THE RANGITIKEI-MANAWATU DISTRICT.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4939, 20 January 1877, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE RANGITIKEI-MANAWATU DISTRICT.

(uv orn special cokkhsposdest.) THE It AI (.WAY TO KEH.DINU, The day following my visit to the Oroua Downs, nr I.oughts Block, I took the train from Eoxtou to T’eihling. This is one of the lines in the colony which more than pats its working expenses," ami contributes something towards tiie interest on the cost of its construction. Pm-some time, as may be remembered, it and its management formed the subject of frequent complaint, A groat mistake concerning it was made in the first instance by laying it down as a wooden tramway, which was perfectly useless when worked by horses, and broke down irretrievably when an attempt was made to work it by railway engines. The tearing up of this tramway ami its replacement bv a railway proper have added materially to the cost of the latter. Had it not been so, the present railway would pay the full interest on what should be its capital cost. I ho receipts are about £OOO a mouth, two-thirds of which are from goods, produce, and merchandise, but the passenger traffic, though small, is on tho increase, and is quite up to what mioht be expected from tho number of the population served by the line. As to its past man,'moment it would perhaps be better to say nothing, as it would involve saying something unpleasant. At p-esent, though I found some complaints of the tariff for the conveyance of goods being excessive, I heard nothing but praise on every hand of the ability and courtesy of Mr. Moinet, the traffic manager, who seems to have succeeded in pleasing everyone. The line itself is worked as such a line should be. The Guard is ou terms of acquaintance with all .the settlers along the route, and exchanges salutations with them from their cottage doors or from the paddocks at which they may be at work. The train pulls up anywhere if desired to take up or let down passengers, and the obliging Guard takes charge of the various little messages and commissions with the care of which coach drivers in the past were accustomed to themselves. Starting from Poxtou, the line for several miles passes at almost a level through ranoes of sandhills until the Oroua bridge is arrived at, when an ascent is commenced, and au entry into a thickly-timbered country is made. Several small stations, mere platforms by the side of the line, are passed hefoic Palmerston, twenty-four miles from Poxtou, _ is reached. During the trip so far several native settlements are passed, the inhabitants of which de ru/cur turn out to see each tram, and as passengers are very numerous, asking for a “ tingle tfikit” or a “ return tlikit ” in a most business-like manner. Ju-t before Palmerston occurs a Scandinavian settlement, the progress of which, by the paddocks stocked with cattle, and comfortable cottages built, seems quite satisfactory. A notice of Palmerston I shall defer to a future writing, my present destination being Ftikling. Between Bedding and Palmerston is the township of Bmmytliorpe, winch has ample opportutiea for rising in importance, its population just now consisting of one man, its township of an indiffeiently-con-strncted slab hut. Here a few yards of railway, branching off apparently to nowhere in particular, and terminating amongst tree trunks, points to where the line through the Manawatu Gorge to Woodvillc and At as ter ton should not b-t constructed. And in a few miles more we reach FIELDING, The chief township on the Manchester block, though oue further ou, Haloorabe is rapidly rising. A very full and interesting description of the special settlement being effected, and the conditions under which it was carried ou on this block, lias already appeared in jonr columns, and I presume that your readers are tolerably well acquainted with the circumstances under which settlement has been and is carried on. I will therefore rather confine myself to an actual description of what I saw. Yet, at the same time, it will not perhaps be out of place to mention .that the block, comprising 106,000 acres, was granted to Colonel Feilding. acting for the Emigrants and Colonists’ Aid Corporation, at a price ot 15s. an acre for 100,000 acres, the remaining 6000 acres being presumed to be taken up by roads and reserves. In a report to the of Wellington, on the 7th May, 187-1, Mr. A. Pollett Halcombe, the resident secretary to the Corporation, says:“The Manchester Block extends from the Kangitikei River to the Rnahine Ranges by the gorge of the Manawatu River. It is twenty miles in length by an average breadth of eight miles. With the exception of about 12,000 acres of open land the block is covered with bu-h. Mach of this bash is towhai forest, very light, and easily cleared ; but there are also large blocks covered with very valuable timber —raaitai and rimu—interspersed with tntara trees ; and large groves of magnificent totara occur in every direction over the block. The soil is uniformly rich, much of it being a deep alluvial deposit underlaid with fine waterworn shingle. Though the country generally has a great fall seaward and