THE SETTLEMENT IN THE SEVENTY MILE BUSH AND PUKETOI COUNTRY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2435, 26 October 1886, Page 2

THE SETTLEMENT IN THE SEVENTY MILE BUSH AND PUKETOI COUNTRY.

[By an M.H.R., in the Cauterbuy Times.] TUB SOIL. ■The. lulls are chiefly limestone, though some of the lower ranges arc built up Df papa, a kind of very deneohard blue clay.' Papa country is characterised by tho depth of the streams, with their clear-cut perpendicular, dark blue banks, and the steepness of the dtrarfed hills. Tho Pukotoi range in all limestone', and has every characteristic of a Bplondid limestone country; by and by it will cany wonderful quantities of stock, especially sheep. At the itfauriceville Railway Station, some sixteen miles uortli of Masterton, the lulls are almost piirojimestoue as much as 93 per cent has been proved by chemical analysis to be pure lime. Papa country was ofton looked upon as being jjoor soil, but this wrong notion h fast losing ground, for papa country wheu openedup grows capital grass irnd other vegetation. _ Tho valleys through the whole of this tush country are very rich, and in parts tho black river silt is many feet deep. Of course in bo' bin & block of country there are poor patches, but thuy are small and few and far between, anil experience of the country south of it in Waitampa, and North ot -it. iu Uawke's j Bay teaches that all this land is wonderful in its powers of improvement. Country that looked pour and unattractive in bygone years in each district, has year by year shown marked improvement in the quantity of stock it carries, and carries well. Native clearings' at Hawera and the cleared laud at Woodville and other places, show how rich and good it is. Even the Tararua range is fertile to its searied peaks, and will, if not kept as a forest rosorvu, grow grass everywhere, and carry stock all tho year round, WATER AND CLIMATE. | The whole of this land is well wateredi running creeks intersecting the country in every direction, and if the survoyorslay off the sections judiciously thero need be no trouble in digging for it, For another reason there can bo no anxiety on this head, for, as in other parts of the world, so here, the dense forest masses bring; showera almost daily through tho year, and even in the driest summers, while country north aud south is dried and burnt up, thosu part* are always moißt and green, kept so by tho constantly-dropping gentle raius. Wheu tho country for sixty .miles south of Napier at the end of a dry summer looks yellow and burnt up, tho traveller, on entering the bush, la at onco struck by tho bright groonnoss of tho grass alonsr the roadside; and on enquiry he will find that whoreas near Napier there has been no rain for several weeks past, yet in the bush scarcely three, nr f»ur days have passed without refreshing Bhowers. This abundance of rain in summer largely increases the fertility and stock-carrying capacity of the district. Tho Hall Govern: wont, however, wisely 'set apart the higher portions of tho Tararua range, as a forest aud climatic reserve, Even when large quantities of bush are cleared from the lower parts, tho country will etill enjoy .plentiful showers, attracted bv these forest clad hills. The grass grows almost all the year round, the. froßtß are mild, snow very rarely falls, and never stays oxcopt on the highest mountain tops. • Cattle and sheep keep fat throughout the year, and the mild wintevs favour good and early lambing,

FOREST TIUBKB, 111 the district about Tahorite and Danovirk there are large blocks of splendid totara trees. The timber.-trade thence to the rest of HawkeV Bay has for aev. eral years been very large, and a great Boureo uf profit and labour' to the small settlers, and has helped to earn so large a dividend for tho Hawkea Bay railway, There is excellent timber in the wide valleys drained by tho northern branches of the Manawatvu Iu the southern half the greatest part is white pine, whilst rimu and rata are plentiful, and some of the outlying hills, different kinds of bush. The timber trade is very active in the northern half, but far less in tho other part,. In. the Tiraumea valley tiV tree scrub abounds. Native grasses grow well in the natural cleanup, but at Mauriceville,Eketahuna and Woodville oldest settlements—English gra&siw grow aplendidjy, especially rye and cocksfoot, springs up luxuiiautly in e very^attle-track.

