ALONG THE MAIN TRUNK LINE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 4, 5 January 1910, Page 6

ALONG THE MAIN TRUNK LINE.

THE TE KTJrn-UPPER MOKAU. DISTRICT WITH A GREAT FUTURE. (Concluded from last week.) One of the first districts, to come along will be Aria, which was,-settled not long ago principally by co-operative labourers. The Government spent a lot of money road forming here to give the settlers a fair start,, and when dairying is in full swing the place should go ahead steadily. Talking about road work, one is reminded that it is not an unmixed blessing, and many of the settlers condemn it. A case in point. One settler with nearly two hundred acres has been on road work during the whede time he has been in the King Country—over ten years—and today he is no'nearer being a settler in the true meaning of the word than he Was when he first went on the land; in fact, he doesn't grow enough stuff for Eos own consumption. He admits that he would have been in a better position ■ to-day if there had been no such thing !>as read work. To make a success in the King Country a man must have a little capital, or he will never make a "do" of it. . j . The dairying industry is practically non-existent' at present, but by next season a factory wall be working at Piopio, which is very central for a large district. A co-operative company has been formed, with Messrs.- P. O. Dwyer (chairman), C. Johnston, G. Bevege, G. Andrews, j. Gleadow, P. Tarrant, T. Dunne (secretary) , as the first board of directors. The capital of the company is £2000, and it is expected there will be some COO cows to start with. Aria already has a proprietary factory, but, unfortunately, owing to some difficulty, it is not in a too flourishing way. There were at the end of November only about three suppliers. It Started out promisingly, but owing, it is said, to the fact that many of the suppliers'entered into contracts to supply unore, milk than it was possible for them: to do in the present state of the district, disagree-; ments arose, with the result that matters have received a temporary set back. When one sees what dairying has done for other places; it is easy to realise ■how Aria will boom when the factory- is working full time. There are no. large settlements in this part of the King At Piopio there is a store run by Messrs. Green and Colebrook,, and one. or two other i places of business, and Aria also has the \ beginnings of a country township. Piopio should become an important centre when the. dairying industry is establiehedj and the saleyards, etc, are in full swing. There is a surprising absence of schools in the district, and at' Piopio, where the hold Maori hall -was lent lor the jurnose-

to temporarily house the scholars, school has sometimes to be conducted in the open air, under a huge spreading tree, planted nearly half a century ago by the missionaries. An interesting experiment is about to be tried at Piopio, in the shape of co-operative saleyards for cattle and sheep. The company has six hundred one pound shares already taken up. It is proposed to erect yards at a cost of £700 or £800. The settlers are also proposing to start co-operative shearing sheds. The advantages of dealing with wool co-opera-tively are obvious, not the least being thoso gained in classing and arrangements for exporting in large quantities. One of the .most serious things the district will have to contend with in the immediate future is the rabbit nuisance. They scamper away in hundreds from the traveller riding along the Te Kuiti-Awa-kino-road, and round the selections ot the wise settlers from the South, who have had a taste of bunny's tactics, it is already quite common to see rabbitproof fences. The light soil in many parts of the district is an ideal habitat for the rabbit, and he has pushed his advance guards as far South as the high land at the Poro-o-tarao tunnel. Once over the ridge, he will have the run of the pumice lands on the other side, and when he gets into this sparsely-settled country hi 3 swoop will resemble that of the Assyrian on the fold. Those who have seen how the rabbit can accommodate himself on similar soil at Lake Taupo will be able to form some idea of the high time he will have when he crosses the Poro-o-tarao. In the Te Kuiti-Upper Mokau settlement is still too small to make the nuisance felt acutely, but before the rabbit is exterminated the work is going to cost somebody more than a few shillings. Like many other places in the Dominion, the Upper Mokau valley wants a railway, and a strong agitation was got up recently to secure a deviation of the Stratford-Ongarue line from Mangaroa. I Instead of traversing the Ohura valley to Ongarue, it was proposed to divert the i line up the Waitewhenua valley into the | Upper Mokau, passing thro ugh Piopio,] :and then joining the Main Trunk either at Puketutu or Hangitlki. Piopio is only : .forty, miles from. Kawhia Harbour, and j the possibility of a branch to this bar-1 bour was also pointed' out as an additional argument by the supporters of the I line. There is no doubt this line must, come along in time, but the Government have already decided to bring the Stratford line out at Ongarue, so the chances of the deviation are practically nil. There is coal in the Waitewhenua valley (which connects the Mokau with the G'hura) and 1 the line, when it is built, will ha a most 1 profitable one. The Executive Committee | in their pamphlet urging the building of• this line give some information about. the district which will be interesting to | the reader. " Anyone familar with this j country five years ago," says the crrcu-1 lar, "would be remarkably'impressed by the amount of settlement that has taken | place- in so short a time, and would re- j alise. the enormous scope for work and' development; the urgent necessity fori removing restrictions on Native, and the !