is therefore well drained, it has an apparent level, and the few rolling ridges will offer little obstacle to the formation of roads and tramways in any direction. “ The block is intersected and almost equally divided by the Oroua Stream which runs north and south thro gh a magnificent valley, fully five miles wide, into which the drainage from at least two-thirds of the block finds its way, and whicli is full of magnificent timber. All over this valley water is obtainable in wells from ten to fifteen feet below the surface, and the block generally is very well watered and yet entirely free from any injurious flooding of the streams.” Briefly, the Corporation undertook to introduce 2000 immigrants into the colony, and to settle 2000 statute adults upon their land, before the Ist April, 1877. A few facts will tell whether they are carrying out their conditions. Owing to various difficulties, tin first immigrants were not introduced until January, 1874, and for nearly two years afterwards these and their impedimenta had to be conveyed by wretched bush roads to then' destination, and housed in tents and whares until cottages were provided for them. What do we now find ? Feilding is a handsome well laid out township, easy of access by railway, with churches, a school, well-appointed hotels for travellers’ comfort; passable streets and thirty miles of road are formed throughout the; block, and will he for the most part metalled during the summer ; and though the full complement of immigrants by some five or six hundred has not yet been introduced, owing to purchase and settlement nf land by and influx to the district of colonials, there is now a population of quite 2000 souls on the block, whilst tho immigrants now on their way out, under the auspices of tho Corporation, will find on their arrival comfortable cottages ready' to receive them. A uniform plan has been pursued with the immigrants. Each head of a family was put in possession of a town, - acre, and as soon ns possible of a cottage* thereon, and was also allotted a country section of 40 acres. For the town acre and cottage ho was called upon to pay 7s. fid a week for throe years, at the expiration of which they become his property without further payment. For the 40-acro section ho pays a rental of £5 a year for seven years, with a purchasing clause at tho rate of £3 an acre. As in all cases tho Corporation give him access by a good macadamized road to his 40 acres before asking him to commence operations upon it, it will bo seen that they have to spend ranch more than the purchase money upon the land. Of course tho immigrants were not all first-class, and even of some who have since turned out excellent colonists there were not a few who under the utter novelty of the circumstances attending a change from their life at Homo to one in the bush'hero growled and grumbled and produced some troubles. But as all were wisely in tho first instance located in the town, and provided with work in clearing and road formation by the Corporation, those ready to become colonists got an opportunity of acclimatising themselves as it were, and numbers li.ivo benefited by this, as may bo seen by tho readiness with which they are now setting to work upon their country sections. Indeed, a Darwinian process of natural selection wont on. Those capable (and fortunately they were tlio large majority) of becoming useful inhabitants

have been gra hially weeded out, and have left for other place . And here it may tie well to remark that e little pre-arrangement in Bugland might have prevented tho trouble which some immigrants, through no fault of their own, gave. A thoroughly good colonial agent should have be n soot Home—i man of character, of discretion, and of experience, who, knowing the colony, would have taken as immigrants people suited to the conditions the immigrants wouht have had to fulfil ; and as a. result, the present satisfactory condition of affairs would have been arrived at in even a sliortor time and at less expense. However, all is well that ends well, and certainly the present appearance of Feilding seems simply astounding, considering that the town and district were a wit I waste some three years ago. But in truth the whole block is laud of great iehness. Air, I falcouibe has a pleasant bouse for himself ou the eve of completion, and in front of it are a lawn of rich green sward and beds gay with (lowers, the fruits of but one year’s work, yet such as in the old country is only attained by years of patient and laborious industry. If anything were wanted to show the progress of tho whole district, perhaps tlm day’s work I was able to accomplish ou my visit to Feilding would best show it. I left Foston at half-past C in the morning by train, and arrived in Feilding at fi o’clock. After breakfast and a walk around the township, r. Alacarthur.wlioin I have already mentioned as Mr. Halcombe’s second in command, left on horseback for Halcoinbe, eight miles distant, by a very fair road formed by the Corporation, as, indeed, all the roads have I icon, with scarcely any assistance from the Highway Board, to wiiich for some time the settlers on the block contributed largely in rates. Along the road we passed many sections taken up by colonials from the Corporation, and on whicli great progress in clearing, cropping, and stocking had been made. The first view ot Halcoinbe is very taking. 