HATUMA SETTLEMENT.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12949, 24 December 1904, Page 3 (Supplement)

HATUMA SETTLEMENT.

WHAT HAS BEEN DONE IN FOUR - YEARS.

(For the “Herald.”)

By ALPHA,

On April 25th, 1901, the ballot for sections' on the Hatuma Settlement took place in Waipukurau in the presence of "tk large body of spectators i | and intending settlers. The general 1 opinion of the spectator that day was ' that Hatuma had been selected by as good a class of settler as it had been the lot of the Government to get. This speculation was correct. One has only to visit the settlement to-day to be convinced that it is one of the | best and most progressive of its kind lin the colony. | The way to our present position was not strewn with roses. Wo had j many real difficulties to contend with. The winter of 1901 was very good, and feed was abundant, consequently \ the settlers stocked up to what appeared to bo the carrying capacity of the land. The only sheep available at the time were a very inferior class of ewes, and competition caused them to bring ; high prices. Unfortunately, we had to experience a protracted drought, having no rain from September fit'll till December 24th. This led to a big' fall in sheep, a had lambing, and, I think, the lowest price for wool for

many years. Sheep which had been bought for 12s in May and Juno of 1901 could not be sold for 2s fid in tho ' following year. The consequence of such a start for a settler can be well ; understood by those who have had to ' contend with the initial difficulties of ■ making a home. This disastrous year pressed those who were weakest financially against the wall, and several selections changed hands or wero forfeited. And the following year being anything but a good one, it required both bulldog tenacity and a good deal of cash to hold on at all. The Railway Department at the opening of the settlement displayed an ! amusing bit of red tape. The former owner of the estate had a private siding for receiving and forwarding goods and wool, hut the department had made no provision for passenger fares, and when wo joined the train to go to Waipukurau we had to pay the fare from Takapau, or for eight miles more than we travelled. The guards could do nothing to help us, as Hatuma was not on their fare table. After some months, the persistent efforts of our member (Mr Hall) managed to unravel the tape, and Hatuma became a railway station instead of a private siding. Of course, the railway siding that was suitable enough for the estate as a sheep run proved totally inadequate for the traffic of the new settlement, and the efforts of our member were again sought, with the result that we now have a really up-to-date station, goods shed, cattle and sheep trucking yards, loading bank, and every convenience. Among the settlers were experienced farmers from all quarters of New Zealand. But, having no real knowledge of the Idijal climate, they had to a great extent to learn their business again, to suit the altered conditions of farming here. When we first started ploughing and cropping, we received very little encouragement from men experienced in the climatic conditions of the district. Wo were told on all sides that ploughing did not pay, and that it was impossible to grow payable root crops, and that grain-growing was out of the question. One well-known authority advised us to use the match instead of the plough. That we have proved this theory to be entirely wrong is generally acknowledged, and a visit to the place will convince the most sceptical. We have had conspicuous success in growing all kinds of crops. Rape, so far, except in a few cases, has not been so -good as one might expect from ths quality of the land, but still it is considered a payable crop, coming in as it docs for fattening lambs, a branch of farming that we go in for greatly. Wheat and oats do well. Last year over 60 bushels of wheat and 56 bushels of oats per acre were threshed, but the greater portion of tho oafs crop was cut into chaff, the bulk of which was bought in Dannevirke and further south.

For weeks last autumn the railway station presented a busy appearance, five or six trucks of chaff being loaded each day. For growing turnips, I think I am justified in saying that Hatuma is hard to heat in New Zeahind. I have net heard of a case of their having to he resown, a complaint so common in

other places, and I think one will have to go to Otago to find crops equal to those grown here. At the Harvest Home given Inst April, a. display of turnips grown mi the settlement was made, and brought forth well-merited compliments from the representatives of the Napier business firms present. One Napier business man dramatically remarked "that ho knew the place for years as a sheep run, but he thought the settlers must have turned it into a vegetable garden.” During the four years that have elapsed since the settlement opened, we have all managed to do a certain amount of ploughing, and now some thousands of acres of land that formerly was in native grass and Yorkshire fog has been laid down in ryegrass and clover. The result of the ploughing is now being -appreciated, and the number of fat sheep put off each year is increasing rapidly. I understand that the annual draft of sheep from this estate prior to its subdivision was SOSO wethers, partly stores, and after making inquiries I find that last year over 22,000 fat sheep and lambs were forwarded to the various freezing works. And, instead of selling stores, there, seems to bo an unsatisfied demand for them to fatten.

During last winter, nearly every sale in Waipukurau had fat sheep, turnip fed, from Hatnma among its entries, realising good prices, up to 22s 3d being obtained. We still have a real difficulty in obtaining suitable wethers for turnip feeding, the settlor being stocked up to his limit when good stores arc sold, and when ho is ready to buy the only sheep offering are cull tour and six-tooth sheep that graziers have failed to fatten. Tin’s class of sheep, stunted in its youth, is a very unprofitable animal, taking twice the feed to fatten that a gooc sheep fakes, and when fat it is not the weight to bring a good price. . This trouble, I Have no doubt, will soon right itself, as wo ’have now in Waipukurau the best store stock saleyards in Hawke’s Bay. It will give a slight idea of the way in which we are changing the surface of the country to state that 110 draught horses are owned and worked on the settlement, and these have to be supplemented each spring Tty contractors to cope with the work. Owing to the nigh prices of suitable draught horses every opportunity to breed them has been taken advantage of, and the result is that a real good class of young horses is now coming on and will soon be ready for work. Cattle are kept by all, but chiefly bullocks, very little breeding being done. The drop in cattle values has caused a few to feel uneasy, but we must have a certain number to keep the country in order, no matter at what price. Several attempts have been made to start a dairy factory, but so far the efforts have failed. Several settlers have installed separators, and in a lew instances send their cream to Dannovirke. From inquiries, I And that they are making it pay well. One settler who has .had a large experience in dairying on the other coast, declares that the cows milk better here than they do there. So confident is this gentleman that dairying will pay well that he is busy now putting in a steam separating plant, and intends sending bis cream to Dannevirke. That dairying must come in time is certain. The land when first taken up was certainly not fit for it, but now that it has been ploughed and sown with cultivated grasses the feed going to waste each year that might be profitably turned into cream, is enormous. Another reason that must force dairying on us is the fatal error made by the Lands Department in making the sections too small to be really profitable with sheep. Cow-spanking seems to be inevitable. The sections are all well watered, never-failing springs having been opened where water was never thought to exist when the place was a sheep run. Like other settlers, we had the usual difficulties with bad roads for a time, but that trouble is over, and by the end of summer nearly all the roads (about 25 miles) will Ire metalled. Another sign of solid progress is the number of up-to-date house! that are replacing the original whares. Dearly nil the settlers have now woolsheds, or sheds convertible into such, and a few have installed machine shears.

What was four years ago a sheep run now has 60 thriving settlers, a post and telegraph office, and a school with ,i|n attendance of thirty-seven children. And we hope soon to have a township in our midst.

Feed is plentiful, and with wool and sheep at good prices, given, a fair price for chaff, everything points to a successful year for the settlement.