A TOUR IN WAIKATO.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 5364, 25 January 1879, Page 6

A TOUR IN WAIKATO.

We have juj-t returned from an excursion to the inland settlements near the banks of the Waipa, and those on the frontier line which divides the Ch'istiau civilization from the Maori heathendom. Eight years ago we visited theae settlements, and we were able to mark the changes which distinguish the present from the past. These are not 80 marked as an interval of eight years in a district coutainiug all the elements of agricultural prosperity would have led us to anticipate. The districts of Te Awamufcu, Kihikihi, llangiawliia, Patcraugi, Whatawhata, &c., with an unrivalled climate, and a large proportion of them blessed with some of the moat fertile soil in New Zealand, have been comparatively stagnant duriug that period. A few farms and orchards, too few and far between, are a sufficient indication of what might bo effected under sutlicient impulse and with efficient labour. A large proportion of the principal settlers arc, and have been, limiting their farming operations almost wholly to breeding cattle, one result of this is that there are a great deal too mauy cattle and a great deal too few people. There are several farms, containing from 400 to 1000 acres, on which not more than from three to five persons are employed. The proportion of human beings which such areas of land miuht support profitably ought to be from 30 to 50. A large proportion of the laud—about twothirds -is completely overgrown with fcro, and this is land which has been broken up An old Maori saying has it, that, as the pakeha rat has killed the Maori rat, the grass the fern, so will the pakeha kill out the Maori. This is not veiilied in regard to the grass and, fern near Te Awamutu. Acres and acres of laud, ouce roughly broken up and sown in grass, owns the complete away of the king fern, and fern standing 6 or 8 feet high. This very fact is proof of the natural fertility of the soil. In fact, the land is all first-class. By reference to statistics of last census Waipa County contains about 100,000 acres. The cream of this laud is iu and about the districts above mentioned. The whole of thi* land is divided into 330 holdings, giving an average acreage of nearly 500 acres to each holding, and in these districts where the land is eminently adapted for wheat j there were only 377 acres beiug cropped for that valuable grain. And this in a district i which ought to be the granary of the j northern part of the North Island. And yet the owners of thcte. ?.ands, while doing so little with them, are fully advised as to the value of their propertit-H. One settler informed your correspondent that the 400 acres owned by him were purchased about ten years ago, for about £200, that is, 10s au acre. Ten pounds an acre wouldn't buy it to-day. He hasn't au acre of it under crop. Take the case of Major Jackson, lie received his allotment of 200 acres for Ins services of thrte or four y*-ars during the war. He sold it a litile while ago for £13 an acre. The interest ou the purchasemoney will yield an annual income of £250 a-year. How many officers .who have spait tbeir whole lives, and distinguished themselves in tho service of their country in all climate?, have been rewarded in that fashion? Tho major's farm, however, is one of tho few cul ivated farms in this district, and his success may be a means of stimulating others. There ought to be 10,000 acres under wheat in this district, producing on an average 25 bushels to the acre, and a total of 250,000 bushels annually, giving in its production employment

ao-I happy hornet fci 10 000 p.'isorts, instead of about 1000, as at present. If wo were anxioui t«i pmduc« an argument j*h to th« evd of Helping larg* freeh Ids of firs'class Crown lands unconditionally, we would find in this dist'ict, and unfortunately in many other districts, sufficient il'ustra ions to convince the disin erected. It ought to be an axiom in our land policy not to nell more 1-md to anyone than he is ab'e to cultivate, and no title should be issued for any first class lan \ without a securi y in the form of actual improvements, — that it is not bought for merely speculative purposes. For such cac<»R as those in Waipa and Waikat ) the land tax is now apparently the only remedy. But as the Crown still holds large areas of land —land booght by the blood and treisurn of the colony,—it is hoped that no inducement whatever will cause them to part with what is !» fft, except under stringent conditions as to cultivation. The greit fundamental mistake made by the Government, in granting 50 acr»j farms aud town allotments to members of the Wa'Uato Militia, u-a*, that su.:h i»r»nts were made iud.sctimin itelv, without reference to the character or capacity of the persons to cvry out their engagements, and not insisting on ihe regulations in regard to occupation, &c , heio4 carried out. A very lit le knowledge of human nature would have taught the authors of this 5C erne that a miscell «neous assortment of men, picked Ui' for the most pirt in Melbourne, while capable enough of being drilled into the duties of a sn)di«*r, were very unlikely to develop into tho steady, industrious farmer. The result conli'ms this vie*'. Of the hundreds who received their Crown grants, there is »■ earedy a vestige remaining. A fe.v of tho officers, who received larger grants, may be said to be the only representatives of those who were tu form a cordon of m litary settlers, and a vvall of protectiou alonu the frontier What became

