King Country Chronicle. Friday, July 28, 1939. FAITH IN DISTRICT.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4816, 28 July 1939, Page 4

King Country Chronicle. Friday, July 28, 1939. FAITH IN DISTRICT.

The Waitomo County constitutes, broadly speakly, the district which Te Kuiti serves, and the great increase in farming production which has occurred in it during the past ten years, as exemplified by the stock increases quoted in this issue, must go a long way to establishing a solid faith in the future of this area. There can be no doubt that the Northern King Country is slowly coming into its own. The stigma so long borne by it is being replaced by a realisation of what can be produced in the district, and'by the knowledge that with the cheaper land that is available here the opportunities are better than in any other portion of the Dominion. Though the past season has, as it has in all other areas in the Dominion, not favoured the sheepfarmer, over the previous few years the position of the average farmer in this district has undoubtedly become more solid. This progress has been due to a variety of factors, the prices ruling overseas being only one of them. Chief of the others would be the employment of farming methods that have been better suited to this area of high rainfall, the improvement that has taken place in stock, the growth of the beef chilling industry, and last but not least, the extended use of manures. An increase of 66 2-3 per cent, in the number of sheep carried, and of 43 per cent, in the number of run cattle, combined with a smaller increase in dairying, in the space of a decade that Has presented tremendous difficulties to the farming community, must give rise to optimism as to the future. As yet, as has been so often stated, the possibilities of this area are only scratched. Probably the next ten years will see the dairy industry of this area extend considerably. Already the tendency is there, though the number of dairy stock available may limit to -some degree the marked expansion thai would otherwise most, likely cccur during the coming .season. Because the future of Te Kuiti must be always integrally bound up with the fanning production of the Waitomo County, and also that of the Kawhla South district where similar increases have occurred, business men can look with confidence to the future; and given reasonable prices and conditions, the farmer of this area should, if the progress shown is maintained, find his returns comparing favourably with other districts of the Dominion. The potentialities are here and are being realised.