'The immigrants’ cottages are mostly situated ou the gentle slope of a slight hill, along tho crest of which runs a line of bush, and it is outside of these that the suburban sections are situated, which will be offered for sale in AVelliugton by Messrs. Betlume and Hunter on the 2oth instant. The main railway from AVangauui to Wellington passes along the hollow at the foot of the hill, and the contractors are hard at work here, the line to Feilding being expected to be ready for opening in a little more than eighteen months. It is no wonder that applications should have already been made to purchase privately the sc tious about to be sold by auction, for they are not, like land too often offered in this colony, remote from road, railway, or township. The town ship of Halcoinbe, though only started a twelvemonth ago, already contains 500 people, and all the accompaniments in the shape of the usual excellent hotel which, thanks to Inspector Atcheson, is now the rule in up-country townships, good stores, accommodation houses, Ac. I have seen towns spring up with lightning-like and evanescent growth on goldfields, ami in too many cases “ come like shadows,” and “so depart;” but the "row-til of Halcombo has been as rapid as that of a (midfields township, and contains elements of permanent prosperity and progress necessarily wanting in the former. Mr. Halcoinbe, with charaoterist c good judgment, accepted a number of the German immigrants by the Fritzreuter, and settled them at Halcombe. As has been the rule with their nation, they have turned out most patient and industrious colonists—men, women, and children turning-to literally “ with a will.” Indeed, in oue case brought under my notice, a German woman and her daughter had dug up au acre of ground in nine days. After a brief spell for the horses, we left Halcombe, and having put four miles and a half of road between ourselves and it, came to a natural clearing known as “The Big Clearin'-.” The land is here partly covered with that strong and tall manuka scrub! which is indicative of a rich soil, and partly by fern. This clearing contains about 4000 acres, of which 1000 have been purchased by a number of the sect known as Christian Brethren, who will shortly bo all in situ, and of whom one pioueer is already on the ground. I am unable to testify' to the soundness of this people’s religious faith ; but from what has already been done by their pioueer, I can pronounce their industrial and agricultural tenets excellent. Already this man has a nice crop of oats almost ready for cutting, and a good vegetable garden, whilst what is really a handsome frame house is in course of erection. Leaving tho Big Clearing, a ride of ten miles along a well-formed road in course of being metalled brought us to Feilding. The laud here offers no exception to the invariable rule on the block. Wherever it has been cleared and grain sown, the pasturage is simply magnificent. The road is known as the Alakinoroad, and at a point about one-third of the distance to Feilding the Government have taken advantage of it to clear a road towards certain land sold by them and that shortly to be opened under the deferred-payment system. The Ooi-poratiou authorities do not seem to regret the facilities they have offered by means of road construction for getting on this land. They wisely recognise that every acre settled enhances the value of their own land, and makes Feilding the entrepot of a flourishing back country. The senior member for Wanganui lias purchased some land on this Government block (which,by the way,is known as the Kiwitea), and we met him proceeding there in a spring cart with stores, like the true and hardy settler he is. As we got closer to Feilding we came across numerous 40-acre sections, to which the special immigrants are now having recourse, and on which they are doing much clearing and improving. But the prettiest sight of all was within the township as entered by the present road. Here one side of the road was lined by cottages, with flower gardens that Woffington could not rival, and fruit and vegetable patches adjacent; whilst the remainder of each acre was ripening with the golden grain of oats or maize. At a quarter to four o’clock we were again in Feilding, and had a rest before getting on the train at half-pa- 1 : four, which took us to Fox ton for tea at seven o’clock. The reader of this will see that not. a bad day’s work was accomuiished, whicli a year ago it would have taken fully four days to get through. But owing to the railway and the excellent roads made by the Corporation I was able to do it in a day, and on mv return to write this letter in time to despatch it by the post closing at ten o’clock that night and leaving for Wellington at six o’clock the following morning. The Corporation have one source of wealth only waiting completion of the railway for development. This is contained in the splendid timber with which the greater part of their property is thickly