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Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2265, 8 April 1886, Page 2

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A. member of .our staff had the pleasure of. ascending "the Rangitumau" this week, which is, as is well-known, the principal elevation in tho immediate neighborhood of Masterton, obtaining an altitude of two thousand feet above tho sea level, Although the Rangitumau is in tho vicinity of a populous town, it has not m yet been visited by very many people. Soven yoars ago it was covered with Diish from base to summit, but this was riot the only obstacle to travellers. ; There is a river t i cross which has an occasional knack of being readily fordable say in the forenoon, and utterly impracticable in the afternoon, when flood waters from distant ranges have changed its limpid flow, into a dangerous torrent. There was also till within the last twelve months no road within three miles of the hill, though, thanks to tho Roads, and Bridges Con* struction Act, this particular difficulty which made the settlement inaccessible M*dray traffic for nino irtonths in the year h§ ' now overcome. The Rangitumau tains and its environs are tho prop®y of' Mr James Stuckey, a settler who -has*probably during the past suvfin years done mora in the way of dunging a forest waste into a highly productive station than any other settler in the neighborhood. Abuut seven years ago Mr Stuckey acquired' some 3,500 acres of land m the locality. With the exception of a small clearing ofa'spur on the hill, it was all bush, but sincelß7B it has been transformed into 3,000 acres of splendid grass, a few bush reserve* being left at intervals as a shelter for stock. Tho felling, grassing, and stocking of three thousand acres of timbered land within sevon years hasbeenno light task. Twenty miles of totara fencing have been erected, admirable yards for sheep and cattle have been constructed, and a commodious woolshed has been built. There is a thriving orchard'tound the homestead, and Mr Montgomery, the well-known builder, is now engaged in erecting a roomy two storey wing to' the private residonce. The whole of, : the arrangements for working this estate have been mado in the best possible manner, no expense having been spared to obtain satisfactory permanent resultjfffcThei property ia now carrying 0,000 shMwnjjr 600 head of cattle. Among the former is one of tho best flocks of Lincolns in the North Island, and among the latter possibly the best herd of florefords in the Oniony. Itia a pretty sight to wat3h these handsome, Bhapely cattle feeding on the Rangitumau slopes, and no doubt,tho time will come when Mr Stuckey will be abla to stock the,.district with a strain that will bo more profitable to the grazier than the bullocks now raised for the market. We rli l not notice a single rabbit duringoumi toKaugitunm MrStuckey was formerly troubled with the pest, but he speedily put it'down. During the fst year after they increased •upon him, he spent £240 in killing the rodents, but. finding, twelve months after, that ho had just as many on his place .is over, ho expended a similar sum in wire fenoing his boundaries, and nowhe claims that j£2s a-year keeps rabbits down on his property. Feed, in the absence of rabbits,' is plentiful all over the place, and in many places too luxuriant for tho stock. We rode on one of the nimble utation horses to the breezy summit of the Rangitumau, where a. tall trig station ha'; twcii erected. The view from this summit is a grand one. To the south is the great Wafrarapa plain extending to Palliseiyßay, whose waters can be discerned eminence, and'to the north the. foliage of the Forty Mile bush. On if® east is the long and pretty Wangaehu ValT ley, in which Mr Mawlay's homestead, is' a conspicious feature. From the top of the Rangitumau it would be easy for a score of Small Farm .A ssociotiona to pick out & score of bush settlements. Big' boulders crown the Rangitumau, which once, in some former age, were washed and worn by a prehistoric soa, Other signs ol a past marine experience are to be found here, and the earthquake which raised this small mountain from the oceaii bed must haye been a pretty strong one,