DEPRECIATING THE NORTH.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 222, 18 September 1919, Page 7

DEPRECIATING THE NORTH.

ACTION OF SETTLERS.

CONDEMNED BY LAND BOARD.

"AN UNPATRIOTIC THING TO DO."

An inexplicable attitude is .being adopted by some of the people in the North towards the land in their own district, according to statements -made at the meeting of the _Jorth Auckland Land Board this morning. Mr. J. Wells asked if the fact had come under the notice of the Commissioner that the residents in the locality were persistently running down the Remuera Estate and in a general way commiserating with anyone who, in their opinion, was unfortunate to draw a section in this estate. "I have heard it,' said Mr. Greville, " and to my mind it is a very unpatriotic thing to do." Recently, he said, he had heard two young men in a. train, residents of Ohaeawai, running down this particular estate. They said it was the worst place in New Zealand. When questioned, however, they admitted that I they had neveT seen it, and knew nothing about it except from hearsay. He had frequently been struck by the fact that as soon as t*2 Government purchased land in thjJHocalify the people there commenced to depreciate it. As a matter of fact, he knew of no finer property of its size in New Zealand at the price, and his only regret was that it was not 100 times its actual area. Tn the first place the Government had been urged by the people in the district, by petitions nad repeated requests, to purchase this estate. The Government got experts to value it, and it was visited by Mr. Wells. Mr. Ritchie, and also by Mr. Skeets, Commissioner. After due consideration, it was decided to purchase it. As regards its value, he had visited it himself, and looked over it with an open mind, and as a comparative stranger. He was quite satisfied that at the price there was nothing better to be had. Just about the time the Government was negotiating for it, a Mr. Parker had approached the owner with an offer of £17 per acre for the block, or £25 an acre if allowed to select 500 acres. This first offer was slightly more than the Government paid. It was not in the interests of the North that these depreciatory remarks should be made by the people resident there. He was of the opinion that the man who got a section in that block, if he liked to work, was a made man. Exactly the same stateiments had been made about the Pakaraka block, also in the vicinity of Ohaeawai. The number of gross misstatements that had been made regarding these two blocks would fill a book. He would certainly -be very reluctant in the future to purchase any property in the Bay of Islands County. The" Remuera Estate was carrying two sheep to the acre, and half the number of cattle. If it only carried the sheep, apart from the cattle, it would still be worth the money, or if it carried the cattle apart from the sheep, it would 'be worth the money.

Other members of the Board also expressed the opinion that the estate was an excellent one.

The Commissioner went .on to state that farmers did not always profit by the lessons of each season. Last season undoubtedly carried with it a lesson in the direction of making ample provision for a had season. In the early spring there bad been a remakably good growth of grass which could easily have been converted into hay. Advantage was not taken of the fact, however, and when the dry spell came along the farmers found themselves without fodder, with the result that their stock died. He expressed regret that depreciatory statements of the nature alluded to were made by the people against the land in their own district.