THE NORTH OF AUCKLAND

Evening Star, Issue 14637, 5 August 1911, Page 12

THE NORTH OF AUCKLAND

SIGNS OF GREAT- DEVELOPMENT. SEEN THROUGH~THE EYES OP A SOUTH ISLANDER. By Maraju. The majority of people who reside in the South Island have become quite used to speaking-of tho North Island as it th«re was little- or nothing worth mentioning to the north of Auckland. I hey have gradually become aware of tbe;development which has been steadilv going on between Wellington and Auckland, more especially in the Wairarapa and Taranaki disiricts'on the west coast, and more lately ef the Gisborne district on the east opast.. It has* also been known that the VV sikato has been moving along steadily, while agood manv South Inland settlers w now being attracted- to the Te Kuiti district. The North of Auckland, however* is- aimost a terra incognita to these hailing from this side of Cook Strait, while even in the southern j>ortion of the North Island verv little is known of it, Upon the ■map it certainly looks a very insignificant piece of country, and it is popularly spoken of as those poor gum land?, and it is seldom thought worthy of a moments consideration. This is a fallacy which a visit to the country would soon dispel. Being thoroughly well acquainted with every other portion of the Dominion, and having shared tho popular delusion-that there was nothing much worth developing in the far north. I may say that the information which I gathered during a visit to this locality was not only a surprise, but a regular eye-opener to me. We are constantly hearing about the roadless North, and I grant that the roads are bad indeed, but Nature has endeavored to compensate for this disability by providing immense waterways, and these euablo botn etock and produce to reach the markets at a conmarativelv small cost, while ■they pro- ; vide a' means of communication both cheap and handv. The.se rivers are well served by various steamship companies, while i many of tho settlers have their own launches. in the present article 1 propose to deal with the countrv from Auckland to Dargaville and that served by the Great Wairoa River. The train now runs from Auck- j land to Helensville, and soon after leaving : the former place the land improves, until J some very fair dairying country w pas?e-:l through. From Helensville the steamer is taken to Dargaville, a distance of over 60 miles. The land on the northern bank ot the Helensville River, viewed from the steamer, does not strike one. as anything startling, but along the .-outhem hank are some excellent crops of rape, and many of the homesteads appear to have been long : established. After turning into tie Northern "VVairoa River, however, the appearance of the country alters considerably for the better, and on both sides of the river are rich kahikatea. flats, from which the timber has been removed, and the swamps are being drained, and many ] thousands' of acre? of them have already ! been converted into dairy farms. Tnese ; swamps are backed by low downs, and as ; the countrv tLpcs so its value decreases j from a dairying P oint of view, but a great : deal of it is reallv good sheep country. ; Coming up the river, the townships ot Tokatoka and Mititai are passed on the *ast bank, while on the we.-t side, which is more thicklv populated, there are the j townships of Jcarrotfs. Tartaranki. le ; Kopuru, Aratapu. Aoroa. and Manga- I wbare, and then comes the main centre ot th? district, Dargaville. At each of these places there are substantial wharves, at which vessels of over 3.G00 ton-.; can lie, taking the timber from the mills established at each -.-entre. Tho while yme business is still a very large and thriving one, although most of the kauri has been , ut out. At present the _ timber indu.-I.i-y has a, most important bearing on the development of this portion of the country. Not onlv does it clear the land ready for the settler, bringing in a good income to the landowner, but as vessels are required io take the timber away, they bring produce, etc., as back loading at very moderate freights, and here tho interest of Canterbury and Ota-.ro business men comes in. The vessels trading bet-ween Dunedin .md Lvitelloa and the varotai milling i.-orts in the Knipara and Dargaville H-jr-bors bring the limber dowu and take as l-aek South Island produce, agricultural implements, etc., and these cm be landed there cheaper by this means •ban they can !■<• piocured from Auckland. While standing on the -wharf at Dargaville [ saw a complete refrizerating plant being landed which had benn shipped from Lyttelton. As very little grain _ is yet grown in this legality the most of the produce is supplied *rom Canterbury. The future, of the Northern Wairoa ■» certainly .