. STBIKOB PKTTLEES. Startling to ; Li unsuspecting traveller through this.iquiet Now Zealand bush, is it to find in/Its innermost depths village where the n'obplo are not British in loota and where ;hiß ears will listen to people talking in the/Old World tongue. Uvor shop-doors ; he will read Norse nameaGundersnri,: Brodersen, Ohrißtansen, fy., and yellow-haired women may be heard calling to: almost ; white-hairod brats—"Hatis! Glaf 1 Jens I" In the fields are crops of t]te, and if he asks for food, par. chanco bread not of wheat but rye, till : beoffered.hlin. If the traveller enter., the" neighbouring neat wooden chapel ha may hear a Narwegiau parwn preadiiug iu ai

foroi|n tongttiji/iiio/. tho tairnaired ccfgtogation ain<Jih'g.;Lutheran .h;mnj:in-fl|fw World &ue,' These founded by '■ colonics '■ w'S.«and^^Mns : and Dates ieni out ty ' Br"Feath««tran wHeii'Ageht-General. A British hiatory, ho believed that Ms. of England's jtfeathpss- ns due toM'mixturo of races, the constant stream'of new blood gained ; by frequent crossiugß with other races, and he thought that in order to build upagroaiNew Zealand nation it would be well to mis with the British,other strains "of 'blood to improve,' - 'as Darwin .would write; "by cross fertilisation," the vigor and fertility of tho nation j and . for. this purpose, and believing also, that they would, .make' good colonists ho sent..|ft|tseveral shipment* of Danes (and Scandinavians. The hardy Norse.folk, bred ainid tho pine-clad heights of the Dovrefeld,'made excellent bushmeu and pioneer settlers, and tho Danes wen good at dairy farming. Danevirk and Nursewood BotMtiments did well from tho start; the soifwas good' and work and wages plentiful, but many of the peoplo were not as thrifty as thoy should havjijißeeii. The Mauriceville folk bad a vorJjjFhard struggle'; the soil was not So good," work was scauty, and tho markets far away. For a lung-time they.-struggled bravely mid many troubles, but the loug lane has reached its turning for thuiuY The settlement is doing well. Nearly all have built nower and bigger houses. Contrasted witii thoir condition in the parent home their presout one is a vast change for the I the bettor, a modern 'Valhalla.' Mutiy of | tho Scandinavians have left their villages and settled in other parts of the.district. | A largo number have naturalise! of.late. English is spoken' now by most, and is taught in the State school, and as freely marry with the British, in &■*&&■< .fttion or two tho" Scandios" will ml be distinguishable from tho rest of tlio New Zealand raco. .KOADS, RAIttVAV AND MARKET.': A main, trunk railway is to run- south from Napier to .Wellington right through the whole length of tho bush. Jn February- it will bo opened as far as Wuodville from Napier, and in about two and a. half-.years from Wellington through Ekotahuna and Pahiahia to Woodville. The line joining this trunk with Manawatu, Rangitikei, and the whole of the West Coast is now in hand. The railway from -Wellington is already open for several miles into tho bush. A perfect coach road runs through the whole distance from Mastertwn to Woudvm At right angles to the railway,- iwTds will ■'Oasiiy tap all the country lying on either side, and enable the producer easily, quickly, and cheaply to uond I is things to market. The settlers on the'eastern line of this country got their goods up tho coast by Biiiallsteamors calling'at each inlet, to make all the roads .necessary in this country would empty the purses of a Rothschild'or a Vauderbilt diP* a most hungry country for roads, and Bottlers will have to suffer and growl for ,a time for lack'of them ; but to small, hard-working settlers they will offer much work at decent wages, and supply him with ready cash which is such a boon to the early and struggling settlers. As a great bulk of this land lies within ten miles of oithor side, of: the railway, a dearth of good roads, though an inconvenience,, will be no money loss. The people who will suffer will ba the much abused and badgered County Councillors and members of the Road Boards,