OUR STAPLE INDUSTRIES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 287, 27 April 1911, Page 3

OUR STAPLE INDUSTRIES.

RURAL KSW ZEALAND UNDER REVIEW. No. 27. [All Eights Reserved.] (By R. J. EAMES). WELLINGTON: A PROVINCE PROGRESSIVE. Till') FORTY-MILE BUSH. The name will doubtless revive in the minds of many old settlers in all parts of the Dominion pleasant memories of what, in the old coaching days, was a beautiful drive. It also serves as a .striking example of the rapid changes which have taken place throughout the whole of the Xorta Island. The bush extended from Woodville through Pahiatua and Eketahuna, down to a point about 15 miles north of Masterton. Its native beauty has long since vanished, and to-day, along the roadside, there are long stretches of cleared country, countrym the course of clearing, gaunt trees standing, and the dead bush glory of other days which has fallen to the axe the pioneers. When the writer passed through there was no longer an impression of the once well-known bush, the happy haunts of sweet-throated melody. The sacrifice has been to the material needs of man. On a number of farms billows of smoke belched into the sky, or swept blindingly across the road. It. was the final offering of scenic splendor to the inartistic god', Utility. In the vicinity of Pahiatua the tale of high prices must be continued. Quite recently, with 2'/ 2 miles of the township, a tarm of 100 acre's was sold at £4O, while at Ballance, a. name well-known in dairying circles, the average is something like £35 per acre. Some four miles southwards of Pahiatua, at Konini, there is a very valuable piece of country, much of which is again claimed as being of a cow-to-the-acre capacity. The price runs at from £4O to £45 per acre, which suggests either that the alleged carrying capacity of various districts requires to be carefully tested, or else there is a surprising absence of uniformity in land values. Fourteen years ago this Konini land was selling at' £l2 per acre. Dairymen in other parts of New Zealand may be interested to learn that the January cheque, of one supplier, from 140 acres, was £8(i; while another, running thirty - nine cows, with other stock, on 100 acres, had a cheque for £55. At this time there were loud complainings of the dryness of the season, but it was estimated that this year's butter output would be 30 tons greater than last year's. Through to Eketahuna the grazing is mixed, but Eketahuna itself is the mani'faeturins centre of an extensive area in wli'ci, dairying is carried on. In the countn immediately surrounding the town land values do not run nearly so high as at Konini. Travelling southwards, the most impressive feature is the great extent of country which has yet to come under cultivation. Tflerc are useful valleys, such as at Kaiparoro, seven miles below Eketahuna, where land sells at from £lO to £2O an acre. Nireaha is another of the more important dairying localities in the Eketahuna district, and a sale has been recorded there at £3O an acre. IN THE WAIRARAPA.

Round about Masterton there is a fair amount of cropping; dairying has made more progress than was expected, but sheep-growing and cattle-grazing will probably remain the chief pursuit. There is a lot'of land suitable for dairying, but even at high prices these richer parts have been and are being bought for fattening purposes. Some six years ago 2000 acres were sold on the Weraita hills, six miles from Masterton, and after being cut up the hilly parts brought £lO 10s and the flats £-25. Rangitumau, 10 miles from Masterton, sold (including stock) at .£l4 an acre (3000 acres) and was cut up and re-sold, principally to surrounding settlers to enlarge their i holdings, at £l(i 10s and £l7 10s, with- 1 out stock. Within the past twelve months one section of 100 acres of this estate brought £2O an acre. This enlargement of estates seems to lie rather a craze in the Wairarapa, and for sheepfarming as much as £2O has been paid for the Hats and £l7 10s for hilly country, the latter being capable of carrying from 2% to 3 sheep to the acre. As has been already observed, throughout the Wairarapa there is a far bigger area of hilly, grazing land than there is of fattening land, capable of cultivation, which fact accounts for the high price sheepgrowers are prepared to pay for the better class of country. Thus seven miles east of Masterton there is a block of 500 acres which was offered for sale ten years ago at £lO an acre; to-day that hind could not be bought at £4O an acre. It would appear that this need for fattening lands, plus the land-hunger of the bigger proprietors, has checked the growth of the dairying industry in this part of the Wairarapa. The whole of | the Wairarapa, so far as the soil is concerned, is suitable for fruit-growing, but an experienced grower remarked that the tricky nature of the climate will possibly prevent anything like orcharding for export ever being realised. Carterton is the centre of a cheese-making district, and has a factory at each of the four points of the compass. South of that and past Featherston one meet* the hills which range to the .southern coast.

GENERAL RE.MARKS. Tii this rather vapid survey of an important district there is only room to add that the establishment of » big meat-freezing works in the Wairarapa, added to the well-known works iit Longburn, at the door of the metropolis, and at Wanganni, is but another evidence of rural progress. '» t-" 1 ' Wilv " f slll ' e l ) fanning, I here are breeders in the Uana wiitii and in the Wairarapa who have developed splendid lloeks of high-class types. Various breeds of cattle have likewise been brought to a fine sUuidard of quality, and the question of scientific pig-breeding and growing is being .seriously tackled. For these several reasons it will be concluded that no mere idle compliment was intended when the district was called A "-""in,.,. Progressive.