-.bsured. In addition to its t ; inner industry, which in time will of course cease, to exist, it lias immense aieis-o' tia.v in Us swamps, and work is still going on at a number of mills in spite of th-3 i<nv prices in the Home markcts._ It has the dairying, grazing, and fattening of si-.iek. The climate 36 an ideal one for stock, as there, is eleven months' growth of grass in the year, while in such a temperate climat-- 1 there very little check to fattening during tho winter. The consequence is that stock require much lets feed and much jh« care than in the South Island, while they come to maturity mrUe:-. While in the Kafhu Valley, just out of Dargaville, I saw er me of the finest fat ;j,ttle that 1 havu 6een outside of an English show ring, and it was hard to believo fiat they had net be<-.n artificially fed. To giro some, idea of tho. quality of tho stock raised i : i this \aPor, 1 may mention that out of a mob of "GO head which wore sc-i.t f-.-mu there last yor 300 of them turned the sca!c at ivir I,loolb dead weight. In the daiiyjng industry great strides ar* being made, more especially on tho hundred I hotisiind acres of river flats which are fast being tnkeu up. This has been drained by the Goveromen'', and fully half of it is now in private hands, the' balance, being cageily sought for at prices ■ ranging rrom £l2 to £IS per acre- It is claimed that the land is bet ter than the best Taru.iaki land, cmi that its climatic conditions nllow a greater profit from each cow. It i;. ,-Jisc claimed that when the whole of these flats are brought under cultivation they will carry a cow to the acre. This will mean IGO.OGO cows, and it 's «t-timat?d that each cow will be worth at least £8 perjvear. which means £BOO.OOO per annum from dairying alone. To this must be added the returns from fat stock, timber, and the gum industry. It -will thus be seen that the future of the Northern Wairoa is assured. The dairying is done on tho homo separator system, and the cream is daily carted down to the numerous 6raali wharves with which the banks of the river are lined and conveyed in launches to the various factories situated at convenient centres. Proceeding further up ths river is a good deal of land just coming en to the market, the bulking undrained kahikatea flats with a proportion of bush land, and this is finding a ready sale at from £3 15s per acre, which, when drained and cleared, -will be worth anything from £ls to £2O per acre. It is doubtful ii there* is such another place in th© Dominion where such a quantity of land of this class* is available, and only waiting to be developed. Thceo fats run along on either side of the Wairoa, "rom Scarrott's to Tangiteroria, a distance of over 40 miles. Now as to the poor despised gum lands, which axe to be found mostly on the low hills above the swamp. It bso been found that by skim ploughing and manuring with a little basic slag they grow excellent grass, and many of the settlers are now .rearing sheep on them. In the past mostly Bomneys and Border .Leicesters have been used in this district, but now several landowners are going "in for stud flocks of Lincolns and Downs for crossing purposes, and steps axe on foot to erect freezing works, so that before long it is expected that a goed deal of this class of country will ba used for sheep. Very little is done at present in the way of agriculture. A fair amount of maize is grown, but most of the oats and chaff required are imported from the South Island, but doubtless this industrywill grow in a very short time. The principal pass used is Faspuhrm, and on some «f the lands further inland Bermuda grass teems favored. This is to all* intents and purposes the couch grass which is so shunned in this island. On some of the

dairy farms sorghum is grown and fed to the cattle in the depji: of winter. This grows ptolifically, reaching a height above Bft,; with a thidbiess of the stalks of over an inch in diameter. This is cut and fed to the cows, who eat the whole of the leaves and stalk with great relish. Farther inland I was. taken to see the great Pakaraka Estate, oh which many years ago the experiment of growing gorse for sheep feed was tried. Some hundreds of acres were carefully sown with plants 2ft apart, and it was intended to keep these closely fed off, but the experiment was evidently not a success, for the gorse has now overrun a good deal of tho try. and while it is absolutely useless for feed, it has the effect of tearing the fleeces to pieces, as evidenced by the quantity of wool adhering to the bushes, which are now in many places over 6ft high. Several Canterbury and Taranaki people have established themselves in this district. and within tho past few weeks a Canter - -bury syndicate has acquired a block of 25.000 acres, which will probably be improved and cut up.