OUR STAPLE INDUSTRIES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 304, 18 May 1911, Page 3

OUR STAPLE INDUSTRIES.

RURAL NEW ZEALAND UNDER REVIEW. No. 30. [All Eights Reserved.] By R. J. EAMES. NELSON: A PROVINCE ARRIVING. THE NORTH-WEST CORNER. Wc have seen in the garden area what splendid possibilities there are of profitable fruit-farming in small areas. Not nil the orchards are small. A few of tlinn are of about 100 acres each, there are ii number of fifty acres, forty, thirty, twenty, fifteen, and down to five acres. There are hundreds of acres, mostly in apples, yet to come into bearing, and it is quite certain that foreign markets will have to be found for the produce. That is why so much interest attaches to the export movement, now well advanced. To the north-west of Apple Land there. is another old settlement, which, after many years, in common with all New Zealand, has taken a jump forward. But the Takaka Valley is'chiefly arriving per medium of the cow, and the satisfactory growth of the dairy industry has increased the value of land so much that even now some farmers are beginning to talk of ££o an acre. The average value of this valley land is, of course, not nearly so high .as that. Besides dairy stock, the surrounding'hills, are rich and sweet limestone country, with heavy shoep-carrying capacity, and all stock fatten well. Talking of limestone reminds one flint extensive' lime and cement workts have lieen established at Takaka, and the big. amount of capital! invested is proof of the financial satisfaction with which, the outlook for this industry is regarded. In the country at i the back of Collingwpod, also situated, on Golden Bay, the dairy factories point the direction that 'the rural' activity in this part of the district is taking. There was a time when Collingwood relied upon the precious yellow metal for its maintenance, but the growth of such place* as Baynham show that the country inland from Collingwood may henceforth put its trust- with greater confidence in the produce of the soil. It ir.ay be remarked it is *t\ Golden Bay that the I'arapara ironsand. deposits are, deposits which" may anc day spell a vast amount of wealth not" only to that locality but to New ■ Zeakwd. In a review of our rural industries we need not concern ourselves about tlie West 'Coast, extending froni Cape Farewell, down ' hrough Wes'tport to 'the southern boundary of the land district;.' That is the region rich in coal 'aiid' minerals. Inland there is rough/pwipilous country, but with valleys which the future will j turn to good account.' 1 'Running throu'ih the district in a sou 111-Westerly direction, I however, there isi a Mine'of country to] which, for the purposes'of :these articles, attention* must 'begiven. >■ > . A LINE OF VALLEYS. The principal part of rural NcNon district has already 'bce'iPdPalt with; from ■which it will' be'-'seenatiat the land in close occupation is tmly a 'fragment compared witli the gi-'ettb'-interiors, mostly unoccupied and mrgtlly Unexplored. If the run from XelsrmHb'Motueka gives an

•impression of lan'd.Jsffir'vacarit, that imI pression is strengtneifed''within the tra- ''■ vcller who tal;<% The'c<s&t;h routes for it in a line right through ''the district. . Seven miles . ; ontiifa*wi..Akrtuefca, on the road to Thorpe,: itiis as-,easy- to believe ■ oneself in the ncwerfljiaUu'r: than the ohli est-scllled province m the Dominion. liy : tile roudsidc.ar.ejthc-'UU.to.uehifd hill-, still : .in sernbby ti-Uee;!n\vh;l,si:.away in tiie distance imposing. higher ranges >■ .everywhere pierce tiiewcteuds. But here ■ and there, from i'outr'uf this' manuka waste, there springs'.:,odd:, cleurings, *■- ploughed lauds, :aj]d]r%eßhly*plaiited orchards. At Xgatimfiti jane finds the beginning of a series of.!-yaUeysi and here much of the settknum'ji nestles cosily be- , jjween.the hillsides bear witness that; converted into productive' homings,. I'hjs is about JO.miles ; from.;%f,ueka o ajjd tjiciill land, \vliii-hwill,.wuUei:..t\v.o shfjep'tb'theacre, , sells at from'. £7 t'pj~£§''opr acre.' From . .Ngatimoti, tliro,ugJi Qrjjioco ,and Thorpe, ; then: are swpejt .fill's, if..very stony in j; places, ajtd if. is, ;st./m triune strikes' the . vajley. of. tjie. Mptufi j that one finds any tiling like close'settlement. The valley is agricultural and the'hills carry ■" .sheep. Prockedin'g, <&% .eari'see that settlement, seekinh' , trie s lme i ''o! least' resistance, spread* itself fliiles until, having covered'Uottfrjjkjf, tfje stream " of; settlejiient t'east'<if ; ''],n"'Clarjv Vallev, ' before readfing'j!c!pd B &Mlffle/'there "is "only a. hoiise'oi''Uo; ; When 51 miles L : oh the journey','' on 'ffie 'of Hope Saddle, the mystery''alid vastiiess of solitude may agaiji pi. efijoyed. . To the . far-distant, horizon 'there are ranges .and -', ranges of lesser hills, untij', liigh against the sky-line, the vision'is checked by the ■ nigged peaks of a inouhfai'n chain.' Yet at one's feet is a valley, heavily, timbered —a valley typical of the scores of channels through w'hii'h future settlement must inevitably 1(0 W. ■ ■ ■ .

murghison: Approaching Muxchison,,one sees more signs of pioneering progress than at any other point along the ; whole line of march. Murchisou township is the city of the valleys, one ojf which, drains, into the town from each of the four compasspoints. The hush-burning on the Hats each year increases the grass capacity, and the democratic, cow is to be seen everywhere. .There is. a dairy factory which last year, turned out',33 tons of butter, and from which this season's output is expected to be 50 tons. It has 34 suppliers, with 750 cows. All the milk is. home-separated and upon arrival at the factory the cream is pasteurised. The most distant supplier is 12 miles from the factory. .Apparently manager and suppliers respectively, do their work well. Alter being niaifufacturcd the produce has to be carted 50 miles to the rail-head, but notwithstanding that drawback, in February this year the butter was graded at 93, and last year, on the Home market, Murchisou butter commanded as good a price as the best in New Zealand. Cleared land, three miles from the township, fetches about £lO an acre, and standing bush land £5 to £7. These prices represent a big advance on the values of a few years ago. | MILLS AND VALLEYS. In general, the impression is of hills—-heavily-Umbered, rugged and precipitous. But where there are hills there are valleys, sheltered and fertile. It h true there are great areas of birch land. "Hindi land," it used to be said, ''is good for nothing but birch." That has been disproved in many places, but more particularly in the north-west corner, where fine sheep country has been redeemed from the dominion of the birch. If the in Tested parts of the whole land district ! could be won as sweetly from that imported peril which bears black berries it would lie well. These hills and these valleys! The former represent the future nurseries of the golden hVcce. The latter represent the veins through which the blood of hardy settlers would pulse and throb quickly if the powers that be would render the terms of settlement sulliciently attractive. 15ut pulse and throb with active rural life they must, eventually. These territories may be

labelled "to arrive." But in the Nclson-Tadmore-Motueka area, and in such valleys and hillsides as are in process of immediate settlement, Nelson is rapidly arriving. An apple brought a ten-thoii-sand-tonner to its wharf-side, last March.