THE POMAHAKA PURCHASE.

Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 38, 16 December 1893, Page 6

THE POMAHAKA PURCHASE.

We have been favoured with the following notes on this much-debated subject from a correspondent who writes from personal observation ;

| Re this block, I think the Government will come out all right. I don’t say they secured what one would call a really grand bargain, but I certainly do not think that the price paid (£2 10s per acre was too high. Kearly every acre of the land is ploughable, and I honestly believe the soil to be first-clasS for oats, turnips and grass ; and there are some very nice flats along the river which I think will do well for wheat. The soil is deep and is of rather a clayey nature. It is not by any means loamy, as I understand the meaning of the word, i.e., free, slack soil. The fiats will require to be drain-plouhed, and then, with a few of these nice easy ridges, there will be farms of 200 or 300

acres that will be good enough for any man. The roads are occupying special attention, and will be of fine easy grades. Trout and eels are plentiful in the river, and there is one solitary individual fossicking for gold. He makes a living, but I don’t think there has been anything great found yet. Rabbits are only plentiful where the burning lignite is ; but otherwise, when the land is under cultivation, I don’t think there will be many met with. Of course you know all about the burning that has been taking place here for over thirty years, hence the name “ The Burning Plains.” A water race has been surveyed to turn a creek on to the burning part to try to extinguish it, but I think it will be a doubtful experiment. It is certainly is a pity to see the lignite wasting.