covered, and which is so much desiderated in Marton-Wanganui and the districts lying between. The Corporation have now limber mills at work under an arrangement by which they supply the bush for felling audltako the-sawn timber at a fixed price. When the railway is opened to Wanganui they expect to supply sawn timber there at from Bs. to os. per, iffOft. plus tho cost of carriage. At present they supply it from the mill at los. per 100; hut this is as it were a retail trail., 1 , and the wholesale trade which the opening of tho lino will afford will make tho prices as stated. As a concluding paragraph I may state that between capital and the proceeds of the land sold the Corporation have now spent close on £60,000 on the Manchester Block. There are 670 ratepayers on the roll of the Highway Board, and during' the last throe years the block contributed a full third of the rates of the Manawatu Highways District, of which till lately it formed a poition, without receiving literally a penny hack towards road construction within its boundaries. PA I.MEUSTON. The day following my visit to the Feilding Special Settlement:, or the Manchester Block, I devoted to Palmerston ami its neighborhood. Tho latter term is rather ft misnomer, for as an actual fact Palmerston lias no neighborhood in the proper sense of the term, and it is this fact ot which its inhabitants most complain, as they assert, and not without good show of reason, that no encouragement by the throwing open of land has been given for settlement in their vicinity. Palmerston is twenty-four 1-tt vnll femn i’ovfon- and Bedding lies

some eleven miles beyond. Tlie locality of the township is pretty in the extreme. A. natural charing of some 1200 acres in an otherwise h .tdi country gives an almost level flat of fine gravelly soil, and on this a township lias been built, which, as nearly all the buildings are new, and many of them more than respectable, looks very well in comparison with the old, dilapidated shanties which ait r some years exist in greater or less quantity in all colonial townships. The actual settlement of Palmerston was commenced live years ago last March, when the lirst lot of Scandinavian immigrants was located along the line, which was lirst road, then tramway, and subsequently railway. This lot consisted of twenty married couples and a few single men. Another lot of about the same number of statute adults, but containing a larger proportion of single men, were, throe mouths later, settled upon the road line between Palmerston and the Lower Perry on the Manawatu. The married people in almost every instance stuck to their forty-acre farms ; but this was the case much more rarely with the single men. Those who kept to their land have since, with scarcely an exception, dono very well ; and as they found that forty acres was scarcely sufficient for a farm, those who, in the changes and chances of life, succeeded best, bought out their neighbors who were willing to be bought, by which means the purchasers acquired larger scope for operation, whilst the settlers almost invariably used their money toward buying fresh laud a little further afield. I have said that it was the married men who mostly stuck to their purchases, or if they sold, hastened to acquire land elsewhere ; but I was made aware of a most notable instance in which a couple of single men, working as mates, are making for themselves a comfortable property. One of them works for wages on a railway contract, and this supports the other, who, year by year, is clearing and fencing their laud, and they have also been enabled to purchase stock to keep pace with their improvements. Previously to the Scandinavians being brought up, a survey office, about the size of a moderate match-box, and a very small accommodation house, represented Palmerston ; hut British, or rather, more properly speaking, colonial settlement was not long in following that of the Scandinavians, Mr. Snelson, who is at present an aucti-neer' and agent, and one of the principal storekeepers in the town, was the first to bring up his family, and his example was followed by Mr. Linton. For the first winter there was not much done in the township, however, in the way of building I hut when the railway works began, and three sawmills were in consequence erected, Palmerston became the centre of a trade brisk but unfortunately evanescent. The three sawmills were those of Messrs. Naanstead, Richter, and Co,, the Hokiotu mill (that pretty well known in consequence of the disputes concerning it which Messrs. Brogden had with the Maoris), and the Te Matai sawmill. When these three were in full work they used to turn out for export some 16,000 or If,oooft. of timber each per week, besides what was required to meet a large local demand blow the Tc Matai sawmill (Messrs. Manson and Co.’s) has been removed, in the first instance to Poilcling,, and subsequently to Halcombe, and the total quantity of timber cut in the week altogether is about 50,000 ft. In laying out the township a large central square of 17 acres was reserved. The effect of this, so far as - appearance goes, is all that could be desired, but it tends to scatter the various stores and