REHAB. PROSPECTS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 11, 14 August 1946, Page 5

REHAB. PROSPECTS

TUARARANGAIA BLOCK CHAMBER’S INSPECTION A sub-committee from Whakatane Chamber of Commerce consisting of the President, Mr H. G. Warren and Mr R. Morpeth, accompanied by a Beacon representative, recently carried out a thorough inspection of the property farmed by Mr A. L. Luke on the Tuararangaia block (about eight miles from Te Teko on the Galatea Road) with a view to reporting on its suitability for rehabilitation purposes. The matter was first discussed at the last meeting of the Chamber, when Mr A. L. Luke, who has been farming a section of The block consisting of 695 acres for the past seven years, addressed the meeting on the ideal prospects which the whole block (some *7,000 acres, Crown land) lent for rehabilitation. He had heard that the Government intended handing it over to the Forestry Department for afforestation, and he considered it a waste of first class farming land. The block, was •comparatively little known, and he trusted that if it received publicity something could be done in the way of making representations for it to be diverted to rehabilitation for the benefit of town and district. The sub-committee was conducted over Mr Luke’s property, making a thorough inspection of both the land developed, and that still in standing bush, and was very favourably impressed with the possibilities. Undulating Country The major portion of the land which had been brought in was undulating, and was covered without difficulty in a half ton truck. It was stocked with both sheep and cattle, and had proved its worth as farming land to the extent that on the last season average, butterfat production had been higher than that registered by the herd owned by the same farmer on the Plains. With the object of obtaining an indication of what the bush country had to present, an inspection tour -of a large area was undertaken! It consisted mainly of pukatea and from a milling point of view was a first class proposition. Of the whole block 5000 acres is in bush.

The area, which lies southwest of Whakatane includes a total of nine large blocks, the great bulk of which is in heavy standing bush From our informant, Mr Luke, we learn that the acreage runs from 700 to 1000 acres, and it is his suggestion that these be halved in order to make for a settlement of some 18 farms on the .plateau. From the point of view of potential development it was hard for the investigators last week to see anything but a genuine asset to the Whakatane district, and expressions of opinion were freely made with regard to the vast stand of timber which could be immediately utilised to relieve the present dearth of building supplies. In many physical points, the area resembles Manawahe prior to its cutting up into bush sections after World War I, when soldier settlers establishing themselves there, transformed the heavily bushed country into the rich lush pastures of today. There is no reason why the experiment could not be repeated with similar success at Tuararangaia, providing Government assistance and co-operation are forthcoming. The question of service amenities, always a powerful argument fo rthe settlement of new blocks comes forcibly into the proposition. This can be partially - met by the new heavy voltage lines shortly to be put through to serve Tunnecliffe’s new milling venture at Waiohau. The power line would run along the western boundary of the new block and would thus be in an easy position for reticulation.

Bordering Mr Luke’s property, there is a six foot track, which runs right through the block, opening up the interior, and emerging at the small settlement scheme at Ruatoki. Shortly after the last war, a further road was cut to gain admittance from the Galatea road, linking up with this track, but ideas of using the block for rehabilitation, if such they were, were apparently dropped, for settlement was not proceeded with.

The whole *area is well watered, and modern machinery, unknown in earlier days, could be used to perform with ease, the tasks which were apparently insuperable to previous would-be settlers. All in all, it would appear that if the Tuararangaia block is used for afforestation, not only will the district lose a valuable asset in 7000 acres of prospective farming land, but also the Rehabilitation Department will lose the opportunity of

settling eighteen or more .men on land in the Whakatane district, which is immediately available.