IMPRESSIONS OF TOKOROA.

Putaruru Press, Volume VII, Issue 317, 5 December 1929, Page 8

IMPRESSIONS OF TOKOROA.

PROGRESSIVE DISTRICT. The recent canvass of the Tokoroa district by a representative of the Thames Valley Power Board to ascertain the volume of power likely to be offering afforded a Press representative the opportunity of making an inspection of this progressive settlement. When one is shown the class of country out of which the farms have been made one cannot but help being impressed by the possibilities of the land and the pluck of the pioneers who have undertaken to win for themselves homes in the district. The farms are looking particularly well at present, the fields waving with grass. In fact so abundant is the feed that one farmer who is this season milking 100 cows and carrying 40 head of other stock on 200 acres intends to milk 150 cows next season. This is but typical of others, for on all sides one heard of the intention to increase the herds.

Figures have sometimes been said to be capable of being used to prove anything, but the figures of the Tokoroa Co-operative Dairy Company are impressive. In 1920 the returns from the sales of cheese amounted to £4296 Is. It has gradually increased until at July 31 of the current year the returns amounted to £24,891 7s 6d. For the season ended on July 31, 1926, the output amounted to 210 tons 6 hundredweight 2 quarters, while for the past season the output totalled 295 tons.

Five vats are in use at present and six hands are employed, all being indicative of the solid progress of the much-despised Tokoroa land. Nearly all the farmers are milking large herds, there being several of 100, others being 60, 60, 70, SO, the smallest being 30, and this the herd of a first-year farmer. The district has attracted experienced farmers from the Taranaki, Manawatu. and Hawke’s Bay districts, and these men are all enthusiastic as to the future of Tokoroa.

Excellent provision has been made for the supply of water, but the cultivation of shelter trees has been somewhat neglected ; and there is need for shelter on the rather exposed plains of Tokoroa.

The visitor cannot but be impressed by the fact that the women of the district are lovers of the beautiful, for almost without exception there are flower gardens around every home. In one case the garden was of lhit Old World type, oldfashioned flowers being abloom in plenty.

Tokoroa is gradually being surrounded with trees, the work of afforestation companies, and to the casual observer it would seem that these operations are encroaching far too close to the heart of the district. It demonstrates the need for a system of classification.

It is admitted that the country was a few years ago “ sick,” but this is being gradually overcome, and to-day Tokoroa stands as an eloquent testimony to its farmers. It is regrettable that the Government does not realise that the country is no longer to be despised and that it is being handicapped to a certain extent by the failure to advance farmers money wherewith to further prosecute their bringing into even greater productivity the land. It is to be hoped that the district will be further improved by the introduction of light and power. That those (especially the women) who have faced the loneliness of pioneering are deserving of these advantages there can be no gainsaying.