The Taihape Daily Times THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER 14th, 1916 FREEZING COMPANY MEETING

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 160, 14 September 1916, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times

THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER 14th, 1916 FREEZING COMPANY MEETING

A'NTD W AIM AKIN O ADVOCATE

(With which is incorporated The Tal hapo Post and Walmarino News.)

Shareholders jn the Taihape Freezing Works have not only demonstrated that they .are satisfied with the progress .and profits made during thesr first year’s operations, but they have also shown a determination that the works shall he a much greater success in the future,. There was insufficient storage to enable work to continue in times when shippings could not be depended upon, and to overcome this defect and to make other additions and Improvements whereby labour will be saved, work expedited, and consequently enable a greater volume of business .at a minimum of extra working expense—in fact to bring the works right up to that condition a year’s experience indicated was advisable, if not absolutely neces sary—considerable expenditure in new buildings and plant was unavoidable. The money for this work has been promptly furnished by the share holders; the extra shares for the purpose were taken up freely at the annual general meeting held yesterday. No doubt there are some in this district who will not realise that they owe heartiest congratulations to tnc men. who are adding to the riches to be 'earned and spent hereabout, in which all must more or less particip. ate. From every point of view the annual meeting of the Freezing Works Company was an unqualified success, for even those who showed a slight inclination to oppose readily put u»

considerable sums of money for tnc t better equipment of the works. Wu view with the utmost satisfaction tn» action taken in enlarging the works, because it was warranted to an extreme .

A SUGGESTION. In addition to a Chamber of Commerce and other kindred institutions in Auckland, there is, we learn; a North Auckland Executive and Development Board, and there are not wanting indications that this is a very live institution. Its object, primarily, is the opening up of the great nortn peninsula to profitable close setttement. A great deal of the northern*! land has been in the hands of very large holders for some years. As far back as upwards of twenty years ago the writer visited a large holding at Kaipara Heads, a good deal of which was devoted to the cultivation of the common prickly gorse. On this gorse cropped land many thousands of sheep were depastured, but owirigi to its deep rooting tendency, gorse after a few years was abandoned and other raetnods substituted. It has been founts that this clay land, worked out by gum seekers, is capable of producing huge crops of the very finest fruit it is possible to 'grow, and there is that transmitted to the land from fruit culture that causes a fairly good base for grass growing. Now, we understand, the change from twenty years agio is little short of a transformation, and the Auckland people, anxious and determined to closely settle the land, are inviting members of Parliament, leading farmers, and men of known .business capacity, to a free motor tour of the whole peninsula, taking them right up to the North Capo lands, so that it may become known just *vhat excellent prospects settlement in the North has to offer. It seems that a Taihape institution could profitably emulate the methods of the North Auckland Executive and Deve-

lopment Board, and as the Minister of Lands virtually tells members of our Chamber of Commerce that they do not know what they are talking about when they urgie that there are excellent lands hereabout suitable for closer settlement, more especially fbr the settlement of returned soldiers, ; a free motor outing, with all the promise of a riglit down good time should be organised, to which useful members of Parliament, leading farmers and 'good business men should be ini' n i • vited, and if necessary, pressed to take part. The leading farmers of the district, do not evidence the poorness of the lands they farm, and they gave unmistakeable,. undeniable evidence of their belief .and confidence in the .producing capacity of their holdings at the Freezing ,Works meeting, yesterday, when they were ready to increase. Company - capital by thousands of pounds with which to enlarge their, freezing capacity. Reports gathered from every quarter of the Taihape Inn terland demonstrate that lambing returns are .excellent, beiugi over one hundred per cent. Taihape stock sales are: among the most successful in New, Zealand. The demand for sheep of good quality -was yesterday responsible for another record sale. What, we should like to know, is the explanation of this keen demand for sheep if the land is so bad that it is not fu for closer settlement, as the Minister of Lands tells us? Of course, every farmer hereabout knows the value or the land, and we know that very small holders are doing remarkably well out of their holdings, and fully deserve all they get, for they have not only put In a great amount of hard, as well as intelligent work, but they are heip ing the whole district, town as well as country, in demonstrating that it is those men who say that land in this district is not suitable for closer settlement are they who do not know what they are about, or that self-inter-est is father to their expressions. Let us emulate the North Auckland Development Board and organise a motor tour.