"FIRST-CLASS PROPERTY."

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 209, 3 September 1932, Page 6

"FIRST-CLASS PROPERTY."

PROSPECTS OP GALATEA. GOVERNMENT POLICY PRAISED. "I was surprised to find that Galatea was not the rough country we have been made to believe, but a long plain with much reclaimed, swamp ■land," the Minieter of Lands, the Hon. E. A. Ransom, when speaking at the. annual dinner of the Palmerston North' Chamber of Commerce. ' • '■'■,- '..--. "With comparatively little, improvement, this large area will be transformed into a thriving dairying settlement from pastures which still remain after years of neglect," Mr. Ransom continued. "One can easily conceive of its possibilities under modern intensive methods of farming." Mr. Ransom read eome extracts from a letter he had received from an experienced farmer, who had paid a visit to Galatea. "I have concluded the system of breaking in and trying out this ground and placing thereon approved settlers is the correct one,. and that the policy of the Government in acquiring at a cheap rate and bringing these lauds into productivity is fully justified, and that this wort should be continued without interruption whenever circumstances will permit," wrote the farmer. "I have known something about the Galatea station for about thirty years, but I have never visited it until last week. ... I wish to tell you that from what I saw and heard of from unquestionable sources the Government has a first-class property in the Galatea station. If the land is ploughed and harrowed and rolled and sown with the right grasses and kept top-dreesed success is a certainty. I know of no land in New Zealand that is better suited for cutting up than this property. It is flat, easily worked, and accessible now, and the new road certainly about doubles the value of the estate. It will all be dairying country in a few year 3. "Of course, you know all tlfis," the writer concluded, "but, having read criticism in the Press about Galatea, I cannot refrain from giving my opinion of the place."