THE VALLEYS OF RAETIHI.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1100, 12 April 1911, Page 10

THE VALLEYS OF RAETIHI.

A EIDE THROUGH TTIE DISTRICT. (From Our Travelling Correspondent.) Getting away from the flat lands of Raetilii into the valleys, there is a decided change in the country, which Incomes mostly papa formation, capital sheep land, with :i carrying capacity up to two ami a half sheen. Kidiug up lue Piikekuka Valley, wiiich has any" amount of water and l'oed, I saw waere a larga amount of cocksfoot had been cut on the. ■sides of* -the road. I-hoajrd of two mon who had' harvested considerably over one hundred sacks, which, at to-day's prices, represented a tidy cheque. The slab wharc is now giving place to neat dwellings, with good gardens, in this district. And here again it was very satisfying to see the splendid cabbages and cauliflowers in all the gardens. In many places,.too, the potatoes were an excellent crop. • Prom the Pukcknka Road the stream is forded close to tho school, and very soon tho track leads into the valley of the Maugamii-o-le-ao. At the upper end there are some immense sandstone cliffs, and as the track is right under some which considerably overhang, I was glad to get past, as huge quantities of tho cliff keep falling down. In a short distance the formed road is reached again. Then you go through a stretch of bush into a nico open valley.

Here again there is a wonderful change in the country. No sign of frost was'; to be seen, while at Ractihi, a few miles away, they had been experienced a good many times already. Fruit growing does remarkably well. Apple trees were , a grand sight, bearing heavy crops, while the immense peach trees .had borne a very fine lot of delicious, fruit. Across tho river a farmer has a large orchard in full bearing, and a? the soil in this warm valley is a little heavier the fruit was well, coloured. Here is to'he seen a remarkable sight. One river, the Manganui, runs south, and the Oroutaha 1 rims north, tho two meet square, and then unite and flow off (Jue west, in one grand brawling stream. Getting away from this valley there is a tremendous hill to mount before the uplands are reached again; it winds in and out into sjullies and round spurs for miles. On reaching the tableland a different climate altotretlver is entered; in fact, it was so cold during the evening that iti- host lit the fire, and glad wo were of its warmth. ■Tiirliini; off to .the right, I rode un q, road with the peculiar name of Pipipi, and soon came tii the firm of Jfr. Walter Harris, the "willing horse" nf tho district, president of the A. mid V. A?=ociation, chairman of the Farmers' I'nion and other bodies. Jlr. Harris comes from n'andon, whpneo a cnod many of the sottiers hail, this settlement being formed by an association of f?andon farmers, who took up the land now nearly twenty years ago.