TARANAKI, "THE GARDEN OF NEW ZEALAND?"

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8068, 26 March 1906, Page 2

TARANAKI, "THE GARDEN OF NEW ZEALAND?"

Thus the Wairarapa " Daily Times " of a recent date : —" Those persons who were familiar with Taranaki a couple of decades ago would be amazed at the transformation recent years have brought about. We knew a resident of Wellington, a good many years ago, who sold out his business and cliose Taranaki as the locality in which to spend the evening of his lite. In a conversation which we had with him, he expressed his opinion that £1 por acre was the outside value of land at Taranaki, and that it was the highest price which he intended to give. We daresay he was ablo to buy at that price then, when there was not a, solitary factory in all New Zealand. And it is butter-fat that has been the main factor in bringing the unprecedented prosperity to Taranaki which it now enjoys. Butter-fat yields Taranaki, in round, numbers somowhere about CIOO.OOO a month—aud Taranaki is an ideal locality for the dairy factory. Nature seems to have specially intended it for the production of butter aud cheese ou a large scale, The fertility of its soil is proverbial. Is it not known as " The Garden of New Zealand ?" Droughts are almost unknown in this specially favoured province. The striking feature in the landscape is Mount Egmont, snowcapped throughout the year. And it is to Mount Ega-onl that Taranaki

owes those lieavv dews aud frequent rainfall, but for which the Waimatc Plains would not bave the reputation which they enjoy for grass producing beyond the average. Almost nightly, in the summer time, a heavy clew follows the heat of the previous day, so I bat the pastures are refreshed to an extent unknown on the plains of the Middle Island. For pastoral purposes Taranaki is specially favoured, and this has contributed to th' 1 rapid increase in the value of land within a radius of many miles of Mount Egmont. Hundreds of settlers have done well there, and many have made an illdependence within a limited period. If they are industrious and frugal, prosperity awaits them with greater certainty than probably in any oilier p irl ol New Zealand. Agents affirm that properties are frequently changing hands, and that there is ever a steady enhancing of values. The pound-an-acre days arc gone for ever, but there arc still bargains to be had. ft is said that speculation in Taranaki laud is brisker than ever it has been- known, ■ and that it is as safe and profitable as in any other part of New Zealand.