"POOR' GUM LAND.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 3 February 1921, Page 3

"POOR' GUM LAND.

The evidence given by Mr Pakeman before the Railway Commission, to the effect that he was in possession of some of the hungriest gum land around Dargaville, and that his land, valued at 40s an acre, and costing some £13 to treat and make productive, was equally profitable as the Ruawai lands, which cost £80 an acre, naturally leads one to the belief that these poor lands are too good to give away under the homestead system, in these days of land hunger. The Minister of Lands, who knows little or nothing of these northern areas, and the Premier, to whom the cry of the homestead system has long been a party shibboleth, would appear to believe that the present value of land is the same now as it was forty years ago when land was plentiful and settlers few. The gum lands of the North are certainly worth something, and are much wanted by many settlers, who are finding that their swamp lands need a spell in the heavy winter season. —Wairoa Bell.