IN THE WAIKATO.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXI, Issue 6083, 2 October 1903, Page 2

IN THE WAIKATO.

Canterburyites Have Good Times

Writing to a well-known resident of Ashburton, a former resident of Ashburton says : — Eegarding your enquiries re the prospects , of Canterburyites settling in the Waikatb, I may say that, in common with all Canterburyites that I have come into contact with since my arrival here, I consider them very very bright indeed, and I will endeavour to explain several reasons for so doing. I find that number! of persons from all parts of the colony, and in fnct the world, pass throughithe Waikato en route from Auckland to Rotorua by train. Many are tourists pure and ■ simple, and many more are hungry land-hunters. Well the i\ute followed by the railway is heart sickeuing indeed to the land-hunter, as milo upon mile runs through sickly, good-for-nothing swamps, and practically no taking farm land oan be seen, and thus I find that by the time half the journey is completed, the tourists and land-hunters have one and all arrived at a very disappointed and unfavourable opinion of the Waikato, and many of the latter never make any further enq nines, but at once return to Auckland, decided to never again try the Waikato for farm lands. This fact has beeu brought home to mo many times. Then again the Waikato is a district where the Maoris have been very troublesome in years gone by, and railway conveniences have not been accessible until during the past few years, and again, many of the old settlers had such a sickening of farming about the same time as Canterbury's struggling days (betore the advent of frozen mutton) that when dairying began to prove itself payable, they almost to a farmer, went in fqr dairying, and finding it remunerative, have stuck to it, completely neglecting both cropping and sheep breeding, h\ence a large 'portion of the ploughing that is done here i$ with a single furrow plough, The thresh^ ing plant conies an to the farm in the form of a portable engine, etc., and having arrival, the farmer has to hunt up all his neighbours to get sufficient hands together to thresh his small orop (geuerrally about ten abres). Having finished, he is called upon to provide horse 3to draw it on to the noxt man's farm, and in numerous other ways Canterbury* ites are shown that (except in dairying) the Waikato is about twenty years behind the times, when compared with the systems of farming prevailing in Canterbury, The foregoing tylU prepare you fop tho statement that Canterburyites having oncie left the railway, and finding themselves driving through splendid grazing country (which they thought did not exist) and commencing to thiuk they would like to know about the price required for comfortable looking little farms and homesteads, are surprised to find the prices asked are away below their anticipations, away down to the prices ruling in Canterbury when frozen mutton was unknown and grain'and wool were at starvation prices. Hence' several have told me that they consider j (taking quajifcjr foi 1 quality) tfyat t^e pricesare quite 50 per cent below Canterbury prices, and one Canterburyite, who recently bought- at £o an acre, told me (before he purchased) that he considered that not less than .£ls would be asked for the same quality in the Ashbirton district. Now, there are numbers of Canterburyites & Taranakite?, who, finding that they can soil out at tempting %ure.=>, are doing ao, 9,nd are castingqjbout far another- place to settle in, and, in most cases, when they have left the ' railway line and commonoed to look '. they have been struok with the comfortable free-and-easy look of the farms and farmers hereabouts, and inVariably decide to dump q"6wri and try their vluck. Thus, during the ; past" twelve months)' a large number of j sutlers from other parts of the Colony ' riawsftttied he 9 afcd :i a3 fcliqe goes on'fhe Canterburyites seem'to be comiflg this way faster and faster, and, of course it is having . its effect upon tjie Waikato, and already a Go-operative Freezing Company (on the executive, qf which, is Rf r T. Sfcqne, late of Ashburton) is almqst an accomplished fact. In numerous other ways, tQQi the advent of new blood is being felt, and 1 have no doubt that the Waifcato will very soon fall into line with Canterbury and other parts of New Zealand in adopting up-^to-date methods and thus secure to if self increased prices for its fat stock and increased prosperity in other ways. ! A.t Cambridge, some three weeks ago, T met a Canterburyite on a tour of innpeotion and he informed me that it Was his 'intention to try ta realise on Eis'refiurn.with'a view to settling here, but m tHe tir?*e he purchase 100 head qf fat bullocks tq tafte baok'isrith him, and thus expected to turn his trip into profit as w-ell as pleasure. Ifoolfing at it from whatever way J will, it ia always fqrced fyoiue to, me that the Waikatq wjll sqoner qr latep (soqner I thjhk)' range up with other parts of the colony, a»d that it must be bettor to purohase farfl* land la a d(s|rict where all the better things are to come than in a district that appears to be fully developed and is Commanding top priaes for its land. j

Therefore, I again answer your enquiry, that I consider the prospects of tho3e now settling in the Waikafco to bo bright indeed. During the past winter the weather here has been a perfect treat to me, and I enjoyed it all tho more whgn I h§a.';4 of $he bitter snowH sfcorms ■ whioh' we -tiad left behind. Already #ie fields heVe are Vearing a beautiful 'green Qoafcing of spring and skp^ld |;hG "?um'ip r er ppqv§ as pleasant as j;he past winter (and' qld settlers say they are sure I will ljke the Waikatp summers), £hen the Waikato is all tfyat is, glaired for |t and Qtore,' One tourist I ifle(; vvl>ilst Qn a ?isit to Garqbridge state 4 t-hsvfc he had visitpd cjost of the npte^ health pasQrts of tj^e world, .and ]\a h^4 then resided ten nieinths !Q th,e and considered t^e climate second to n.ane,

Of course (t all is not gold fchafc glitfcßP3," and the future may reveal that the foregoing forcast is in error; but I have at anj'rate given you my answer to your query, and aisg t'Jie yearns for ooming to that conclusion Re^soty tfc: '4x& for putegif-,' and dca^'^our own infJueftGe.

la travelling through the country towns in the North Island, I have learned that A.sh' urfcon is not altogether the little unimportant N.Z. town that I used to think, iind to those who ara always hankering for A-s&b'urftoftfcoYaßgeypjGotbe oifier towps, in xip'to ditto iJteftiodsiT woujd sai£ ;'t{iat' |fc is not behind att'y town of the same size that' l passed through." But still lam glad t did not have' \fo apend the 'last winter in [ t> »i - h ye ■■ f-!i • 'I-.- ,t i on: