MAROKOPA NEWS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 483, 17 July 1912, Page 7

MAROKOPA NEWS.

DAIRYING AND ROADS

Own Correspondent. The splendid showing of the Marokopa dairy factory for the first year of its existence is certainly very encouraging when it is remembered the many obstacles that the promoters had to overcome. The factory was erected on the guarantee of the directors, and without any support from suppliers. Believing as they did that the venture must be a success, they persistently continued with the well-known result. The supply for the season exceeded all anticipation, an juddging by the initial efforts, and the now support of farmers generally thß industry in the district promises in the future to reach a considerably magnitude. An increase of supply by those who supplied during the past season as well as of a number of new suppliers 13 expectd for next season. From the Ratanui district several new suppliers are being ljoked forward to. as well as a large number from he Kiritehere valley. The district is only in its infancy, and last year's working of the dairy factory has shown good general results. There are many acres of the fertile flats along the Marokopa waterway, which, when brought into a station of productivity will be a very big factor in the dairying operations of the district. The Kiritehere, Te Anga and Ratanui districts are capable of big developments, whih are retarded by want of roads. Although the Marokopa valley road is not as far advanced as it might be, settlers along the river are not so badly off, for the reason that they have a good tidal river which is navigable for about eight miles, and the present arrangements for the getting of cream to the factory are by launch. However, the other districts have no such facilities, and the very existence of settlers depends on a means whereby they can get their raw material to. a point where it can be converted into £s. d. One very important road which vitally affects the industry and settlers in the district is part of the Kawhia-Mahoenui road, between Mr E. U. Stanley's and Were's. The condition of the road between these points is very bad, and it is almost unsafe to take horses over. With businesslike promptitude the directors of the local factory intend having the cream from the Ratanui district picked up on the factory side of the Mangaohae crossing, and the first performance will be the packing of the cream for a distance of about seven miles, after which it will be conveyed by the company's waggon to the factory. The condition of the road at present is deplorable. There is plenty of metal at hand, and it would be a very wise action on the part of the Public Works Department if they utilised some of this metal, and even put it down for a width of three or four feet in order to allow the pack horse to get through. This work would not be wasteful to as in the future it would be necessary to metal this road. For the sake of settlers and a promising industry the Public Works Department should take action in **he matter. The track ha* served its useful purpose, and the day has now arrived when settlers must demand a better means of ingress and egress. They have now been almost a decade not the frontier, and have been developing their farms 5 which are now at that stage that the farmer should be able to show something on the right side of th« ledger.

As important as ia the immediate necessity of the putting through of this portion of the road, there are other roads in the district in almost a similar position. Settlers, who have been on the land in an outlying district such as this for ten or twelve years are certainly within their rights in proclaiming their wants, and it seems that there is only one way of receiving any official notice, and that it by clamouring. Consequently it shoul be fairly sound advice to keep on agitating.