Page 9 Advertisements Column 2

Waikato Times, Volume 128, Issue 21361, 4 March 1941, Page 9

GROWTH OF MORRINSVILLE , PROSPEROUS DAIRYING ” DISTRICT. Venue of Great Agricultural Show

Visitors who pass along the present modern highways which link the Morrinsville district with the other main centres of the Waikato find it difficult to believe that the highly productive pastures which now border the roadsides were won in little over sixty years from a desolate waste of swamp. In these circumstances it is a tribute to the pioneers that they had sufficient foresight to realise what could be achieved by astute brains and willing hands. Outwardly the first prospects were not bright, but like a concealed mine, the wealth was there and the combined efforts of two generations of settlers established for the district a reputation equal to that enjoyed by any in New Zealand.

The first attempt at bringing the Morrinsville land into cultivation was made by Mr John Turnbull, who in 1873 took his family into the district to manage an estate of 38,000 acres which at that time yielded ti-tree and scrub principally. Over a week was occupied in reaching Morrinsville from Hamilton, and the conditions under which the family had to live were almost primitive. Actually Morrinsville did not assume that name until some time later, when two brothers, Messrs Samuel and Thomas Morrin, embarked on a scheme for the closer settlement of the district. They had bought 30,000 acres from the Maoris and made sub-divisions of from 500 to 1500 acres. The inaccessibility of the district and the consequent high freight charges placed a heavy burden on the first settlers but by determination they managed to hold on. When the railway service was established the success of Morrinsville as a farming centre was established, and with new settlers taking u.p land rapidly production of all forms of agricultural wealth leapt ahead. As with other parts of the Waikato the introduction of artificial fertilisers played a big part, and where meagre swards were the only reward for months and sometimes years of hard work, strong all the year round growth could be obtained. Practically from this time dated the rapid rise of dairying in the Morrinsville district which has played so large a part in its later prosperous years. To-day, in few places can be seen such fine herds, and the cream of this stock will provide one of the outstanding features of the Agricultural and Pastoral Show. Each season, moreover, huge droves of sheep make their way from East Coast stations to the Morrinsville yards, while thousands more arrive by train from Taneatua after having been shipped from Poverty Bay via Tauranga. Yardings of up to 20,000 Weeding ewes at a single sale are by no means uncommon and the town is then the gathering place for buyers from all over the Waikato. The pastures of the country surrounding Morrinsville are among the best in the whole. Dominion and to a large extent the land has been reclaimed from swamps. Owing to the great number of years which have elapsed since the water was removed, the soil has had tims to become sweet and mature. Splendid response to the efforts of the settlers in establishing grass-farming has been noticeable in

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