that there was not anything like the .stores required then, that there is now". He further pointed out that a continuance of the weather experienced at present would mean that it would take a five-horse team a week to cart a ton from Ongarue to Mangaroa, and that would cost £l2. Settlers complain that the road would not have cut up so quickly had the work on it been carried out more expeditiously and the cleaning out of the water tables and the repairing of bad places attended to. The county engineer (Mr T. H. Harland), mentioned in conversation, that the extent of road work the Ohura Countty Council had in hand was about £IO,OOO, of which £5500 was for the metalling and the reforming of the Waikaka road. This amount was a loan and subsidy. About two miles of the formation work was done. The weather was against the work, and operations were hung up. The settlers in that district had hypothecated their "thirds" for the paying of interest on the loan. The metal to be used is burnt papa, which has been successfully tested on the Niho Niho hill for the past twelve months. There is no doubt but that this kind of metal makes an excellent road, although somewhat expensive. However, it is an excellent remedy when neither shingle or stone are procurable. To make the road a success it has been proved that it requires to be well formed and that not less than twelve inches of burnt papa be applied. In other parts of the district the County Council has been busy in working out available grants, the majority of which were not spent last year. This year the council received about £IOOO of fresh grants. In the Kururau riding £SOO of thirds have been spent in widening and forming. FARMING PROSPECTS.

Farming in the district has made good general progress and a large number of new homesteads have been erected. A considerable amount; of subdi visional fencing is being done, and it is a good sign in new districts that farmers are anxious to get the full value out of their lands. The shearing season during the past year was not as successful as was anticipated, the woo! clips being generally light. A very trying time was rally experienced from about the end of November right up until the first; week of March, and during that period there were never more than eight successive days without rain. Most- of the settlers have got their wool away, although there are a few who have had the misfortune to only have theirs oti the road. vSheepl'armers during the past year have experienced some verv severe losses. The percentage of lambs to begin with were very bad generally, hard frosts came afterwards and played havoc with the iambs to be followed by a wet summer with cold snaps cutting off both ewes and lambs. It is stated on good authority thai there an? many settlers who have loss sheep at present', after taking the lambs into consideration, than they had at the beginning of the year. These, losses were not. due to any lault of the. land or its producing powers, but to the peculiar weather conditions. Although sheep suffered so considerably cattle are reported to have done remarkably well. The loss of shoe]) is attributed to the very dry autumn of last year, followed by a mild winter and the inclemency of the weather since then. Si! u :-"hf arm ing operations through on r the district are practically at a standstill as very few have had the good fortune to get a burn. It will mean considerable loss to settlers ami w;!l undoubtedly be of financial ombarrasment to many who were hoping to have the complete improvement fulfilled. A less amount; of labour wili be required as there? will be no grass seeding and no fencing of bush burns. However, it is generally understood that there will be ample employment, for good men. It is very regrettable that farmers have had such a rough experience this season as the area oi bush felled is indicative of their intentions in the carrying out; of improvement?. and of their activity in the clearing of their iands. hi past years it has been due to the large areas of bush felled that the sheep industry had reached to such a good amount. The bush country when grassed has proved excellent for sheep, and with a good season or two to follow the present bad one the industry should increase to a very great extent and, in fact, it would be very difficult to form any conclusion as regards the final issue. The country is good, and

haa splendid carrying capacities. U can easily winter two sheep to the acre and in the summer months, when there is a surplus supply of grass from five to six. Many settlers are of the opinion that with tho advent of the railway a good opening will be effected for the fattening of sheep. Although the industry is experiencing hard times at present, there is no reason why settlers should become despondent for in the future the Ohura county will have a sheep industry shat. will do the King Country credit. A little time and patience will overcome all difficulties Besides the sheep industry, which is being carried out on J the large holdings, dairying bids fair j to have a great future. The Matiere and Niho Niho factories this season have done very well, and the results are up to expectations. The Otangiwai district is a considerable factor in the success of Matiere, whilst in and around Niho Niho and surrounding Mangaroa has been the source of supply of the latter concern. Suppliers to both factories have considerably increased this season, this being due to the favour that home-separation has among farmers. The output of both concerns, it is considered, will be largely in advance of last year, which was about 50 tons of butter. A large number of settlers are making separator butter, which is being disposed of to local storekeepers at the rate of about one ton per week, which means, of course, a considerable increase of the butter production of the district. A number of milking machines have been installed in the district, ns well as a large number of good milking sheds erected. Although the weather haa been of that nature for growing grass cows generally have not milked as well as they might have done due to the continual rain accompanied by occasional turns of cold weather. Steps are. being taken at present in connection with the erection of a butter factory near Mangaroa. The district is at present being canvassed, and the promoters are satisfied that they will get support to the extent of 600 cows. The new project should be a success as there is some fine dairying land in and round Mangaroa and running in the direction of Tatu. There is, however, in a district like th'S one thing that settlers should be careful to avoid and that is the building of too many factories. Some argue that the roads are too bad to take the crearn any great distance, but then the fact must be remembered that if the roads are too bad to take the cream a long that they would be unfit to cart the manufactured article to a market. A GREAT DISTRICT.

Taking the adverse circumstances with which settlers have had to contend with this year they have done remarkably well. Their intentions were good, but fate willed otherwise. The dairy farmer cannot complain. His season has been all that could be desired, although not under the most favourable conditions. There is no doubt but that the Ohura will rank as one of the foremost districts in the North Island in the future. Proper roading facilities will be a big assistance in tending to develop the- productivity of this splendid area of country. Settlers must have means of transit, otherwise they will be unable to reach anything like a reasonable amount of production. The enormous cost for the cartage of goods makes the man on the land hang back and wait and hope for better facilities with the result that a considerable loss to a back district as this and the country at large is sustained. There are a number of fertile valleys and fine grazing hills in the Ohura to cater for both sheep farming and dairying industries, and until such times as the roads are improved and the railway put through the district will without doubt be seriously handicapped. Although there are many large areas of hush awaiting burning in the King Country a true story which almost reads like a romance, and is a example of what a stroke of luck means, occurred in the Ohura. Messrs Baranberg Bros, had an exceptional piece of luck. Mr G. B. Baranberg and one of his most reliable men left with a party ol men to assist in firing the bush both taking up positions at the extreme ends with the men marshelled in be tween. A signal was arranged when all hands were to start firing, but both Mr Baranberg and his men, who deemed it advisable, both as wise men, not to start the bush, set off to meet each other at the arranged point and inform the men alone the line that they were not going to proceed. However, there was one individual in the gang who was of a rather tired feeling, who was standing by his post, went to sleep, and after a snooze suddenly woke up and thought that he had been asleep for a time, waited for a little, and thinking that he had missed the signal arranged, which was a gun snot, set fire to his section. The position was then realised that the bush was or. fire. All hands got to work with the intention of making the best of the unknown blunder. The result was a splendid burn, and grass seeders are now busy sowing. The man who went to sleep on duty is now the hero of the station.