COASTAL SHEEP RUNS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 636, 12 April 1929, Page 11

COASTAL SHEEP RUNS

WAIKATO TO THE MOKAU SHIPPING WOOL BY SURF-BOAT CLOSER SETTLEMENT POSSIBLE Within sound of the surf that rolls on the long western beaches, the flocks that yield much of the wool for Auckland wool sales roam over pasture land that rises steeply from the sea. Though within six hours of the city, the strip of country extending south of Raglan to the mouth of the Mokau is little known to Aucklanders. JJERE, in a region long hampered by lack of road access, lie areas that still await settlement. There are properties down the West Coast of the Auckland Province that still have to rely on bridle tracks for their landward approach. Their wool is still shipped in the open sea with surfboats running between the beach and the waiting ship. It was in operations of this character that Mr. John Riddle, of Harihari Station, and a native boatman lost their lives during the past summer, a tragic feature being that Mr. Riddle was running his wool by sea for the last time, as in the coming winter he proposed to shift his woolshed many miles to get road access at Marakopa. ROOM FOR SETTLEMENT A firm believer in the possibilities of the Kawhia and neighbouring country as high-class sheep country is Mr. N. H. Beatson, of Tiritiri, Kawhia, now visiting Auckland. There is room for settlement down there, he believes, though he adds that closer settlement can only succeed if the farmers, have capital. Metalled roads have ouly come within the past year or two, and large gangs of relief workers are still improving the roads. The better access permits fertiliser to be taken in by motor-truck, and the land responds well to treatment. South of Kawhia lie some large stations. Harihari, now administered by the Public Trust, is considered the equal of Hawke’s Bay coastal sheep country, with the added advantage of a steadier rainfall. , Further south lies a large property owned by the estate of the late Newton King, and near the Mokau the Chambers family, of Hawke’s Bay, has a run carrying several thousand sheep. Nearer Auckland, two of the betterknown properties are those of Mr. C. Alma Baker, the well-known deep-sea fiisherman, at Waikato Mouth, and Mr. Campbell Johnstone, of Whatawhata. Motorists will no doubt find this a fascinating country to explore when it is better roaded, and round trips are possible, as the Kawhia and Raglan districts are, of course, noted for their scenery, as avell as for fine fishing in the great harbours or off-shore.