FLAXBOURNE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1246, 30 September 1911, Page 20

FLAXBOURNE.

ESTATE TO BE SUBDIVIDED. A RARE CHANCE FOR FARHERS. SOME OF MARLBOROUGH'S BEST LANS.

Probably the name of no big estate in tho Dominion lias a more familiar ring in. New Zealand ears than that of Flaxbo n rue, and many who have known tho astate only by repute beforo will take a closer interest in : it in tho near future in view of tho fact that tho owners, Sir 'Georgo and Mr. Clifford, havo decided to cut up the 10,000 acres remaining for closer settlement. The surrey of tho estate ia now practically completed, and in the event 'of "its not being sold privately between now and 'February, it will be subdivided • and put.., tip for public auction in Blenheim. Quite recently an idea of the'favour with" which' the land

Is looked 1 upon was given when 1100 acres were disposed of at an average of a little over iIG per, acre. '■ Further evidence can, if necessary, bo gained from tho high prices at which Government leaseholders in the vicinity hnvo'sold their'goodwills. ■ The estate will probably bo cut up il\to six sections, the smallest of which will bo 350 acres and tho' largest 1000 acres. This, however, does not include tho magnificent homestead' block, which will bo disposed of in a block which runs into something over 2000 acres. Tho plar.s of tho subdivision will be availablo by Christmas. The whole of the land is being brought under tho Land Transfer Act, and',tho roads ai'o to be handed over to the Road'' Board.

Some of Marlborough's Richest Land. Flaxboume. is a little, over 20 miles from Blenheim, and is situated''in"'the Capo Campbell Land Board district. On the north it is bounded, by Clifford-Bay, on tho west by Lake Grassmere, and on the oast by the Pacific Ocean. Cultivated on tire largo scale inseparable from so'- substantial a holding, the results have proved that the estato comprises somo of the richest land in Marlborough; but theso results, excellent as they have bejn, must fall into comparative insignificance as against the results which must reward tho more intense cultivation •which will of necessity follow subdivision. Oxer 1000 acres of the estato havo been ploughed, and cropped with turnips, barley, wheat, oats, and rape. What is torir.ed tho picked Hat is really magnificent land, and will grow anything, and tho high land of the Capo Block has yielded somo remarkable crops of barley an;! turnips, In addition to big crops of barley and turnips, excellent yields of wheat and oats havo l>cen taken off tire land, one giving back 50 bushels of wheat to tho acre. As the stock-sheets

They, were telling a long story of the 6p!cndid grass land they had seen about Wairau and Caps Campbell, and how they had been obliged to curtail,their examination of it owing to tho danger of Tieing killed and eaten by the Natives, from whom they said they had barely escaped with their lives. I was then 1 on the lookout for another station, und tho next morning I chartered a little 15-ton schooner, the Catherine, and went across tho Strait to seo the country. I found it all it had been described, and tho Natives at the north of the Wairau were kind and civil. . . . I went to the chief Native owner . . . and soon mado arrangements for a lease of all the lands from the White Bluff to the East Coapt, round Capo Campbell to Kekerangu, for .1:21 per year. Having arranged this, I went to Sydney early in 1817, and purchased between 3000 and 1000 . ewes, which came across in three vessels, and were landed at Port Underwood, and afterwards driven across tho Wairau to Flaxboume."

show, a good deal of the land is still uncultivated. The land is at present running some 10,000 sheep and GO head of cattle. The sheep are all halfbreds—a Lincoln-Merino cross. A railway runs practically right through tho ' property, one station, "flauwai," being on tho property, and another, "Ward," close by. An effort is being made at tho present timo to get another station between these two. The homestead is practically a new building, constructed of jarrah in 1807, and the woolshed, stables, cook-house, etc., are also new. Jarrah posts have been used in all the new fences, and most of

tho fences are rabbit-proof. The land, it might be mentioned, is all limestone country, and the whole district' is watered by streams and springs. . A Page from the Past. A dip far back into the early history of New Zealand discloses 'an item of information which bears on the original settlement' of T.iaxbournc. The story is told as follows by Sir Clias. Clifford, dealing with the ((ii£stion of the early settlement of tho South Island:— "I happened ono (ley in September, 1818, to bo in Barrett's Hotel, Wellington, when I met two men who had' just landed from Cloudy Bay.

