A TRIP IN THE COUNTRY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1298, 29 November 1911, Page 10

A TRIP IN THE COUNTRY.

OVER THE niLLS FROM MANGAMAHOE. Describing a lido over tho bills from Maugamalioe, our travelling correspondent stales that all this hill country is excellent sheep land, and, like tho adjoining districts, it was swept. practically clean by tho log iires of a row. years ago. Descending the hill into Hie lhaurana Valley, there are some beautiful slopes, carrying a line sole of grass. On getting--to the bottom the valley opens out, and each homestead has a ccrtain amount of ploughable land, while, some, such-as .Mr. Judd's,. have » considerable area. •There-is no-doubt that as the years go on ,1 -great deal of the easy slopes in these hills will como under the plough. Quito a lot of this land wants breaking up now, and wants it badly. A good deal of rubbish is getting bred, and where the far-mers-can. get the plough to work it. is only a matter of a short time when they .will be'compelled-to renew their pastures. Taking the. Ihauraua Valley as a whale, it is . as nice a bit of pastoral country as can be seeu...lu the valley there-is a'Creamery, closed. It-seems that some of tho' larger "suppliers, having, trouble over the.question of the 1 necessary labour, .'went out.of the milking; in consequence, the smaller fucn could not keep the creanierv moving:. :However, there hopes that when tbe small grazing runs in the Tlistrict". are* cut - up, some of the lieutenants -nihv milk-. -In fact, they will have to do so,, if, the areas which are .currently-, reported .to be :.dccided.. upon are carried out. These small grazing runs are not at all a bad way of taking up land., The. worst feature .about them is the uncertainty of obtaining a renewal at the-, expiry of the first twenty-one years' 'lease. In ft district, where I re•sided- for sbvcral years,- adds the writer, there -were six small grazing runs—all at •sixpence' per aero for twenty-ono years, with condensation for improvements to be paid by the next tenant, in cash, in case -the original lessee did not elect to ask for a. renewal. A few years passed, and legislation was enacted enabling the tenants tft convert: thfeir tenure of 21 years at sixpence per acre (the capital Willie was i£l) to -I.i.p. at 4 per cent..for HDD years. The lirst to . take advantage was /a nihil from Somerset;., he applied, and was at once.granted the conversion on .the same capital value, XI .an acre. Two -or three years, afterwards anothef man a'pplied. for permission, but this time he was revalued at -i-s. per acre. Then two others applied. Each had just over 00(1, at'res, "hut they were told that having over tho limit of 6'tO acres, they would not be allowed to convert. In this lhaurana district, some converted, and now have really line farms. Another said no, lie would not change, his tenure, as lie was'certain to get the freehold WW the end of his lease." 'I he result is that ho did hot get the freehold, mid.he has been notified bv the Land Board that they intend to resume the, land and turn him out. And this with the millions of acres of absolutely idle lands in the Dominion to-dav. •