THE WADE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume I, Issue 131, 14 April 1864, Page 3

THE WADE.

\Yk arc glad to find that extra accommodation in 1 lie way of water transit is being now afforded to tlie settlers at tlie "Wade. The ' Four Sisters.' a smart and new craft ]ins been pnt upon tlie berth, and will rim onee a niontb for certain. perhaps oftencr. if required ; she has excellent cabin accommodation, and the well known civility of the master, Irvin, will add not a little to the success of the undcrtaJfini;.

The Wade district is one of those which have progressed slowly but surely. The great drawbacks have been the want of regular steam communication between Auckland and the North Shore —the locking up of a large quantity of Government land by the forty-acre system, and the retention of some of the very finest wheat growing land in the Province in the hands of the native owners.

All of tliese drawl nicks may now lie said to lie in a fair way of removal. Tlic Steam Fpitv communication, though not nil accomplished fact, is something considerably more than a project. T1 10 (law in the forty-acre system which | has locked up some of the hest lands in the | place has worked itself out, since it is now in the power of the Superintendent to resume the ownership of those lands, the .selectors of which having left the colony have not fulfilled their part of the contract. —the W ainui hloek at the liiiek of the paddock being. if we recollect rightly, tho (irst- one oll'ered to forty-acrc selectors, ninnv of whom never remained in (lie Province, and " who have of course forfeited their land. The valuable native lauds of Tamata Davis have also been sold to Government, are about to lie surveyed, and will be soon placed in the market. The land commences at the Old Driving Creek, about four miles from Maurice Kelly's farm, and contains some of the most magnificent flax and forest lauds that could be desired. Its sale and occupation by homt fide settlers would do much towards rendering the "Wado the roost, thriving settlement in the North —with the exception perhaps of AYangarci. We had almost hoped that this fine block or a large portion of it. would have been set. aside for special settlement, or have been so sold as tohave ensured its liiiiiit fidr occupation. Tlie "VVade, which includes the Oakura. Orewa and Mot Springs, as we have said before, is one of the most steadily thriving of our Northern settlements. The settlers have carved out snug comfortable homesteads. Ihere was always an excellent run for cattle in the ~\\ ade district., and manv of them are already rich in herds. The addition of so much valuable land in the district, made available for settlement will be a very great advantage; it will not, of course, cause any man's land to grow an additional bushel of wheat- or cwt. of grass to the acre, liut this it will do —it will ensure a population united and strong enough to provide schools, reading rooms and libraries, to secure the residence of a doctor, or perhaps a clergyman among them—to start in fact, as at Wangarei, the Diicleus of a future town. It is just this evil that results from the locking up of a large portion of the lands in anv district by non-resident proprietors or otherwise, that the bona fide settlers are scattered and weakened, their efforts to advance their own and the interests of the district arc met with apathy by absentee proprietors, and they languish on without local highway board, school, library or church. A\ e trust that the lands will be surveyed and sold by the Provincial Government., so as best to secure an increase of bona fide settlement lor this fine district.