The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1920. RAETIHI AB ORIGINE.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3641, 30 November 1920, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1920. RAETIHI AB ORIGINE.

With which ia incocporatea "The Talhape Post and Waimann> News "

! The value of land north of throughout the Waimarino County., -ravl, indeed, right on through th'c country further northward, along the Main Trunk railway, is strongly and undeniably indicated in the rapid ..growth' of settlement and the springing into •<existcnee of populous business centres. Some forty miles to the northward of Taihape -is the virile town of Eaetihi, a place thought by* the Government Statistician in 1915 to be too small to be given a .place in the Municipal Handbook. Although of mushroom-like growth., theTeisno more stable, prosperous, progressive towß •in all New Zealand than Eaetihi is to-day. Hewn out of a splendid class of virgin forest, it stands as-a monunrent to the pioneering,, proclivities of a sturdy class of settlers, -a ■ monument that is destined to become a.-greafer and grander mark ofihonour-asthe.wbrk of town-building, so admirably commenced, progresses iinto the/future. It is only by comparing the country at Eaetihi, and for i miles around it, to-day wifh what it was some -twenty-six years ago, when i the first Government sale of Eaetihi

•township lands tooK. place, mat on« <can comprehend the magnitude of, the work' that has been accorniplished. ,It Is questionable whether anyother! township in this colony has made sueh rapid, progressive strides. It -started from solid bush, and in a quarter of'a century it is a populous, wealthy, modern town, the market place of a large, contented, prosperous yeomanry. Of such are the men who have made New-Zealand into what has been termed "God's Own Country." It '■is true ithat land from Taihape northward, in the Waimarino County, was thought by many people, some thirty .years ago, to be valueless from a production viewpoint, but as one looks over t.Tift flat, nndi beautifully- undulating

pastures around Kaetihi, freely sprinkled with a good class of sheep '< and eattle, sees the magnificent root ; and oat crops, the wonder is that man could have beeif so deceived. But before ; the township was surveyed and sold the settlers in Waimarino had learned most of what there was to be learned.about the BaetiTTi district land, for it was stated at the sale that the principal buyers realised that it was shortly to become ah important inland' centre. The fulfilment, of this forecast has .been so rapid as to surprise even those who made it. Special settlements were the vogue in those days, and Baetihi was laid out as the township for .Waimarino, Wangahui United and three jMarton special settlement associations. The town" sections were soldi by auction by Mr. J. H. Baker, the then Crown Lands Commissioner; there were at least one hundred and fifty persons present, most of the buyers hailing from Waimarino, who already had valuable experience of the land and

site Tiad been the subject of careful selection, a position on the main road between Karioi and Pipiriki, about eighteen miles ' from the latter place, having been chosen. The conditions of sale for town sections provided for a deposit, of one-fifth of the purchase money on the fall of the hammer, the balanee to 'be T within thirty days, together with one pound Crown grant fee. Official records of the sale state that the bidding was brisk, and the competition as very keen. Eighty ' quarter-acre sections were sold, the i total price realised being £1347, an ' average of sixteen guineas per quarter acre, and just about double the price the Crown Lands Commissioner had fixed as the upset. The lowest price paid was £7, and the highest was £6O, the upset price of the latter being £7 10s. According to records, Mr. A.

Nathan 's name sfancte first on the list of principal .buyers; then follow E. McDonald, W. A. Floyd, R. J. Smith, P. Cole, T. Spelling, J. J- Lindwart, and others. These are the men who led the way in making Raetihi the increasing populous centre it is at the present time. Like Taihape, Raetihi has been fortunate in always having some far-seeing, capable businessmen to look after the progress of their adopted home; h?nce it is that both towns are destined to be in the van of the foremost provincial iTTfemd centres qf business and population in the near future. Old Taihape residents will "remember that the chief buyer at the first sale of Raetihi township sections had also chronicled practical confidence in the future of Taihape, having spent a very considerable portion of his savings in Taihape town Vmds, and notably, he was selected by his follow townsmen to be t'Ke first Mayor of the town when it became' ft boTough, Ohakune town sections,

sold by Mr. J. H. Bake* On the same day, we're slow of sate, and did not average more than £6 per section; forty seet'itms realising a total of £239. The ehaiSges of ownership in those northern town properties have been many, some •<msy being owned for a few minutes, and then passed on at a profit. After 'nyenty-six years much of the Ra<etiM town lands will sell for as many hundreds as they realised pounds at the first sale; and farm lands which special settlers paid a pound or thirty shillings for will tb-tday readily bring from thirty to forty pounds per acre. But the Eaetihi and Ohakunesettlements are only on a parallel with special settlements in Hawke's Bay, and particularly in the North Wairarapa. It certainly stands to tie credit'' of Baetihi settlers that they have forced their township into the van of special settlement centres by taking every opportunity to advance the community interest first and individual interest afterwards, and that seems to obtain right up to the present moment. There is no question about 'the future of a town with such a psuplc.