TARANAKI.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume I, Issue 27, 12 April 1845, Page 2

TARANAKI.

In a former article on the Statistics of the Colony, we mentioned that the Floor Mills now built, or in progress, in Port Nicholson, were the only Mills in tlte Settlement, We are happy to correct our previous impression on the authority of^ Mr. Varnham, a respectable settler of New Plymouth, by stating that two Water Mills have been recently erected in that district which are now at work. They are both within the limits of the town as laid out by the surveyors of of the New Zealand Company, and are within the block of the three thousand acres to which the settlers have been recently restricted by the Governor, they are both situated on the same stream, the Natoki, which takes its rise .from Mount Egmont, and is about ten yards wide. The Mill belongfng to Messrs. White and GilHnghara (which has been most recently erected) is turned by a breast wheel about twenty four feet in diameter, and is furnished with two pair French Burrs: the whole of the machinery was brought out from England. The other Mill which

also turned by a breait wheel, and is furnished with one pair of stones, is remarkable in many sispeots. Ir belongs to Mr. S. Oliver an in■lf^iPiP nd in<to 9trious settler who was a i*(^B|§dAnd : the whole of the ? iri3&pry was v#dm Aerf*tJ;lement under his direction, and in *el£psaaking the bolting machine' «6t $einj#able,|b procure any wire, he has substituted thin sof wood for the coarser parts, and muslin for finer parts. The stones, which are three feet ten inches in diameter, are made of a bluish kind of granite, which is met with in great abundance on the shore of the district, and which is found to answer theftp.urpose of grinding remarkably well. This ,is wjifrth remembering as, there will be no further occasion to send to Sydney or England for French Burrs, when a substitute, proved byexperience to answer in every respect, may be had in the Colony for less than one-third their cost. The price of .grinding at these .Mills is lOd. per bushel, the Miller retaining the bran, or 15d. without the bran, or Is. 6d. per bushel for grinding, dressing and, delivering the flour and bran. Mr. Varaham brought with hinj a. sample of the flour produced at'thi^Mill whiph was declared, by competent judges to be of first rate quality. We are informed that Mr. Oliver has offered to deliver flour of this „ quality in Wellington for £12, per Ton cash. If the settlers at New Plymouth had obtained possession of their land according to Mr. Commissioner Spain's decision, they would now be busily engaged in preparing to supply Wellington with flour, instead of the settlers of this district still drawing their supplies from the neighbouring Colonies. While on the subject of the improvements of New Plymouth we may mention the Suspension Bridge of IOOf. span, •erected by the New Zealand . Company at the cost of £1100," across the Waiwaikaio, a broad /rapid shallow river at the distance of three miles from the town, on the Beyon line leading to the Waitera district, The chains are formed of the chain cable formerly belonging to the Fifeshire, and the frame of the bridge which is of wood, is connected with the chains by means of iron rods. The district of Taranaki abounds with such streams,, all taking their rise from Mouttt Egm'ont, and-offering the settlers an unlimited command of water power, so that New Plymouth wfll eventually becdme one of r the most important Agricultural and Manufacturing districts in New Zealand. 0-7 — -