MANAWATU.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 18, 27 May 1871, Page 8

MANAWATU.

(From our own Correspondent.)

THE POPULATION. _ The Census returns just published in your columns shew a most satisfactory progress to this district, and taking into consideration that Otaki, instead of increasing, as is customory to places, is rather diminishing, I believe it is a fair .... .estimate to take 200 as being the Euio- ... pean population of that place, gives us, for the Manawatu district, a population of over 800 This speaks volumes, and goes further to prove how rapidly this . district is gaining in favor than anything that could he said for it, especially when it is borne in mind that the census was .. taken before the majority of the immigrants arrived, and before* the public works had very far advanced, and which . would now tend to swell.the total by 200 to 300 more. Thus it may be granted that the start in the progress of Mana- . watu has commenced, as we may clearly trust that some of the men working upon the roads will, at the end of their employment, take up land and settle down amongst us ; and a.larger number will do so if the proposed block, on deferred payments, is secured this next Council and immediately surveyed. It must be exceedingly satisfactory to those who have always kept their faith in this district, in spite of the Provincial neglect and mismanagement, to find now their faith being realised, and I may be excused in taking up your space if I bring a few figures to prove this rise. It cannot be more than tour years ago when it was impossible to count more than twenty to thirty houses in the district, whereas they number in the townships of Foxton and Motoa, 105 ; and in .. the Palmerston block, 20. This I should , say is not including the houses being erected by the Norwegians. There have also been live flax mills erected, and the following public buildings,, viz,, a Scotch , Kirk, Courthouse, Chapel, Schoolhouse, Survey Office, Engineer’s Office, Athenffium, and a Post and Telegraph Office, and in conjunction with the Post Office has been established a Money Order Office and a Savings’ Bank. By the river, we have a wharf and store-house, and have as a rule four regular traders to the port, viz., the Elizabeth, Huon Belle, Dawn, and the s.s. Go-a-Head, who all report the bar a remarkable good one, and over which . they can come at any time near high water. The water on the bar at high tide is between eight and nine feet, and the Go-a. Head has come over it at neap tides, drawing six feet. nine, inches. With all these conveniences it would .' seem strange if we did not increase in s .' population by immigration from other ports,. and I believe it is only from ’". these facts, not being known that we . .have pot increased faster, .hut which . ,'we„ shall do directly, the Government. , vyorks now. in ■ progress . are eompieted. T^e-woriis are.the : formation of a.road 7 from, Poston to,Napier,,passing,through ,and,fhe Gotge pf the M anawatU; and will be of a level right across the island. From the Goige a road

will he carried to the Wairarapa, and from Palmerston a tramway is being laid to Foxton.

It will be seen, therefore, that by the older settlers steadily holding on it has enabled the Government to realise some of their faraway country. I have said the credit is due to the old settlers, as it is a well-known fact ia the old history of New Zealand that there have been two or three panics, and some hasty clearing out of the Manawatu, and the Maoris acknowledge that if they had got all the settlers off at that time they would never have let them return again. Though this matter dates some time back, D I regret that plenty of instances can be shown of shortsightedness on the part of the Government quite recently, and one or two of which I will give. Three years ago.the settlers urged upon the Provincial Government the propriety of opening up a road from Foxton to the beach, so that the coaches might run through the town, and would not only save the settlers the trouble and expense of riding down to the mouth of the river, and staying there all night, but would also tend to assist the sale of the Government’s land, by bringing passengers through it. I'll is they either would not or could not see. Ever since that the settlers have been constantly memorialising, and at last they have managed to obtain a grant of £SO to supplement a subscription of like amount raised in the place ; and this they did so late as to prevent our being in time to secure a clause in the mail contiact, making it compulsory on the part of the contractors to come that way upon the road being passable. We also learn of another enlightened piece of provincial management, viz., the refusal on the part of the province to bear its share of a subsidy advertised to be paid to a steamer which would open up the rivers of this province oven when the port of the only district for sale of some 300,000 to 400,000 acres of land, and which has been described by the Provincial Treasurer “ as the only stay of Wellington,” is the one which would reap the largest benefit from it. After this, it will be admitted, I think, that the settlei.'i and not the Provincial Government, deserve the credit for the progress of this district, While I am upon this subject, I may point out another ratliei singulai proceeding on the part of our pio\ incial legislators in regard to this district and the funds of the province. They have a survey office provided with plans of the districts, and yet they have no surveyor near it, and no one to attend at the office and give information ; and this is the district where the lands are to be sold! AGRICULTURAL CENSUS. Whilst writing on the progress of the Manawatu, it is only right to give some figures to prove, what perhaps has done as much as anything to give it its good character. By the agricultural census taken in February 1871, Manawatu though possessing only 41 holdings, and growing but a small quantity compared to other districts has yet this advantage, viz., that she produces more to the acre than any other part of the province of Welllington. I have compiled the following figures from this return, and they speak for themselves :

