MR GRANT'S VISIT TO WAIKATO.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1888, 12 August 1884, Page 2

MR GRANT'S VISIT TO WAIKATO.

Mr Grant, whose name is pretty well known in New Zealand in connection with the Grant and Foster settlement at Te Aroha, arrived in Waikato during the latter pait of last week with the object of " spying out the land " for further settlement. Mr Grant's "spying" o\ the land on this occasion, we are given to understand, will be confined almost solely to the extenshe and valuable propel ties ot the Auckland Agricultural Company, which, we believe, have been in the market for some time past. It is now sereral years since the purchasing, reclaiming, and improving operations of this enterprising company were inaugurated, and that a vast amount of capital has been expended is well known to all those who have watched the progrese of the Waikato district. Indeed, it is to this and other companies, needless to name, that the welfare of the Waikato is to be mainly attributed. As to the quality of the land which they have secured it is of an exceptionally good character, and is far beyond the average. The soil has been well improved by occupation and liberal treament, the blocks are well sub divided and fenced, the whole is well wateied, and generally speaking, theie are few pieces of country in the province moie admirably suited to settlement. But it is to be hoped that the settlement of this coimtsy will be on an entiiely different plan from that pursued by Mr Grant at Shaftesbury. Though the land there is under occupation, and in places is being cultivated and improved, still it does not present that a.spect of rural prosperity which one could desire to see. The most successful vy_ay to settle the company's propeities would be the disposal ot the land in pieces of from 500 to 1000 acies to small capitalists, instead of by locating on three acre patches families who know no more about cultivating the soil thati they do about the science of astionomy. The prospect of the immediate and proper settlement of these extensive blocks of valuable land must be taken as an indication of a prosperous future for the Cambridge and Oxford districts. The settlers will have the advantage of railway communication and other minor advantages which the earlier settlers have not enjoyed. It is evident, therefore, that the time is not far distant when the unsettled district between Cambridge and Oxford will be settled by thiiving and contented settlers, and present an equally prosperous appearance with the count) y between Cambridge and Hamilton, than which there is scarcely such another line of settlement in the piovince.