LAND FOR FORESTS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 567, 21 January 1929, Page 16

LAND FOR FORESTS

BETTER FOR DAIRYING COUNCILS UTTER PROTEST (From Our Own Correspondent) THAMES. To-day. A matter of grave concern to settlers of the Hauraki Plains came up for discussion at both the Hauraki Plains County and the Thames County Council meetings yesterday, namely, the locking up of thousands of acres of land on the Coromandel Peninsula for afforestation purposes. Both councils took strong exception to tho reservation of such land. It was pointed out by councillors that closing the land against settlement was detrimental to the farmers of the Plains, who require it for winter grazing. The area under discussion is good second-class land, and too valuable to be allowed to be idle. A great portion of this land was held under lease by the Kauri Timber Company, who surrendered its rights to the Government last year. The land in question is adjacent to Thames, and the property of the town must be enhanced if The Coromandel Peninsula land is thrown open for settlement. At the council's meetings resolutions were carried urging upon the Government the necessity, in the general interest 5 of the district, of the land being brown open for settlement. It was also decided to send an invitation to the Minister of Lands to personally nspect the large undeveloped area of the Coromandel ; Peninsula.