OUR STAPLE INDUSTRIES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 217, 22 December 1910, Page 3

OUR STAPLE INDUSTRIES.

RURAL NEW ZEALAND UNDER REVIEW. By E. J. Eames. I (All Rights Reserved.) | Xo. 9. AUCKLAND: A PROVINCE OF PROMISE. IX THE SOUTH-WEST. By referring to tile Auckland land district as a province of promise I wish to convey this idea: Great as have been the developments already recorded, the output of the province is a bagatelle compared with the prospective production. In no part of this big district can settlement be said to have reached its limit; in most of it only the fringe of productivity has been touched. In crossing into the province over the south-west corner the first impression is not that there is so much good country in New Zealand, but that there is so little. From the Mokau river northwards there are wild, mountainous ranges which for' the most part will be "waste" lands for years to come; but the pack tracks through these forests, and the areas of dry standing timber tell the story of successful pioneering, whilst the valleys between the hills —even where the hills are most inhospitable—there are sturdy settlers who are prospering. Year by year even this mountainous area is being cleared of iUs forest, sheep and cattle are being grazed, and ill the most unexpected places will be found herds of dairy cattle whose owners make and pack their butter to agents for export. From the Mokau to the "Awa kino there is still a lot of country ungrassed; a fair estimate of the land value may be from 30s to £2 10s per acre. Between Awakino and Mahoenui (and beyond) there are some splendid valley lands, the flats of which will carry three sheep to the acre. Including the liili-sides it is two sheep to the acre country, and £l2 per acre is being asked for it. Thi§ represents a big jump from the value (7s 6d per acre) of 16 years ago. The Maori land towards the sea is now being sought after, and sales of big blocks have been completed at £2 per acre.

PIU i'JLO. The Pio Pio Co-op. dairy factory was the first I touched in Auckland province. This is situated some 16 miles from Te Kuiti. It is a, grand little factory, only started this year. Of the 21 settlers only two supply milk, the others send in home separated cream. Of the cream a lot is packed down by horse to the collecting stand, where it is picked up by the cream cart. Other cream is brought in on sledges. At the time of my visit 300 cows were supplying the factory, but 500 cows were expected at the flush of the season. Next year, in view of the fact-that there is a great area of land yet to be settled upon, and a good deal more gtiot yet under dairying and which is suitable for butter-fat purposes, i,t is reckoned that 10Q0 cows will be in use. Although Pio Pio is now only doing about four boxes of butter a day, within four or five years it is estimated that this will be a ton-and-a-half-a-day factory. Pio Pio is typical of many other factories in the Auckland district. The country immediately to the south of Pio Pio may be taken as the southern boundary of a great dairying district of : the future, with its centre at Te Kuiti. THE TE KUITI DISTRICT.

So far there has been no dairy factory jstablished at Te Kuiti although it is more than likely that the negotiations no\y in progress will be brought to a head next year. A little to the north there is dairying, but the cream has to be railed a considerable distance. An examination of this district discloses enormous prospective expansion. To the east of Te Kuiti (situated on the Main Trunk line) there are 40 miles of territory practically untouched by a white man. Here the Government have interests in 100,000 to 150,000 of land. There are also about 200,000 acres of native land which is being sold at £1 to £2 per acre. There is any amount of fine bush country. Large areas have been taken up at 6d or Is per acre (lease) for speculative purposes. These leasing rights are now being sold to bona fide settlers at £1 per acrq. To the south of this centre there is no town nearer than Taumaranui, 50 miles away. In this direction there are fair grazing lands, but it cannot be described as good country. To the west, in the Maiou district and the Oparuri Valley, there is really excellent land, more or less improved, at from £5 to £lO per acre. What has been described as "real Taranaki bush" is coming down by the thousand acres every year and leaving fine land for dairying, to which industry, up to the present, no attention has been paid. To the north the nearest town of importance is Hamilton, 50 miles away. The dairying centre of which we have spoken will, of course, operate into that district as far as possible. As showing the rate at which farming has been developing it may be mentioned that during the last financial year more sheep were imported into Te Kuiti than into any station between Marton and Auckland. It is a district in the rough but astonishing progress is being and has been made during the past five years. One of the great assets,of the place are the limestone deposits, which furnish agricultural lime, lime for cement, and rock for ballasting. "Within an area of five miles of the town," said the Mayor to the writer, ''there is sufficient limestone to metal every road in the Dominion." DAIRYING IN THE WAIKATO.

Having just completed a tour of Tara- ■ naki (the land of the Cow) one could not but be struck with the difference in the conditions that exist, and marvel that, under the circumstances, dairying should be so successful. It is incorrect to assume that the Waikato is an important seat of home separation. The New Zealand Dairy Association, for instance, has three factories and eighty-two creameries. Its output last year was 2500 tons of butter, and of that amount less than one per cent, was made from home separated cream. To illustrate the difference between South Taranaki and Waikato conditions: The sale of last year's produce of Kaupokonui, Joll's and Riverdale (three factories close together in South Taranaki) realised over £290,000; the, produce of the New Zealand Dairy As-; sociation, whose operations extend' over an area of more than 100 miles in length, brought £291,000 odd. Throughout the district covered by the Dairy Association there are several co-operative and proprietary concerns. Everywhere there is a tendency towards the improvement of the individual herds and, as in Taranaki, this tendency lias already created that unpleasant problem—the saleyard brigade of scrubber cows.