Readers Write

Northern Advocate, 27 June 1939, Page 6

Readers Write

[Readers are invited to send letters for publication in this Column. A letter should he written, in ink on one side of the paper, and must bear the name of the writer, not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith.]

Twenty years ago I stepped aboard che s.s. Clansman and took a health trip to Mangonui, From there I went to Awanui,

NORTHLAND’S neglected OPPORTUNITIES.

Oruru, Kaeo, and Kaikohe, then all around Whangarei. Being an old

gumlands farmer, I used to ride out to some vantage point and visualise what those great scarred gumfields would be doing in, say, twenty years. I saw well-kept dairy farms and lambs fat for the works, on the Waipap'a ironstone downs, with the hills all planted in trees. From a point above Kaso, looking down on the Bay of Islands, I sat picturing orange groves, orchards, vineyards, banana plantations, passion-fruit and mixed dairy and fruit farms; also streams of tourists and industrial holiday-makers going to our wonderful Northland beaches, so that they and their families could recoup their health on the hundreds of miles of safe beaches. I saw cheap fruit at every turn of the road.

I was spellbound to think of all the natural advantages remaining almost unexploited—limestone deposits, coal, isajfe and shipping facilities second to none.

I have just returned from a trip over the same ground, and, sir, I am most disappointed. It is bad enough to have a Government with neither vision nor application, but for you Northlanders to be satisfied with burning and scarring your heritage, bar a few individual farmers who have made good in spite of obstacles, shows you want new blood, or a general shake-up, so that you will realise the enormous potential wealth 'at your front door.

\ 'Wlhat spurred me to write was an article advising the establishment of an experimental station. Ye gods! I learned the art of gumland farming 35 years 'ago—as did hundreds of others—and wasted a lot of breath before I got farmers interested, but today you don’t see stark gumflelds around Auckland. Your land wants humus and air in plenty, and cheaply given. So, if you 'are interested, I will undertake to put your gumlands in order, and cheaply. It is a national job, ploughing and cropping, but if the powers that be won’t shift, surely there are a few farmers prepared to lead.

I will give you my experiences after I bought my first gumlands farm, 'and believe me, it just about broke my spirit. I won out by observing a legume that did the trick, but I admit I was prepared to seek land I understood. Today, I say we have no poor lands. Get to understand it, so then you can work it to be a valuable asset at 'a low cost.

They say opportunity has hair in front and is bald behind, so you must grasp it as it comes or miss it. From Whangarei to the Far North, I found opportunities on all sides, and no trouble to grasp, as they bristle on tall sides. Land settlement must not lag behind our industrial development if we are to build a nation. How about getting to work in your district. The daly of experimenting with gumland farming has long passed. Get all you can ploughed over by the end of January next, and on to the end of March. I will give you some of my experiences on my first gumkmd farm. Some of my crops took on some tough textures.—W. P. SEATON, “Hillcrest,” Hamilton.