TARANAKI.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 April 1919, Page 7

TARANAKI.

A LAND OF, PROMISE. The Hon. W. D. S. Mac Donald, Minister for Agriculture, passed through Palmcraton North last week on his return to Wellington. The Minister had just visited the Taranaki district, for the first time in his life, and hpd, comg, back greatly impressed with the prosperity and prOßpects of the settlers., In the course of a chat with , a Standard reporter Mr Mac Donald saijl that he well iemembered the time vi'hcn Taranaki and Southland were considered the two worst districts in the Dominion. .Hp. knew what had been done in Southland, which was now one of tliG best producing districts in the Dominion. tiarid, which had been considered ilselesa in nays gone by, had, by drainage attd the use of lime, been made to yield fine crops of grain, and had also developed into the best class of d&fty land. However, so far as Taranaki was concerned, he was simply amazed at the prosperty which reigned there. In addition to possessing some of the very beat land in New Zealand it had the added feature of natural beauty, which made a fitting background. in this respect it had the advantage over Palmerston North, which, while containing excellent land, was" too flat ever to be de- ■ scribed beautiful. The prosperity of the dairying industry, which had Taranaki, was evident by the fine class of cows seen and the substantially built dairy factories, which were met with in all directions. 'Thfe prices ,of land simply astonished him, as he .was shown 0110 property which had just changed' hands at £.Vt>7 per acre. It was eviv dent from the prices paid for land tlurt there was money in dairying at the present time, and in this industry Taranaki led, as was evidenced by, its exports.