OUR DISTRICT AND OUR SETTLERS.—No. 20.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 96, 1 April 1884, Page 2

OUR DISTRICT AND OUR SETTLERS.—No. 20.

[BY OUR SPECIAL REPORTER.) WHAKAWHITIRA, This station is situated about six miles from the town of Gisborne, and is approached easiet by crossing the Grey Street Bridge and following the road on the right, a short distance from the beach. It stands—the sea dividing the land closely under the White Cliffs, otherwise known as Young Nick’s Head—a stretch of land in the valley at the mouth of the Big River. The gentleman possessing this admirable little estate is Mr. C. Agnew Brown, an old “ Eaton Boy,” and who, during his residence in Poverty Bay, has proved himself to be a thoroughly good settler, and one who has taken great interest in the moral and religious welfare of the people. He believes that there is a higher mission to be fulfilled in life than merely raising stock and cultivating a farm, and acting up to that belief he devotes considerable time to the work of “ sowing the good deed,” founded upon the precepts and life of the Great Teacher of Christianity. The ministers of religion in this district have found in Mr. Brown a good helper. It is not one man in a thousand among our pastoral and agricultural classes who is sufficiently courageous to stand up and declare boldly the religious doctrines he • believes in, and acts up to the principles he propagates, and Mr. Brown is fully convinced that religion is the foundation of all true pleasures in life, and for that reason things worldly possess little or no charm for

him. He is, nevertheless, a good man of business, upright and straightforward in all his commercial dealings. As to the 450 acres of land he poeesses, to quote a scriptural phrase, he has a goodly heritage, and his lines therefore have fallen in pleasant places. His sheep number 2000, and are Lincolns. That they are of prime quality may be inferred that he was a considerable prize taker at the last Agricultural and Pastoral Society’s Show'at Patutahi. He took the first prize fbr the best pen of hoggets and also the special prize. On his estate there are but a few head of of cattle, but these are good. His pasture landis very rich. It is a slice of the choicest stretch of territory in Poverty Bay. It is bounded by the Big river and the Awanui. Mr. Brown has been in possession of this estate eleven years, and during that time he has effected very considerable improvements, prominent amongst which his snug and pretty residence, erected within the past six months, after designs by Mr. Finneran, stands out in bold relief, the watch tower being visible from various directions even when the main buildings from some aspects is hidden by the clumps of trees that surround it. Mr. Brown is also one among our settlers who believes in the importance of planting fruit trees. Five minutes walk from the verandah of the residence, took me into an enclosure of three acres. Here I found a spleadid variety of fruit trees, or otherwise giving promise of doing so next year. Among the trees grew vegetables for domestic use. I have seen much better gardens during my travels. Possibly this garden has been a little neglected during the busy seasons of sheep shearing, and the grass seed harvest. This year Mr. Brown had 100 acres under grass seed, which yield very good crop. His wool clip added 40 bales to our export list. The estate is divided into twelve large paddocks. A creek running through the grounds affords water for the stock. Surrounding the residence there have been laid out a number of ornamental trees, and flowering shrubs. And a new orchard of fruit trees has been laid out and planted. Gravel walks are being made in various directions, and active preparations for flower planting on the raised ground at the foot’of the verandah running round the front and two sides of the well-planned and capitally lined residence which has superceded the little structure originally known at Whakawhitira. From the watch tower — a room high up aloft used by Mr Brown as his office and study—a splendid view of the surrounding country can be obtained. Ships can be seen at anchor in Gisborne Harbor, and as they pass along. From this eminence a good idea can be gained of the splendid valley stretching so many miles distant, unbroken by a single hill, but which any stranger visiting Gisborne would not credit us with possessing from the apparent close proximity of the hills to the town. With the erection of new residences at many of our stations, and the vast number of useful improvements wrought in cultivating the land and ornamenting it with the presence of the poplaß, the blue gum and willow trees, few places in New Zealand will be compared for picturesqueness with the homesteads of the leading settlers of Poverty Bay. Our diet ict is blessed with numerous settlers possessed of both energy and capital. Mr. Brown, the owner of Whakawhitira, is one of that number, and during his residence here he has done some good and effective work in improving the area of land he holds, and which once formed a part of the stupendous estate held by that useful old pioneer colonist, the late Captain Read.