TARANAKI DESCRIBED.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume XL, Issue XL, 3 December 1909, Page 1

TARANAKI DESCRIBED.

Land of- Cow and Speculator

" I haves been cruising round the slice of North Island (Maoriland) that isn't in a more or less petrified state at present. That is Taranaki, where od Egmont rears his magnificent white head above the clouds. I once lived in the Western District of Victoria, and, having escaped, prayed long and fervently, that never again might I have to spent more than one day at a time in tfje land of Cow. But for the worship of Cow the Western District isn't in it with Taranaki. In the hotel its ' Butterfat,' ' Three dry this week,' ' Doing 64,', and such weird , .things -with - every, meal and every drink.' Everyone tt>lks C6w. And when he dosen't talk Cow he talks land. There must be hundreds of agents in the district. Any one who can get a table and a chair, and hire a typewriter and any old thing for *n office> hoists the sign. One laid his hand on my coat-collar and bubbled over. ' Now, there's a piece of land ! I sold it first for £lO an acre, and I've sold it five times since thea, and yesterday it brought £65 per acre. Every buyer made money, and it'll go to £IOO yet. Magnificent country, old chap; productive powers indescribable, and I could let; twothirds of it stand on mortage at 7 per cent if you ' Just then I had to block him, assuring him that my purchasing;powers were four bob. Then I asked him if this piling up of land values, was not responsible for child-slavery and the.degeneration of the race. 'My dear fellow,' he said, ' we pay too much attention to future generations, and are sadly neglecting ourselves in consequence.' The thought of this land shark neglecting himself shook, me up a bit and I hastened to a spot where I could have ft least one brandy and soda in peace."—Writer t • • = Bulletin. .