PIAKO SETTLEMENT.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 143, 18 June 1910, Page 7

PIAKO SETTLEMENT.

HOSTILE CRITICISM. AN OFFICIAL REPLY. It will be Tecalled that, not long ago, a Northern, resident caused some uneasiness by declaring at a. public gathering: "God help the man who takes up land at Piako." The Lands Department loatt no time in declaring that the new settlement would, turn out to 'be as successful as had all along been confidently anticipated. A practical farmer, -writing to the "Dominion," cays: "Piako swamp is a failure. At high fide the sea backs the river up and the water spreads all over the land. The drains -"ihat are cut are useless—not half big enc r agh and not half enough of them. I was there at low -water and the drains were then full to the surface, and -were not running, and dead water wa3 lying all over the sections up' to one's knees. I don't think that it will ever be drained dry enough.. to grow anything. There is no fresh wafer on the land—if you except.the dirty swamp water—and the nearest fresh water is about ten miles away. Artesian wells were sunk by the Government 400 ft, bufi the flow was of hot soda water (nice stuff to use dn connection with the washing of "butter). There is no timber of any sort on or near the swamp; it will all have to come from Eotorua'. As re-! gards stone for the roads it will need! to be brought from the Thames. Thej only way to get to the swamp is by j oil launch from the Thames. To the i nearest railway—the Waikato line—is 25 j miles over an impassable road. The firstclass land at Piiako would t>e good if it could be got dry; but the second-class land has from 2ft to Bft of peat full of water on it. It was all taken up mostly by people who had never seen it!—shop assistants, etc." The writer concludes . with, a strong denunciation oi those re- j sponsible for the claims put forward for j this land. * {

Upon thie letter having been broughtunder the notice of the Lands Depart- j ment, it was officially stated that most j of. its contents were entirely contrary j to fact. The Piako sections were (it was remarked) inspected by no fewer) than 552 thorough-going settlers from! various parts of the Dominion. They were invited to stay a few days on the property, so that they might s»e the sections for themselves. It was worthy to note in this regard that every one of them went to the iballot. These settlers saw the land after three days of exceptionally heavy rain, and were well satisfied with it. In connection with the precautions which had been taken to unwater the land; it was. stated that a- stop-bank had been erected, extending from the mouth of the Waitakaruru right up.the Piako River to Kerepehi. Of drains there were ample, for they were at between a quarter and half a mile apart, and they were answering the purple fully. The complaint that there was no fresh water there at present was well founded, but that fact was pointed out in the posters. It was, however, hoped that that difficulty would Ibe overcome at an early date. When artesian bores were put down one was very disappointing, and in each of them the water contained, a certain amount of soda water and fixed

air. A similar difficulty had .been experienced in other localities for a time, but it was confidently expected that as had proved the ease in other places the soda and the fixed air would exhaust themselves and pure water would be obtained. Of firewood there was none on the lands in question, but as there was plenty close at hand it would be found that it could !be obtained cheaper there than had to be paid at Auckland. It was, of course, a fact that' ib.e quickest means of reaching the settlement was by water-way. There was, however, deep water all along, and proof otf this was to be found in the fact that such a large vessel as the Northern Steamship Company's Kotiti had recently gone up the river a good many miles past the settlement. Those who had been successful at the ballot were thoroughly expert settlere. The Piako Settlement contained 17,000 acres, all of which had ibeen taken up. It wa3 part of 90,000 acres which it was proposed to unwater. About nine months ago the water did get over the stop-bank at Kerepehi, but since then the bank had been raised appreciably. Only a few months ago—whilst the comet was in proximity to the carth —it was noCccd that the sea rushed info the Piako river at a phenomenal rate, and out again as quickly, but none went over the stop-banks. That part of the Piako lands which was subject to inundation would probably be the subject of portion oif the report of the Ohinemuri Commission, but the flood waters in question in no way affected the Piako Settlement. ' The amount of peat, on the poor land had been greatly exaggerated, and ranged only from one to less than three feet in depth, and- when drained waa very productive. It was added that from all •accounts successful applicants were well pleased with their sections, and there waa every reason to believe that the settlement would be as successful as was hoped.