PARAPARAUMU

Evening Post, Volume XCI, Issue 146, 21 June 1916, Page 19

PARAPARAUMU

A FRUIT-GROWING CENTRE!

After-leaving Paekakariki the railway line traverses an area of' swampy land, which has the appearance of being of poor quality. Some of it does rank as second and third-rate land, but much of | it is first-class. Drainage over this country has been carried - out ■ spasmodically, but "with considerable success, by i private owners and syndicates., Still,' here is need for systematic work. The : land, according to all accounts, is • easily drained because of its gradual fall of' about 40ft from the railway to the sea. Many suggest the need of a progressive. Drainage Board which could take charge: of the' -whole' problem. After a run through a considerable area; of undeveloped land the township.'of Paraparaumu is reached, first, and, it stands out like air oasis in a'desert. . ■, Paraparaumu is one of those steady '. townships which get along without any booming, and on their ■ merits. It is"; the - centre of a district eminently suited for. fruitgrowing, and 'apples'and pears'produced in; this place 'compare favourable with those which Icome from.Hawkes Bay and*iselson. And, as. Paraparaumu is nearer the- central 'market of Wellington than either of the two provinces mentioned, it should eventually become, the most | important. Like the rest-of the coast, it is undeveloped; its vast resources have never had what the Americans would call -.a "try-out." The winter climate at Paraparaumu is mild, and in mid-summer it is almost tropical. Anything will grow in the soil there, and much of the land is given up to dairying with excellent results. However, the country is more suited to the growing of fruit, vegetables, and various other farming pursuits on email areas. Paraparaumu is favoured with an excellent ocean beach—"the best beach along the coast," they call it—and it is gradually developing into a popular week-end resort. Excellent sea fishing is to be had off the beach and around Kapiti, and in the summer, when it is too hot for the fishermen to work, huge catches of every class of fish are recorded. With the gradual.settlement of the Raumati Estate of several thousands of acres between the railway line and the sea, the township should go ahead with great, rapidity. Part of the estate was cut up into small quarterI acre seaside sections, and about 30 of these have been token up in. the last five years.

Paraparaumu wants a post office. That is, in fact, its principal need at the present. "We are the only place between Wellington and Palmerston North that is without a post office," said one of the settlers, "and I think it is shameful that we should be so badly treated." He asserted that a great deal of postal business went through Paraparaumu, and the need of a properly-equipped post office was paramount. Te Horo, and places along the line of even smaller dimensions, had their post offices, and the people at Paraparaumu could not understand why they were left out. It was understood that the Government had realised the justness of the demand, but, if that was so, it was a long time granting it.