throwing open of Government lands, which at present seriously hamper the progress of the country. Notwithstanding the many disabilities, fresh settlers, accompanied by their heroic wives and families, are continually arriving and successfully building comfortable homes, forty miles from a railway in the silent bush. As an illustration of the dogged perseverance of this noble body of men, we may state that one settler has to ford the Awakino River—which is a treacherous stream, as its name indicates — thirty-two times before reaching his holding. Such is the perseverance and pluck of the back-block settler. " It has already been stated in Parliament that this district is at present the most progressive in the Dominion. Then what better evidence is needed to justify the formation of a railwap'? Furthermore, the freight on the necessaries of life from the first of January to the end of March, over the first sixteen miles of road from Te Kuiti (which is the settlers outlet) to Piopio, was in itself sufficient argument to warrant the construction of a railway. During the short period of three months, the settlers imported 2500 tons of goods,, for which they paid £4800 in cartage fees from Te Kuiti. Since then many have been paying £8 per ton in freight from Te Kuici to their homes thirty miles distant., When road facilities are in such a state, who can estimate the enormous advantages and the impetus to settlement this railway would bring? Such development, then, will be plainly seen to be of vital importance to the advancement of the whole of the Dominion. "Sufficient has been said to show that no part of the Dominion lias better resources and brighter prospects to offer for development than that vast area of rich country lying between the Wanganui River and Kawhia, the Main Trunk line and the sea coast. The peculiar limestone formation in the northern part j being a notable feature, its fertility creatI ing scenic beauty in a wealth of luxu? j riant growth of bush and fern-trees right ; up to the most inaccessible parts of its I j numerous piles of rocks. The under- j ground streams, caves and waterfalls are j ! at present little known, but will eventui ally be a great source of attraction to ! tourists; | " Good fishing can be obtained in the I vicinity; on a recent evening, a lad fish- ' ing for eels, caught seven fine trout on his hook. The Mokau and Marakopa rivers possess scenery equally as charming as the famous Wanganui, and in close proximity are to be found magnificent waterfalls,..and near by the farj famed Waitomo Caves'with kindred spots I j of marvellous streams | have bored through ridges, forming'tunnels, in one instance fifteen chains' -in ; length and 100 feet high, the interior of | which ie coated with glistening silica,'and i the entrance draped in & wealth of creepI ing ferns-and shxujbbery, creating a fairylike scene-of. bewitching..enchantment." I Te Kuiti, the township which aerves i this' greai.district, is one ot the mostI prising foetaaces of progress on the (Main Trunk. In the last two years the, I advance has been" particularly marked.

As. will be seen from our photographs, the streets are flanked by buildings which would grace a town of much older growth. Not only has the town itself increased wonderfully in size and importance, but there has been a considerable amount of building on the hills and rising ground which .surrounds it. Here quite a number of pretty villas and homes have sprung up, and in a few years one will have to speak of the suburbs of Te Kuiti. It has been described as a second Palmerston North, iv embryo, and those who have watched its growth during the past five years will readily agree with, the description. As in so many other places, the native land difficulty is folt at Te Kuiti, ■ where there is hardly a bit of freehold property, and its development, in spite of this handicap, is all the more surprising. Town section are, however, fetching astonishing prices. Nothing indicates the progress of Te Kuiti better than the growth of the railway station. Two years ago it was a flag-station with a stationmaster and a porter, and there were only four trains a day. Now the business of the place keeps a staff of eleven busy, and more help is needed. Te Kuiti has now five trains a day each way, there is a ballast train stationed there, and it is the crossing place for the Main Trunk expresses, all of which stop five minutes. During the past two years the stationmaster's house and four other cottages have been put up, and there are now five water .tanks in the yard. The Department ha s decided to make some further much-needed improvements which will include the removal of the unsightly stockyards which now stand between the station and the main street—on which they abut. It is also intended to remove the station itself across the line to the town side, and the. yards will be enlarged. The traffic of the surrounding district can be guaged from the fact that during the past year there has been an increase of £10,000 in railway freights. ; Te Kuiti residents have the greatest faith i a the future of their township, and there is a commendable public spirit about the place. It boasts the usual institutions of the Dominion, and has among other things a newspaper. A strong effort is being made this summer to have the main Te Kuiti-Awakino road metalled out a s far as. Piopio,, and if this is settlement will receive a great stimulus, which of course will be reflected in the township of Te Kuiti.' The district we have been speaking about all lies to the west of the township, but it has been pointed out as an illustration of the enormous area that the township will eventually serve, that even if the western side were cut off altogether, there would still be enough country on the eastern side to- keep Te Kuiti going. To- realise what this means one must reaiemher that so, far there this eastern side has been. practically untouched.