KING COUNTRY LANDS

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6900, 4 May 1929, Page 12

KING COUNTRY LANDS

Closer SsttiemeM Needed FROM MENACE TO PRODUCTIVITY From To Awamutu down to Taihape. local bodies, business peoplo and set tiers have become more than perturbed at tho proposed development of the pumiceous area in the Rotorua-Taupo district in preference to carrying on the development of the virgin lands alongside tho Main Trunk from Auckland to Wellington. In this connection a conference of County Councils, Chambers of Commerce, Power Boards, Borough Councils and other interested people will be held in To Kuiti on May 15th.

The object of tho conference is to point that vacant spaces along the route mentioned are sufficient to keep settlement going for many years to ccine, and that these lands, through being interspersed between the present settlers, could be turned from a menace to a great productivity. Most of the amenites and conveniences, such ns railways, roads, hospitals, hydro-elect-ric schemes and schools arc all availaide, and it is tho consensus of opinion right throughout the Main Trunk that these public utilities should be utilised to the full before less sound settlement areas are put into operation. It is expected that a very representative conference will be held, and it is intended that the question of native lands will come into the issue materially. Recently the Minister of Lands (the Hon. G. Forbes), who visited certain areas in tho locality, expressed the opinion that he was hopeful of ultimate success in bringing back into full production much of the land which had deteriorated, and he said the secondgrowth areas would receive special attention. The men who stuck to the task so long were now understanding the problem of these second-growth areas. The Minister was confident that the retrograde action had been stopped. In October, 1924. tho Government set up a commission to make an exhaustive inspection of the areas under review. Its job was to report on the then condition of tho lands, and. to suggest the best methods of dealing with them so as to enable such lands to be profitably occupied and farmed. Up to the present, however, nothing has been done, and it is hoped that the conference next month will achieve some definite object.