'land. . . . The carrying capacity of Flaxbourne livo years ago was estimated at li sheep per acre and about 50,000 sheep were shorn yearly, exclusive of lambs. Tho Flaxboume flocks latterly consisted of crossbreds from merinos and Leiccsters, but originally they were bred from stock imported from the Murray in. Australia and drawn from tho best stud flocks in Canterbury. At one time Tabbits were very numerous on t'he ■ estate, but latterly they havo been practically exterminated. This was done at a cost of ,£20,000 and the work was carried on from 1893 to 1897 by a largo body of men aft'er as many as 100 rabbiters. being employed on the estate. . . . Tho homestead of tho estate has so many buildings that it has tho appearance of a small township. From it's first establishment tho station has been managed successively by the following:—J. Lang, ■1 or 5 years; 11, Harris, 2 years; Geo. Lovegrove, 2 years; H. Westamcott, about 15 years; 11. D. Vavasour, 12 years; G. A. Weld (present manager), until the property was taken over by the Government in 1905. Mr. Walter L. Clifford who is, and has been in charge of Flaxbourno for somo years past, is a son of tho late Sir Chas. Clifford . and was educated at Beaumont College, Berkshire. England. After studying civil engineering at Homo and returning to New Zealand, Mr. Clifford was on the staff of tho Midland Railway at Christchurch and Nelson, being officer in charge of the works. He then returned t'j England and later took charge of Flaxbourno.

A Chance for the Discerning. Tlio laud which is to bo offered in tho subdivision of Flaxbourne should appeal to all classes of farmers. Tho man who desires to go in for cropping can find what • ho is seeking, tho man who desires to combino cropping and grazing or cropping and dairying, can also liavo his requirements met, and tho man who gets in early can get dairying land of AI quality. Tho crops already lifted from the estato leave no room for doubt as to (ho productiveness of tho soil, and the sheep raised show that the country is peculiarly adapted for that class of farming. The farmer who knows anything about his business at all will havo iittlo or 110 trouble in promptly finding out tho capabilities of the land as a safe bank in tho matter o£ barley, turnip, wheat and oat production. "What the practised eye cannot seo is not worth seeing, but at tho samo time there is a fact that must bo ■ borne in mind, viz., the enhanced prices at which holdings in tho vicinity havo been changing hands during the past year or so. To put tho worst possible light on the property proposed to bo cut up, it is only fair to give the opinion of an expert who valued tho estate some years ago, and who was in no way biased towards a favourable view. Here it is: "Settlers have all done well around Flaxbourne, and holdings have been changing hands at much enhanced prices. A dry season was experienced Inst summer in this part of Slarlborough, but generally -speaking it is not a dry country, and is good healthy, stock land. Some of the flats on the Flaxbourne Estato produce excellent crops of wheat, oats, and barley, the returns occasionally being phenomenal." AN OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION. An official description of Fiaxbourne runs as under: —"Awat'ere was long one of the most important sheep stations on the East Coast. Originally it embraced an area of 00,000 acres of freehold property and 12,500 acres of leasehold. Flaxbourne is situated about 21 miles distant from Blenheim, from which tho homestead is 36 miles, and the southern boundary 51 miles. It adjoins the Starborough and Blind River runs on tho north and is bounded on the , south by the Kekarangu, and on (he east' by tho Pacific Ocean, and by Richmond Brook on the west. Flaxbourne was taken up as far back as 1817 by. tho late Sir Charles Clifford, who was the first Speaker of the House of Representatives and also has the distinction of having established the first sheep station in New Zealand, this being in tho Wairarapa district before he went. to Flaxbourne. In the first instance Flaxbourne was the only sheep station in Marlborough and included a largo territory from the neighbourhood of the White Bluffs and Vernon on the north, to tho northern boundary of Iveke.rangu on the south. It originally contained not far short of 200,000 acres and included Vernon, Starborough, Blind River, and a portion of Richmond Brook. Iu the end, only Flaxbourne was retained by Sir Charles Clifford who subsequently was joined in partnership by Sir Frederick Weld, somo time Premier of New Zealand, and later still Governor of West Australia, Tasmania, and the Straits Settlement's. At tlie death of Sir Frederick iu July, 1808, tho Clifford family purchased the whole of the interests in the freehold property though tho estate continued to be managed under the old style of Clifford and "Weld. Tho land at Flaxbourne is of limestone formation with a blue papa strata. About one-third of the area of the estate is good agricultural