DEVELOPING IDLE LAND.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 160, 8 July 1932, Page 13

DEVELOPING IDLE LAND.

MIRANDA DISTRICT. SETTLERS' YEAR OF PROGRESS. (From Our Own Correspondent.) PAEROA, Thursday. Situated between the hills and the sea along the Miranda Road there is a large tract of land that has lain idle, but the last few months have brought a.change, which is likely to lead to a considerable increase in the district's dairying production. The fall in prices for dairy products and fat stock, together with increasing rates, have brought the settlers to the conclusion that the land is too expensive to hold in its present undeveloped state, and that to be self-supporting the present big holdings must be subdivided. This could not be done at once, for the land required drainage and protection from flooding. Despite opposition, the small settlers had the district constituted a land drainage district with the Hauraki Plains County Council as the Drainage Board, and a proposal for a comprehensive drainage loan was carried. The effect in many cases was to enforce the subdivision of large holdings. The Hauraki Plains County Council, which was working in conjunction with the Lands Drainage Department in carrying out the drainage and protection works, was the first local body to take advantage of the scheme for develop, ment and advancement of productivity by means of relief workers in camps, and the work in the Miranda district has since made steady progress. Most noticeable is the big canal which runs, from the sea back to the hills. Development work has not stopped at a comprehensive drainage scheme, for recently the settlers met with a view of establishing a supply of fresh, clean water for stock and household purposes, and there is a prospect that with the assistance of the council the scheme will be carried out. It is estimated that there will be six new milking sheds in the Miranda district this year, and an endeavour is to be made to keep the cream supply in the Hauraki Plains area. The New Zealand Dairy Company has diverted to Npatea the cream supply from the Miranda district that was formerly taken to Tuakau.