SMALL FARM ASSOCIATION. The Ilutt Small Farm Association are about to occupy their block in about a month’s time. This will bring a number more settlers to swell the continuing increasing number. WORKThere will he plenty of work for good hands, or for small settlers, as the Manawatu flax mill is soon to start again, and will require supplying with flax and firewood. Though these contracts are taken up, yet the contractors are wanting hands to cut and cart for them. For the mill, men with families would get on best, as there is plenty of employment for children in feeding the machines, &c. The current rate of wages in this district is now five shillings a day, and that with the ability of acquiring a small section (on which they can work at odd times, and in the early morning), and where the cost of living does not exceed seven to

eight shillings per week, ought to offer fair encouragement for men \vanting employment. Besides which, with the advantage of steam cemmunication with Wellington, Manawatu, with its fine garden soil, and warmer climate, ana earlier seasons, should induce marketgardeners to come here, to grow produce for the Wellington market. PROSPECTS. In the foregoing remarks I have endeavored to. point out our actual position, and I will now endeavor to prove the opening that exists for the settlers, j By the two Census returns it will be i seen that we have a population of 800 to provide for, and as yet, only forty holders of farms to supply them —ana the amount of wheat grown in the district only amounted to 1548 bushels — most of which I believe to have been raised at Otaki. It will be seen then that the required amount of flour for i 800 persons, ‘at the average of her head per annum —(the amount of 1 the French calculation) would amount to 130 tons per annum, or 5200 bushels —thus opening up an employment tor those who will enter upon raising grain crops. This is only one necessaiy, which I believe, with the means of better communication, and a small flour mill would be developed in the Upper block. ' In like proportion, it would require 400 tons of potatoes to be grown, and 57 acres to be cultivated to produce them ; also a large quantity of oats, hay, and maize for the supply of the cartels. The amounts are merely to show what is required for consumption in the district, but much more, and of other produce would be grown, with the facility that is offered for shipping, when there is a larger number located on the block and adjoining one another—for it is a well-known fact that material can be carried and produced at a cheaper late to the amount given. Freight up from Wellington to Foxton is only £1 per ton and down to Wellington 255. The three blocks, viz the Awa Hou, (boxton) Upper Manawatu, and the Manawatu and Rangitikei blocks, united together as they are with one port, offer every variety of soil, and the means of producing every variety of produce, In the Awa Hou block, where the land is of a light sandy mould, and rich swamp, crops of barley, oats and early wheat and potatoes can be grown. In the upper block, where it is all bush, when cleared, you have a light and stiff clay soil, with a rich deposit of decayed vegetation on the surface, and where every crop can be grown with the certainty of a magnificient yield. There are also sections near Palmerston ot a gravelly character, which would enable earlier crops to be raised. Portions of this bush consist wholly of Tawa, which is easily felled and burnt off, whereas other.parts are covered with fine pines, matai, totara, and other hardwoods, which will be greatly in demand for fencing and building, and to a thorough bush man would be the means of earning a living and clearing his bush,, by splitting such timber on his section into posts and rails, and cutting into logs, to be sent to the saw mil. By those who ‘ are fond of taking a dark view of matters, I may be accused of taking too glowing a view, 1 and they may say “just fancy a poor fellow with fifty acres splitting all his trees up into posts and rails, how 1 soon would he clear his grounds” and in 1 answer to this ideal questioner, I would reply, that every tree upon a fifty acre section would not be a tree fit to cut up for such purposes, and these would do to burn with the tops of all trees, but as to the want of totara and matai fencing I can point out that the settlers in and around Foxton give from 9d to Is each for posts, and that for the railway works, miles and miles of fencing will be required ; and that, also, the 1 neighbors of these men who have not much of a supply of fencing will require some, and especially settlers on the new block. As to cutting the trees into nine feet and eighteen feet lengths for the saw mill, it is quite practicable, as those clearing their sections, being of necessity compelled to fall their Limber, will 1 be able to supply the mill cheaper than. ■ their having to employ men to do so. i As this mill is to he immediately erected at Palmerston, and as a tramway is i being laid from there to Foxton,. the chances of men being able to carry out these suggestions are not claimerical,but i quite practicable. On the ManawatuRangitikei block the land greatly varies*

a large portion of it is open* and' undulating, and is towards the southern portion very sandy, ; and towards file north-east of a stiff clay. The advantage to be noticed in these three districts is the ease with which water can be obtained ; if the land does' not directly adjoin some river or stream, and . the facilities in the lay of the watersheds.for drainage on all these blocks where open land exists, it will be found covered with a fine growth of English grasses, spread there by the cattle and horses and,even where the fern appears the thickest, after it is burnt off a crop of grass will spring up. n ", 7- , 7.7 . These are facts, and, it only requires persons to visit this district to satisfy themseves that it is so ; and there'Can be no doubt but that as our population increases, this will become one of “the finest,, healthiest, and most-productive portions-of New Zealand. - - -

Diefcrict Produce per acre. Wheat Oats Hay Potatoes M'anawatu 37 bshj 37 bsh ; , 3 tons, 7f tons Rfuigitikei 22 „ 27 „ n „ 7 „ Wanganui 27 „ 28 „ If » 7 » Wairarapa 19 „ 30 „ If j> 5 }) Hutfc 30 j, 33 j, If „ 6 ,,