Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News. SATURDAY, MAY 16, 1908. OUR DISTRICT.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVII, Issue 43326, 16 May 1908, Page 2

Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News.

SATURDAY, MAY 16, 1908. OUR DISTRICT.

Ihis above all—to thine own self be true, And it must follow as the night the day Thou cmst not then be false to any man Shakespeare.

PAST, PRESENT, & FUTURE. (Written specially for the Te Aroha News.) [By A.B. —Copyright.] To those who have but recently arrived in this district and taken up sections 'in the large blocks at a time when there is easy facility for making one’s way, it may be surprising to learn of the thousands of pounds that were lost here by wealthy settlers in the pioneer days. Of course all this is. well enough known to the dependents of the pioneers—those hardy spirits who even after they had lost their all took heart of grace and began afresh. The Canterbury settlers, who came here about thirty years ago, and lost thousands upon

thousands of pounds in almost every instance were ruined.

Even where success was achieved it was by means of property held in Canterbury, the proceeds from which made the loss here supportable. Of course they had not at that time the requisite knowledge of how to work the district that the settlers now have, and, in addition to that, their facilities for getting about were very restricted. When we remember that at that time the journey from Auckland to Waihou took three days, that is one day by rail to Mercer, one day [from there on to Hamilton by waggon, and another day on to Waihou bv the same conveyance (for at that time the road from Morrinsville to Waihou was by the hills, and was a distance of 22 miles; we see what the difficulty of transfer was. j Besides, with no means of reach- 1 ing the oversea markets, with no creameries and factories to facilitate

the manufacture of butter and bacon, and no medium for freezing and exporting their mutton, the odds were overwhelming. Mr Fred Strange, of Mangaiti, relates how, when the freezing industry first commenced, his father sent 150 lambs to Auckland to the freezing works for exportation. So unprofitable was the transaction that he was out of pocket by it, to the amount of £2, besides getting, nothing for his 150 lambs. Mr j Strange bought land in Ohinemuri in 1881, and lost money in developing: the hot springs in his estate at Aylesbury. Things were very bad after-that. Fat sheep were selling at 5s to 7s 6d. Butter was 4d per

pound. A well-known storekeeper, of Te Aroha, relates how, even as late as 1 the early nineties, he has been offered j a six-roomed kauri house and pro- j perty in payment of a five pound store bill “ And 1 would rather have bad the five pounds,” said he. 1 People were going away out of the place in despair. On another occasion a storekeeper was in his store one evening when a settler walked in and asked : “ Will you put me up a pound of butter ?” “ Certainly,” said he. “ And a loaf, and a little tea and sugar.” “ Yes.” “ I’m going away out of this,” > said the customer. “ I’m tired of it, so I’m throwing it up.” “ What,” said the storekeeper to a bystander, who had heard the conversation, “Is he going to leave his - place just as it is ?” I “ Yes,” said the other, “ he’s just i throwing it up.” In some instances, the settlers not 1 having got into the way of providing winter feed for the cattle, the cattle f were starved out in the winter time. 7 One might see half a dozen bullocks c lying dead in a paddock, as a settler • at Waihou relates, and yet in spite ■ of such difficulties the settlers who £ held on to their endeavour arrived f at last at better times. Proprietary • dairy factories came to their aid 1 with their immense facilities for i treating the milk and turning it i into money. The present flourishing . “Te Aroha District Co-operative ) Dairy” Company is the offshoot of Mr • Ambury’s agreement with the settlers , to rnn creamery for 3 years on the 7 understanding that they would pro--3 mise to milk a specified number of cows. Towards the promotion of this scheme Messrs Fred and John Strange, of Mangaiti undertook to milk one hundred of the required number of cows.

At the end of three years the farmers, being free to re-consider their plan of operations, decided to go into co-operation, feeling that although well-satisfied with Mr Ambury’s treatment of them it would not be possible to continue the milking at such a profit under any proprietary company, as would be possible if they went into co-operation and ran the industry themselves, The presence of co-operative systems in the district tends to keep up the price of butter fat all round, so that not only the farmers milking under the co-operative system, but also those milking for the proprietary creameries are the gainers. At the present time one half-penny per pound more for the butter fat means an aggregated profit to the Te Aroha District Co-operative Dairy Company of £6OO. Figures such as these speak for themselves. So that, if the farmers even with the object lesson of what the system was effecting in Taranaki were six months over working up the scheme, the result has more than justified the decision.

The seven directors who, in view of the unwillingness of the suppliers to involve themselves by signing a joint and severel bond, guaranteed the £6,000 overdraft, have now the satisfaction of seeing it all but about one thousand paid off to the Bank of New South Wales which advanced it.

It was in 1903 that this Company commenced operations. The Manawaru Co-operative Dairy Company started a year before. In addition to these Companies the Paeroa Dairy Association has a creamery at Waitoa, Messrs Ambury and English have one at Morrinsville, and the New Zealand Dairy Association have two creameries operating in the district. It is not merely the up-to-date machinery employed in the butterfactories and creameries which facilitates the manufacture and distribution of butter, but one sees modem improvements and maclunery introduced into farm operations also. I noticed on Messrs Strange’s farm the concreted and guttered floor of the milking shed. Anyone can see the advantage of this, not only to

the supplier, but to the purity of the . milk. I noticed also the milking machines, and pumping plant with the oil engine operating. These are the things which show how dairying is advancing in the district. It is encouraging to note that in spite of bitter reverses the old families who clung to their purpose of getting on have done so. It is satisfactory, moreover, to note that our recent arrivals are most of them monied men, and all of them practical men—drawn mainly from the south of this island. The Messrs Strange, whose large farm is situated there, have every confidence in the future of Mangaiti. Mr Fred Strange believes that when the lands of the Piako are thrown open for settlement it will be the centre of an immense dairying industry. “ With the drainage works which we hope to see carried out on the Piako,” said Mr Strange, “ I have no doubt that in the future instead of being called Lands End, Mangaiti will-be the centre of a very important district. It is only a matter of time and I think that the

Government, having put their hand to the plough, will have to go on. They have started a comprehensive scheme of drainage, and though the work is at present confined mainly to the west banks of the Piako they intend gradually to re-plan the whole i area.” Bearing in mind the Hon. Mr McGowan’s assurances with reference to the vigorous prosecution of this work, made during his tour of the * Piako a month ago, and the optimistic views entertained both by the Hon. Member and the Chief Engineer it seems likely that it is not a far cry to the day when Mr ' Strange’s ideal will be realized, and Mangaiti will look out upon “ one of j the richest dairying districts in the Dominion.”