places of business at long intervals around its sides, and so makes business of any kind a aeries of long walks. There are about 1000 people in the town, and it has I noticed an equal number of places of Worship and of hotels. There are four of the former—the Church of England, Presbyterian, Wesleyan, ad Roman Catholic—and four of the latter. There are two very tasteful and substantial public halls the Foresters’ and the Town Hall—the latter built by a limited liability company. A Local Board is entrusted with the management of the township, the members being Messrs. Linton (chairman), Palmerston, McDown.ll, Owen, and Walton. The rates raised amount to £320 per annum. I may notice that the Highway Board of the district (Manawatu) raises £I4OO a year in rates. The great complaint of the Palmerston people and one to which I give publication tor them, premising that it is they who speak as to certain facts and not I, is that snffic'enfc facilities have not been given for effecting settlement on land sufficiently near the town to make it the centre of an agricultural and pastoral district ; in fact, to give its business a backbone as it were. There can be no doubt but that with the exception of the Scandinavian settlements aforesaid this is quite true, and the people blame several authorities indifferently for its being' so. In the first place they assert that the deferred payments system has not had the fair trial with them that it has had elsewhere, in Sandon for instance. In 1572 10,000 acres of laud were professedly thrown open for occupation under deferred payments beyond the Manawatu River to the south of Palmerston, where a bridge is now in course of construction. But in 1873-74 this land was sold absolutely, and is not now in the hands of those who desire themselves to settle permanently upon it. Therefore the Palmerston people say the Government should now throw open for settlement some of the laud to the south which has been recently acquired from the Maoris, or some of that lying between tbe town and the sea coast at the back of the Scandinavian settlements. It was pointed out to mo that had there been land thus available for settlement at the proper time, a number of men who had saved money by working on the public works (the carrying on of which in its vicinity has supported Palmerston) would never have left the district, but would have taken up farms, and be now creating a rural population and settlement on which the town might roiy for support. In Palmerston and all over the Manawatu there is but one opinion as to the manner in which tbe district should be connected with Wellington by rail. The Gorge line, the merits of which I discussed in my first letter, is universally condemned ; and it is pointed out that if Government would only make the line via Waikauao they might immediately upon its construction sell enough laud along it to pay for that construction. That the laud is there is well known, that it is practically iuacoe-sible at present is equally true, that with a railway line running through it it would command. a handsome price is likewise incontrovertible. ' FROM FOXXON TO SANDON.. In order to reach Sandon, I preferred going roundabout from Palmerston, via Foxtou, as on my journey back from the whole district, via the Gorge, I must pass over the direct line of road between Palmerston and Sandon. For several miles after leaving Foxtou the road is not interesting. The homestead of the Doug-' las Block is passed, giving something pleasing to look at for five minutes ; but after that for several miles there are the same sandy road and sandy hills, with fern I struggling for an existence, which lies largely round Foxfcon, interspersed here and there with patches of toi toi, and with small flax swamps. Twelve miles from Foxton, u small schoolhouso is come upon, on the right-hand side of the road, and taking a track which at this point leads off from the left-hand side, a ride of a milo and a half brings one to the homestead of Larkworthy’s station (or purchase, as it is bettor known), of which Mr. Gower is manager. The run consists of 8000 acres, and this year they are shearing 6500 sheep, all cross-bred Lincolns. The whole estate is divided into ten paddocks, seven of which are close to the homestead, and of these one contains 800 acres. From tlio woolshod, where shearing was going on when I visited it, may be seen on a small hill, a couple of miles off, a neat house, which Mr. McKenzie, who owns a few hundred acres of land thereabouts, is erecting. < )n emerging on the high road again the rider soon becomes aware of a strip of bush running at right angles to the road line, and on the other side of which are Carnarvon and Sandon. .fust before entering the bush is a farm of 400 acres belonging to a widow lady, Mrs. Campion, and her sons. It is a treat to look at. In the paddocks the feed reminds one of what may be seen on the rich lowland pasturages of the old country, and close by the house and farm-yard

is one of those large ricks of hay so seldom seen out here, where an ill-sorted uncovered heap of a few tons stuck lopsided iu the corner of a paddock generally represents the settlers efforts at li lymakiug.