THE BAY OF PLENTY.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5637, 10 April 1911, Page 3

THE BAY OF PLENTY.

~. , „ £ -Al. A LAND OF PROMISE. n ~;; , ' 1 -£__ *■• 'Mr J. B. Clarkson, of Christchurch, £<•'; ~£. recently travelled on a motor cycle from **!>':.,' Hotorua to Opotiki, passing through ~&*if t . TeTeko, Tawiahau, and Whakatane. ,ss%2- In speaking to a reporter, he criticised .1 - ;the roads he passed over vory severely, < ;p,U^ ' bot was loud iv his praises of the coun- i , -;&£s._. .try," ■ , I -I^?i"^.i" *Tlw roads, he said, were really.unfit < , 2?7y for motor cycling, being very sandy for -t -,' t'A j long stretches, while in the liangitaiki - --- l t /'Swamp it was necessary to wade thigh I * ), f: <to«I> in water for a mile or a mile and ' ''; " a-half. The roads at Tawiahau, 1 t, J, Whakatane, and in the vicinity of ' _,'. "jS\ Opotiki, were very good, but the rest) ■ -;y -^ were difficult, c coun { r y i how. ver, , AA7 was very suitable for settlement, and „, 2; 2 %hen sufficient money could be found ' '" to develop the district and dr^ain the 1 "y\' swamps, it would be found that the 7< -,y" land would give room for a million • \s - r settlers. -I r", • - Mr Clarkson describes the land 1 22 "*,. around Te Kotu as " magnificent." ' ' l He saw maiz-3 growing to lift in 1 , height. The couutry was distinctly suitable for dairying and root cropping. 1 Operations for draining the Rangitaiki Swamp had just been commenced, and there should be room for a largo population there when the work was complet- , cd. The whole district, in fact, had a wonderful future before it when the railway was put through and communication established. The people would take up tbe land after the line had got over the hills between Rotorua r A||;w and the swamp. There seemed very 2yo7£H aw engineering difficulties to be sur . yyyy mounted, most of the road being over j 77yy^, flat country. At present a. lot of the ! 7222272 trouble was due to lack of bridgss. A 7y227 -fine bridge over the Whakatane River A^yyi ' Lad just been completed, but many I r:;|B|fe: jfliore were needed. Mr Clarkson said he 7yy -*. -h-ad seen most of New Zealand, but he * S?i ■*iad been greatly surprised by the value 7yA7'. >of tbe district. There should be no 7yy7: ihesitotion about opening up the coun7Ay.y try, which, be believed, would prove a great asset to the Dominion.