NORTH TARANAKI.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 190, 31 December 1912, Page 3

NORTH TARANAKI.

A VISIT TO MOKAU AND AWAKING. A DISTRICT OF POSSIBILITIES. A visit to the Awakiuo and Mokau districts cannot fail to convince the observant traveller of the strides .that are being made in bringing into profitable use a vast area of good country which must lo.ok for its natural outlet to W'aitara and New Plymouth. Want of loading facilities have considerably handicapped settlers, but these are being gradually overcome year by year, though even now roading is progressing far too slowly, tightness of money at the present time no doubt greatly hindering this important work. Despite this, however, settlement flourishes. The land was essentially regarded as §heep and cattle grazing country, and a few yeir.'s ago the furthest north dairy factory, so far as Taranaki was concerned, was situated at Uruti. Now, however, two co-operative dairy companies have sprung into being away beyond Mt. Messenger, and the cult of the dairy cow bids fair to become more prominent in tliQ near future, especially as home separation has done so much to revolutionise dairying in the backblocks or in any district where the roads are not good, as the cartage is minimised greatly, One settler can collect the cream from about a dozen settlers, and in this way it is possible for cream to be brought to the factory a distance of ten or twelve miles without much inconvenience.

A home separation factory is being very successfully worked at the Okau road. The factory, which was fully described in our columns on its erection, is Tery prettily situated up the Okau road, and though this is its first season, it already has some 24 suppliers, and receives its cream from a area of about ten miles on the one side and about five miles on the other. At present cream is carted to the factory every other day, when sixteen boxes of butter are manufactured. Mr. It. (Hentworth, late of Mangatoki, is the manager, and he is at present laboring under great difficulties, as the water available is not of the best, being river-water. However, water was located by the Rev. Mason,'the wellknown water diviner, some time ago, and artesian well-borers are daily expected to arrive and commence boring until an adequate supply was tapped. The directors of the factory, Jffessrs J. •). Chapman (chairman). T. Waters, A. Thompson, \Y. Cannell, W. Schmidt, J. McGregor and A. Bower, are all progressive men, keenly alive to anything that benefits the district, and they can ( ■be relied upon to keep the factory right up to date. At present the factory i 6 pacing out lOd per lb for butter-fat, wl eh must be' considered good, when tli.' cost of cartage, etc.. is considered. Awakin o, too, has its dairy factory, which commenced operations late last season. It is a cheese factory, charmingly situated on the Awakino river, close to the junction of several roads. At present only about four cheeses per day are -being turned out by the manager. Mr. H. It. Wallace! (late of Otakeho). Tciiiiciice per pound is being advanced for butter-fat. This is very good, when it is considered that the burden of erecting the factory was taken up by nine suppliers, who each take from ISOlbs to 7001bs of milk daily to the factory. Their tests range from 3.5 to 4.0. They are certainly to be commended for their courage. in time, the factory will be an important one, as it is situated on a, navigable river, mid milk can be brought to the factory both by river anl road. It is a one-vat factory, built on the latest line, but as soon as the supply of milk becomes too great for the one vat, which is now over lmlf-fillcd, it will be necessary to re-construct the building, as Hhe making-room i-i barely large enough now. By that time, however, the factory will probably lie stronger financially, as the whole burden will not fall on nine, and it is probable that a butter-making plant will be added and home-separator cream taken in. The . factory is situated about a mile from Awakino. close to what was laid out by the_ Government for . the Awakino township, but a t flood came and g we site was never used. Since then it has not been flooded. The factory is in an excellent position. It lias deep water alongside, so that, if necessary, the produce could be shipped from its very door. The Awakino river is available for small craft at present, and with the improvements that the Government intend making should soon become mora useful than ever. It is intended, early

in the year, to blow tip, with an electric plant, some rocks near the entrance to the river, to improve the wharf accommodation, and to sua" the.river. Really, the sixty miles of coast north of New Plymouth is well off for navi gable rivers, having no fewer than four, the Waitara, Tongaporutu, Mokau and Awakino. If only one or two of these were situated on the southern side, between New Plymouth and Opunake, how it would relieve the acute question of the upkeep of the Main South road! Then the bulk of the produce would be sent to New Plymouth by steamer. The whole northern country is looking prosperous. Quite a lot of bush-felling has been done, and the present spell of fine weather will enable good burns to result later. Indeed, many of those who were 1 unable to burn last season, owing to the wretched weather, have already set their bush ablaze with good results. Shearing has been able to proceed merrily, too, and it is estimated that over 20,000 sheep will be shorn at the Piripiri sheds of Mr. llui Batley's station, of which Mr. J. Scott is manager. These do not all belong to the station, but settlers living away up byeroads drive their sheep to this shed, which is handily situated, close to the river, and fitted up with the latest shearing machinery. The sheep are sometimes driven 20 miles to be shorn, as they themselves provide a cheap method of transporting the wool. The roads throughout are in very fair order just at present, but very grave complaint has been made at the stoppage of work on the Awakino Valley road. This was regarded as a Very important piece of work, and already some eight miles of it has been „completed. It is a deviation of the present AwaklnoTe Kuiti road, and avoids the long drag over Taumata-Maire, 1200 ft high. In fact, the Taumata-Maire has been somewhat neglected since the Valley road has been under way, and is now in a very rough condition. The Valley road follows the Awakino river, and is practically " level, containing some lovely glimpses of river and bush scenery. Its suddeu stoppage, particularly after several gangs had just gone to the tfoiible and expense of shifting camp, has caused much unfavorable comment, and angry roadmen have not been slow to express their feelings in lurid language. Certainly the men have been given the option of work on the Manganui road, which goes up the coast, but that means another camp removal. The cause of the cessation of work is due to tne depleted Treasury, but, primarily, it is alleged, to some compensation trouble with a settler through whose land' the road will run for seven miles. Thi'nk of that seven miles: that will give one some idea of how closely (?) settled the land is. The sum of £1250 appears on the Estimates for the Mimi-Te Kuiti road. Mr. Murray intends to spend £9OO of this in metalling at the Te Kuiti end, and £350 at the Awakino end. It is understood /that this will not give satisfaction at Awakino, and indignation meetings have been held on the subject.

Grants on other roads, too, <lo not appear as if they will be fully available this year. It is understood that the District Roads Engineer (Mr. G. T. Murray), who was on a visit to the district just prior to the holidays, had arranged to find work in the district for 40 of the men discharged from the railway works at W'liangamomona, but in view of the grants not being procurable, will not be able to do so.