FOXTON.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4797, 7 August 1876, Page 3

FOXTON.

(FROM A COItKESPONDENT.) Foxton, a place now known by name as the port of a large and flourishing district, has been overlooked as a place of settlement by the small capitalists, an opening for whom the country lying around Foxton offers at the present time many inducements. It lias been the fashion for passers-by, and even for those who have spent a few days in the towD, to describe it as a sandy desert, merely from the appearance of the roads which have been cut up by traffic and worked upon by the wind, but those who have said thisarepeoplewho can never have walked a quarter of a mile from either of the public-houses, one way or the other. There •is land within five minutes' walk of the poitoj*ice, where the drains alongside of the sections show three feet of solid black vegetable mould equal to the swamp land at Wanganui, where Mr. Laird's nursery is. Outside the town are sections, unfortunately in the hands of absentees, who, however, will sell at prices it would pay to give for them now where the manukau stands m a solid mass from fifteen to twenty feet- high upon a rich black soil of a foot thick. Water sometimes lies on these sections, but when made dry (which they easily can be) can produce a fair crop of anything excepting, perhaps, wheat. No land can produce potatoes or grass better. For those who prefer a proper swamp and are prepared to lay out the capital sufficient to put it in order, that can be procured within a mile of the town. There are combinations of bush swamps and dry land to be had on the one and the same sections. The only reason why such lands are not now occupied is from the name of the country having attracted capitalists to buy, and they have been holding for their price, and the time has now csme when such prices will pay the purchaser. It would astonish anyone uncouversaut with the trade of Foxton to know the number ef passengers calling at and passing through the town in a month. First of all there are the coaches from Wellington, Wanganui, and Napier, which make their night's stay at the town. As these are generally full, a fair average can be given for them at 150. Seeing that steamers call in at Foxton three or four times a week, and bring an average of 10passengers,they will give 120; and then they have the crews, say five for each vessel, lying there two days each, more generally; and as the average number of vesselsis2oamonth, thisgives another 100 souls, making, besides the horse traffic and the drivers of the mobs of cattle which pass twice a month, a respectable total of 370. Further, the head quarters of the manufacturing, fitting, and repairing for the railway being'at Foxton, and it being also the terminus, where all goods require extra handling, and where the staff are resident, places a further population, who draw their income from outside, to be fed and supplied by the settlers about the township. More could be said, but for the present it is advisable for those seeking an occupation and a home, now the money for the Public Works is drawing towards its close, to spend some little time in the neighborhood of this port, and see the openings which offer to the steady and industrious.