THE QUEENSLAND TREK.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 194, 11 May 1908, Page 3

THE QUEENSLAND TREK.

WEALTHY WAIRARAPA SYNDICATE. A WARNING FROM AUCKLAND. Tho apparent, exodus'of NeA..Zealand farmers to Queensland . continues to :attract acute interest, and confirmation of - the formation of prospecting.', syndicates, as' recently foreshadowed in the Dominion, continues to arrive. • Our Auckland correspondent 1 telegraphs The "H,crald's" ( Wairarapa correspondent '■ays'a representative; of a Wairarapa syndicate is about to leave for Queensland tq inspect a large'tract .-of country winch, if suitable, is to be takon ' up. The people composing; the syndicate intend leaving Wairarapa' to : settlo" on the ; property. The capital of tho syndicate is about £69,000. Writing on -the . sameisubject,- Mr. E. Or. Alderton says: '"Whatever:pur labour laws may bo, what has Queensland to offer, with ' its Parliament dominated by, tho Labour ' ' party? .How wore tho sugar planters."treated by the Houso '.party over thero? What foundation is there for the statement /that our lands have reached a fictitious value. Is it because here arid-there we hear of land fetching from £30 to £40 an acre? If so, , how land is oversold? Why, a - mere/modicumi'. I 'doubt ■ if. there is 0000 acres of such land ■ (purely m tho Auckland, province, .while there are thousands,'and-thousands of acres under v offer-at . just .as low-'a price; as quoted for tho Darling Downs'.- And with this difference, whiles we may' have-some Califcrriian thistle and -ragwort -.in places, we. have no . Darling pea that kills ?*oiir ■ cattle■ in. twenty-four hours,, neither Jiave, we , any prjckly pear. And another very important point is that wo have not. got' to. sink ,an : artesian .well; a thousand feet-, for water. All thesei points ""count'..when' you are out, after land, without considering rabbits and snakes. I could show a few- thousand acres, of land abutting •: on the Northern Wairoa River v where all the • conditions: of "life'arid climate are perfect at ' from £4 to £5 an aero—land that will carry J two sheep to.tbo acre.". . . •' : ; '-'MrJ Morrison-, a;Brisbane .visitor,'to.New Zealand,, sajs-that', in,, trains a'rid, steamers in Australasia, he, had heard peoplo "talking /Queensland ovory hour of the day." There the slightest .'doubt'that bis Government was • offering to Queonslanders, and ... others as.: /well, 'land at 'ridiculously low compared with New Zealand rates, which appearod tohim to be "almost mon- - si'rous." ■' Excellent land, at twenty-years payments, :was on offer at £3 10s. an acre, .. and ! railways, 'were through these areas or ■ - wore to be taken through them. Tie admitted, that .. the wind', was '.-'rather;-'searching in winter m"; one ■ restricted area,, between two .ranges 'of. hills,- but tho climate over practically the / whole'; country > was- very .tolerable, in "all .seasbhs. '. '"Sometimes,-even V 'in; Brisbane, during ; the - winter .months, a ,'; chilly breeze would - come up. from the west,' ! but this was not a frequent occurrence.