THE FAR NORTH.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17663, 15 December 1917, Page 9

THE FAR NORTH.

A VISITOR'S IMPRESSIONS. BIG AREA AWAITING SETTI/E----MENT. A Christchurch resident who recently returned from a visit to Dargavilla and the Hokianga settlements told a representative of the " Lyttelton Times" yesterday that he found tho country looking better than ever before.. Tho northern districts seemed to be in for an excellent season. They were progressing steadily, and he prophesied that after the war they would advance by leaps and bounds. "The home separator," ho declared, " has revolutionised, tho dairying industry, and you can take n't from me that either the existing factories will have to be greatly extended or else there will have to be many new factories. One of the most interesting trips one can make is on a cream boat on the Wairoa. The river is a revelation in itself to a southerner. The stream must be fully a mile wide at Dargaville, and I was told that there were over twenty feet of water at the wharf, and Dargaville is forty miles from the mouth. Y.ou can see what that means in the opening up of a big area of country. The smaller steamers go up stream for another thirty miles. All up and down the river there are prosperous settlements, each with its little jc-ttv, and every here and there you will see a house or two and a jetty. The cream boat from the Dargaville factory makes regular trips, picks up the cream cans from the settlements and so reduces the transport problem to a very simple form. "I was satisfied from what I saw on this visit and my previous one that the' Northern Wairoa is going to be .one of the wealthiest districts in the Dominion. Tho river flats are ideal dairying country, and the hills provide the little stiffening that is needed to save the country from sub-tropioal softness. On my previous visit I noticed that a good many mistakes had been made in the past in grassing the land, but these are rapidly being rectified. The ground is everywhere readily worked and the response £>f the soil in tho northern climate is wonderfully rapid, so that a few years ought to see all traces of past blunders wiped out. I am not going to instruct the settlers as .to the, course they should follow, because they know the country and I do not. but perhaps you will let me say that if the people of the north are wlso they will co-operate in securing the best scientific advico and will give their attention now to setting Up schools for the expert study of soil land climatic conditions. I mention this master because many parts of the northern area have scarcely been scratched. Great areas of it are held by the Natives and are almost uncultivated. All these lands will have to be brought into cultivation, and years ,of labour and thousands of pounds will he saved if the work is done right from the start. Moreover, even in the older established settlements there is still a great deal for the settlers to Joarn. >

"After leaving Dargaville I went up through the Mangakakia valley. Un-. fortunately my guide was not very well informed as to'the conditions there, but some of the settlers told me that big areas of the magnificent country J could see were quite untouched. If that is the case, a very fine district is being neglected There is plenty of water. /The Btock looked in great condition, and both sheep and cattle country is available in areas big and small A little further north, where railway construction is in progress, I saw good agricultural land, and on my return jctorney, after passing through more of the same sort of country, I had an; opportunity to look at the old Waimat© North settlement, This had been spoken of as the best agricultural countrv in the north of Auckland, and certainly it takes the eye at once. But the grazing lands impressed me even more than the agricultural You could grow anything there, however, from peaches to wheat, and from what I learned I doubt whether its possibilities have ever been really tried out. " Well, no," the traveller replied, in answer to ft question whether he had seen any of tho fruit lands. "They are nearer Auckland, on both coasts, and beyond the flying trip through by train I saw nothing of them. I was interested mainly in the Wairoa, but because of very pressing invitations I went on to Hokianga. All round that harbour there is magnificent sheep and dairving country waiting to be developed. * Of course, the Maoris hold huge areas, and equally of course they generally -retained either the best or the most accessible lands. But the Native leases are becoming available on quite satisfactory terms, and there ore schemes on foot for opfening up area* that hitherto have keen closed. I don't doubt that the diffi-ukies will be solved. In the meantime the Anclelanders who are taking up bash land's on the hills and in the valleys are on a good wicket, and I am not altogether surprised that, the good things have not been unduly boomed elsewhere. What the land agents have been doing.' however, passes my understanding. Either thev have had their hands very full of business, or else they have been neglecting their opportunities."

The. traveller added that he had come across a good many Canterbury people in the north, but if he were to publish their opinions he mjptht be accused of trying to depopulate Canterbury.