RAILWAY WANTED.

Patea Mail, Volume III, Issue 268, 7 November 1877, Page 2

RAILWAY WANTED.

{To the Editor of the Patea Mail.)

Sir, —I read in a late paper of yours a report of a meeting in re Small Farm Settlement at or near.to Norinanby. ..This is in my opinion, a step in the right direction, but there is a matter of still more urgent importance—that is the completion of the railway fiom Inglewood to Norinanby, if not still farther down the coast. The crop now standing on the sides of the inland road—l mean the timber—is of far more value than either grain or any other agricultural produce. When I look at the immense tact of beautiful open country from Norinanby, which requires fencing and subdividing, to say nothing of the demand over increasing for sawn timber, shingles, house blocks, firewood, &c., —when-I look at the large quantities of sawn timber annually imported into the county, I am constrained to look'on the wanton destruction of valuable timber for the sake of growing say,—grass on the land, as almost suicidal, for before many years have passed, every available tree along the inland road will be required for use in tho open country. Already there arc two large saw mills at work at Inglewood, sending large quantities of timber by rail to New Plymouth. I believe also firewood is being sent by rail into the open country at, and near to, New Plymouth. Were the railway completed (a very easy undertaking) the settlers, instead of destroying valuable property, would be reaping the immense harvest now awaiting, and the amount derivable from that source of industry, would amply pay for the clearing and grassing the land when the timber was removed.—l am, &c., JAMES HIRST. Patea, Nov. 5, 1877. —: o THE LAND FOR THE PEOPLE, AND THE PEOPLE FOE TILE LAND. (To the Editor of the Patea Mail.)

Sir, —In your report of meeting at Normanby re Small Farm Association, I notice a speech made by one Mr Robson, in which he is pleased to express his disapproval of the Midhirst Special Settlement. So far, I can find no fault, as every person has a right to an opinian of - his own upon any subject, but when he gives as his reason for such disapproval that those who take up the land are not tied down to improvements thereon, which would cause, speculators to buy and keep honest industrious settlers out, be at once became absurd, if nothing worse. What could have been Mr Robson’s object iu making such a misrepresentation in public on the subject of the Midhirst Settlement? Has he applied for some of the land and been refused? No. Has any honest industrious settler been s'o refused? No. Have not honest industrious settlers been invited by advertisement, during the last month, to take up land in the Midhirst block? Yes. Are such people not still invited to take up land /there? Yes. Does not the 30s per acre, extending over a period of 10 years, include 8s per acre over the whole block for improvement, not only to the individual sections, but to the district generally in the shape of road expenditure? Yes. After that, where are Mr Robson’s grounds for objecting to and calling the Midhirst Settlement a great blunder. Is Mr R. quite sure that the blunder is not made by those honest industrious settlers who prefer letting such a chance of securing good land slip past, whilst they send delegates to Wellington to be referred back to the Taranaki Waste Lands Board? Whether the Midhirst Settlement is a great blunder or no, it deserves a better name, as having started (on this coast) a new idea, which is being rapidly followed in various directions, with slight modification, and as having opened up by itself, as well as by the action of those who are following in its wake, large tracts of country previously unsaleable for want of a plan for making roads; &c., to let day lightinto them. 1 hope none of your readers will fancy from the above, that I am in any way opposed to, or jealous of these other Small

Farm Settlements or Special Settlement ; for I heartily w«sh them all as thorough success as my own efforts have met with, and as soon as I saw the advertisement calling the meeting at Nonnauby, I wrote to Mr McGuire offering any assistance in my power in forwarding their scheme of settlement. I should like to see every acre of the bush taken up by energetic promoters of honafide settlements of a like nature, and shall always be on hand to assist in such matters with all my heart.— I am, &c., A. ORACROFT FOOKES. New Plymouth,"'Nov.-'B, 1877. -