Page 2 Advertisements Column 3

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIIL, Issue 214, 18 October 1878, Page 2

thjß price fixed for cash, and the rental is at minimum rate of 4s per acre, or five per jCeht; on this purchase price. For instance, ?latnd which could be bought at the cash price tot £\ per acre, can ba tiken up at 4s per ; acre rental with a right to purchase at iH on ■i-the 30th June, 1884, or at any previous time. The land throughout the whole block is of the very best eiescription, most of it is perfectly level, and some sligthly undulating. It is all avcll watered, but no pirt is 80>j?ct to any flooding; the streams being all m wellfiefined beds aid tlie country gmeral'y hav. ing a cor siierab e fall towards the tea. Two tovrs, Fielding and Haombe, have been aheidy established, and are both pogreasing very rapidly. In Fielding there ia a popu'ation of about a 1000, ia Halcambe -bout 400. The totil population now settled oh the b'o3k ia about 2200. and the number is very rapidly increasing. A third town, Ash- . hurst, is being established on a site close to the Manawatu Gorge; this will be settled very much as Fielding and Halcombe have beenj the country round it similarly opene.i tip by good roads in every direction, and the -main railway line extended to it probably .within the next year. ' The main railway Hue passes right through the block, and through the centre of tbe towns both of Fielding acd Halcombe. The railway runs from the pore ot Foxton to the port of Wanganui. Halcombs U exactly ..midway between the two ports, being 43 miles from Wanganui, and 43 miles from Foxton. Trains crosj each other at Halcombe, .where there is a large railway station, with : refreshment rooms for the railway travellers "fielding is 9 miles nearer Foxton, and there- ~ fore 9 miles further from Wanganur. - The following raturn shows the extent of .roai work done on the block within the last . four years : — Miles. Chains. : Roads completely formed and :- metalled ... 29 0 A Roads cleared aud formed ... 13 51 -■ Roads felled and cleared ready for metalling ... ... 24 75 Roads under contract for forming and metalling ... 1 n " Roads under contract for ;'.. clearing and formation... 3 61 72 31 Roads under contract for formation (being already cleared) 5 26 And as the Corporation has yet £25,000 to spend on road work, which it is the intention ,• to expend durins- tha next three years, a very large addition to the mileage of roads wi'l be made. During the coming summer it is intended to metal at least fifteen miles of roads now formed. The effect of the formation of all these iQhds. which are made to converge od the several towns, and which have ali been ao carefully laid off that there U no h»d gndientonaoy one of them, iatoenaalesetth n at once to enter on the proficab'e occupation of their lands, and giving as they do very easy acc-fs to tha railway stations, settlers are enabled to gat ail their timber to mirket with little expense The prices and ternn on which the rural lands of the Corporation cau now be purchased or leased have te n rneationed $ there are, alto, town and suburban laods. Town lands are divided into sections from a quitter to one acre, at pr ces varying from £60 the quarter acre, for cirner sections ia the centre of the town near the railway station, to £10 per acre for sect : onson t>*e outer part of the town. The price* of the suburban landi vary from £!0 to £% per acre, accordin? to position. These ara sold for casb, or by special arrangement to bond fide settlers who require time for payment. The whole of the Town and Suburban Land at Feilqn j exceptiag a lew reserves, has been scld by the Corporation, md is now chingiog bands at yery advmcsd prices There are st 11 some sections left in tfce Town of Ha'combe, and a block of Suburban Land will shortly be opened for selection, the whole of the Suburban Land of HiJcomba which has been opened having b*en already soli. In the Town of Halcombe there are still a few rottages which were built for immigrants! these may be taken up either by the week by any settle* who requ pes a temporary lodging at 3s 6d per week rental, or at a rental of 7s 6f per week, the payment of which rental for four years will give the tenant the title to the cottoge and the town-acre on which it stands witbont any further payment. There is a very great demand for lab^r within the Block; the roid work which the Corporation is engaged on, the very extensive timber trade which, the railway has opened up with Wanganui, both for sawn timber, fencing, firewood, and the improvements which are being carried on b» the aettlerp, create a demand which the present population is quite u_ able to supply, and as the Mmbe* trade has onjf com.ueno.ed, apd as settlement ia progrßssing rapidly, the demand for labor is more likely to increase than dmini-h. There are nioe sawmillls now at work on the Block, more are being erected and will be working within the next three months, and others are likely to be sta-ted saon. The bush contaios mixed — tots r a, rimu malai, and white pine. ' Wages are at h'gh rate?, and there is a constant and steady demand for bushmen to work by conraot or by the day, either in connection with saw mills or in falling bush or splitting firewood, fencing, shingles, &-}, Government schools are established at Halcombe and Feilding, and others are bein* erected in different p»rts of the Block, as the settlement of popuiition requires The best way to re*ch the Block, from Auckland, is by way of Oaehuoga, by steamer to Wanganui, and theace by rail to Halombe or Fieldiner. From Ne'tnn, s^eameM run direct, tfj Wangar*rn\ Frorq tip West Coast of the Southern Island the route is either by Nelson to Wanganui, or by Wellington to Foxton, and on, in either case, by railway. From Canterbury, the steamer Tui runs direct from Lyttelton to Foxton. It has been mentioned that the Manchester Block is chiefly bußh. It may, however, be well to note that the towns are on open ground, and that the railway line skirts the bush. On the North side all the country is bush lmd} on the South side it is a'l open eood agricultural land, on which, although it is mostly outage theManch'stsr Block. m»ny agricultural laborers would be likely to find employment. The Übourers on th9 settlement, who are good farm hands, have als j the advantnge of being within ea?y reich by railwav of the agricultural districts of Rangitikei aud Wanganui, where, there ia ample employment at high rates in harvest time, should they desire to avail themselves of ifc Jn conclusion, it may be said that all the settlers who have been steady and t*ue to themselves have done and are dqing^ ret mirknbiy well; their propeitv is fast iiting in value, and. many of them am selling out their 6mallc-y holding at a, go^d prifit.ani leasing or purchasing larger blo:ks from the Corporation. The district is rapidly progressing, and there is every ressoa to expect ihat the progress and piosperity which has attended the settlers qn the half ejf th^s Block now opaofd an,d, occupied, wiil alao attend the settlement of other half, which is, if anything, ihe more level and richer portion. For further inform atioa applv promptly to MU. MACARTHUR, Trafalgar Hotel. Nelson. A. FQLLETT Age.nt, $oiigrautanl Q denials' All 3483—3 Cpr£o*«tioa (limited}.