THE PIRONGIA LANDS,

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 539, 2 November 1875, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE PIRONGIA LANDS,

Sir,— Solomon says :-" The Kine himself is served by the field," and being a King (as well as a wise man) he was not likely to make a remark derogatory to his rank. No doubt, if there had been newspapers in his day, b^ would have mentally included their Editors and proprietors in those " served." In a late issue you gave an extract from some American paper, which said that the yield of wheat per acre now in iome of the states, was not half what it was some years ago. Need I say that the more our acrei pro* duce the more likely are we to take your paper —and better still, to pay for it. Those who, like myself, have been settled on their land for some years, are most likely to have all their driest, and most easily cleared land under cultivation,

still there are few of us that hate not ft good proportion of land covered with rushes, raupo, ' ti-tree, &c, &c. To bring thit into cultivation it requires to be drained in the first place. Then, though the land appears to be good enough, it ia generally too " sour, 1 * as it is called, to give a good crop. To remedy this sourness, we require Urn©, which sweetens the land and enables it to give an abundant crop. But to be remunerative 1 we must be able to get lime at a reasonable price, which we will not be able to do if the only limestone land in the Waikato is given into the native hands. Now, although the petition of the Harapipi people (of whom I am not one), was only signed, according to your correspondent, by 35 people who vory naturally do not care to have land about them occupied by natives, who are not liable for road rates or division fences, it ia most important for all of us farmers to reoollect that the natives have a great advantage over us in being able to produce at a low cost, and thus can undersell us. They have the pick of any quantity of land, which, when exhausted, they can leave and remove to another place. They are contented to live in a whare, and a blanket is their covering by night and their garb by day. In conclusion sir, I feel assured that had Sir Donald MoLeau his tidy little block of 20, C X) acres (which Sheehan twitted him about) here — and which he boasts will carry fire iheep to the acre all the year round — he woc*d not for a moment entertain the thought of returning the natives their forfeited land on Pirongia. I am, &o , Cablos. Pirongia, Oct. 26th, 1875.