STRATFORD RAILWAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 224, 21 September 1932, Page 3

STRATFORD RAILWAY.

LAND ALONG THE ROUTE.

DEVELOPMENT PROSPECTS. DEPENDENT ON WOOL PRICES, j (By Telegraph.—Special to "Star.") NEW PLYMOUTH, this day. Prospects of increased settlement and •production from farming activities in the country about the last 24 milee of the Stratford-Main Trunk railway were discussed by Mr. W. D. Armitt, Commissioner of Crown Lands for Taranaki, in an interview, when he gave a description of the nature of the tenures and of the country. The present railhead is at Tahora, from where the new route proceeds for the next four miles to the Tangarakau River, where the Public Works camp has been situated. Mr. Armitt said that the country consisted of fairly rough grazing land, nearly all Crown leasehold. Very little, if any, development could be looked for about the line as it traverses that distance.

The opening of the line should assist materially eventually in bringing into production the country along the next six miles from the Tangarakau River to the Heao River, where the route of railway follows through native and freehold land. Immediate development was not anticipated, owing, firstly, to the low prices obtainable at present for pastoral products, and, secondly, to the costs of bringing in mixed bush country. The same remarks applied to a block of 12,000 acres of Crown land situated in the Heao Valley, about three miles south of the railway, and also to native and freehold land extending over those three miles. Although the country, when developed, would be pastoral, it should warrant development now that access was provided. A certain amount of milling timber would be found in the last-mentioned area,, and most of it was rimu, but no timber "cruises" had been made,

Unsuitable for Dairying,

After reaching the Heao River, the line ran for approximately three miles through freehold land cleared and grassed, owned in grazing runs of 1200 acres or so. Although the land was of good quality, it was not suitable for dairying subdivision. The total area under that classification would comprise about 12,000 acres, with a frontage of three miles to the railway. Proceeding to Ohura, a distance of about 11 miles, the route traversed country mainly held on leasehold from the Crown in small holdings of 200 to 300 acres. That land might be classed as good pastoral land," with some dairying country included, covering a substantial area extending from the main Ohura Road to the Wanganui River. As those properties were closely subdivided and were being generally well farmed, there was little prospect of additional settlement.

Mostly Closely Settled. Summarised, of the total distance of 24 miles between Tahora and Ohura, the line ran through 15 miles of closelysettled country, three miles of country cleared in big blocks, and six miles of bush land. From Ohura to Okahukura the route opened some very good land, interspersed with pastoral areas. Expansion in that district should take place mainly by the application of fertilisers and the employment of more intense farming methods.

The additional land settlement possible would be in the bush country adjoining the railway, and extending to the Wanganui River by way of the Hcao Stream. The prospects under present economic conditions could not be regarded as bright, and the whole matter really was governed by the future of the pastoral industry.