UREWERA COUNTRY.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17937, 4 December 1923, Page 6

UREWERA COUNTRY.

CLOSE SETTLEMENT NOT ADVISABLE. TO "TUB PRESS.") AUCKLAND, December 3. Tli« Hon. J. G. Coates, who has just made his second inspection of the Urewera Country, is disposed to be cautious regardihg the suitableness of this large area for settlement purposes. Great care, he said in an interview, will have to be taken in selecting land for settlement in this region. It was, hti considered, essentially an area for water conservation and forestry, and should be dealt with from this standpoint. Closer settlement could be brought about in the Urewera. by keeping the trees on the land, rather than by clearing the area for farm lands. Sawmilling would provide a greater population for tliia part of the country than if the land was put down in grass. To indiscriminately denude the bush would render the flat country round about "Waimana and Whakatane liable to floods, as filtration through the forest would bo altered, thus constituting a grave danger to the fat#. This danger was accentuated by the -fact that the pumice country in the vicinity would be easily washed away. The Minister said that the country in the Urewera was mostly rolling hills, steep on some sides, but suitable for afforestation purposes. There n era some nice slopes, and a certain ajnouiit of farming could be done to supply milk and butter to the timber working population. The scenery on the East Coast Native Trust estate was \«ry beautiful, the great bulk of it being dense forest, with hardly an opening in it. New Zealand hardly realised that there was such a forest. The highest point in Urewera was 5612 ft above going down to nothing, so that it could be seen there were some ivery steep grades in the area. In conclusion, Mr Coates squirt emphasised the need of caution in regard to the settlement of the Urewera lands.