«>f the'aii'l ? Fi>r the moat part it fell into tho han«N of th- a <1 speculator—soraetim-a I called I retn-mber, in gravelling | in the Waikato roimo ei lit years ago, in company with one of this class, coui- ' p'acently mentioned th it he had bought fr.mi : f"rty to fifty »»f these for fr-nn £5 to £10 per 50 acrt-s—all Or«»wn grant*. Some of tho owners of the*e f)0-ac»e farms are missing as yet altogether, and there are persons who are ve»y anxsout to discover their whereabouts, the why being obvious These 50 acre sections * re . 0,1 an average, now worth, apart from improvem nts, from t*B t'i £10 an Not very many months ago I was told of an incident which conveys its own moral, and a ca-e »n p int. My informant was the principal actor. A town allotment b <'longing to one of these miss.ng ones had b-eome very valuable, and wa* very muuh r quire I for business purpose*. The owner, wliwe name was known, was advertised for throughout the colonies, even in S.-m b'rane sco. In tho meanwhile, a •jcntJi min who, in his connection with the Wops—a cant-en keeper—knew mostly all the men of these regiments by sight, happ:n»d accidental y to discover the missi 'g owf.cr on a neighb airing goldfield, q-iite unaware of his good iortuno, and pretty hard up. Our friend, by representations or misrepresentations and the chinking of the cash, succeeded iu making a purchase. Our old canteen-keeper and the missing one's old friend made about £300 by the transaction. Ihe village of Te Awamutu—adiniixib'y situated for an inlaud town, surrounded ou all sides by large aaeas of uati\e land, a considerable ftream, near.y as large as the Avon at Christchurch rami through it—is now and will be considerably hampered in its development fr«un the fact that a larye portion of the laud in and arouud it is the pro* t»erty of the Church of England—i roperty acquired before the era of the war. Ot course this laud is not for sale, and people arc shy of lea-ting laud for building purposes. Ho*ever, as the railway is now about to be carried through, and th« terminus, for the pro-tent, of the li;»e is fixed as T-- Awainu'H, a gre it iuor- aac of popula' ion and prosperity ought to take place. This ought t > affect the district generally. In the year 1859 ('.wenty y« a»'s ago) Uochstett»*r writes thus of Kaugiawhia : — "At 5 p.m. we reaeh-d ttaugiawkij, situated in the fertile plain bctwieu the W.nkato and Waipa. Extensive wheat, maiz-j, and potato-plantings, turrouod th • place ; bro.td cariiage roads run iu different uireeiions ; numerous • horses, ami herds uf wtl fe i cattle, bear t stnnuiiy to the wealthy condition of the natives ; aud t le hut*, he t tered over a large area, are entirely concealed anions fruit trees. A srpanue racecourse is laid out; here is a Court-house; there a store; further oil a mill ou a mil. pond; and high above the luxuriant fruit trees rise the tapering spires of the Catholic and Protestant ehurch-s. 1 was surpiis d (he says) at beholding iu the latter sauctua'-y a beautifully-painted glass window, i» Hating its mellow tiuts iu my wondering eyes, fcuic'u is Uaugiawhia,—the only Mauri settlement among those I havo seen ( -ud he hail travelled right through the most populous native district*) which mijht bo called a town —a place which, by its ccntral position m the most f rtile district of the North [-.land, a<d as tue central puiut of the corn trade, bids fair to rise ere long to the rank and size of aII >uiishing staple town." Visit t'i'* ll.mgawi ii of to d»y, and then sigh vac victia. Te Awamutu will take the positiou ere long which Dr. Hochstetter assigned to Kangiavshia, as tho centre of the corn trade. Of lour.ne tho unsettled state of the native question has much to do with the want of development of this part of the provmee, the cost of freight likewise. The advent of the railway will remedy the latter, aud let us hope the efforts that are being made by the Uov rnmeut to as rive at a delinite and permauent Settlement will remove the fonner. Kven these will not suffice to ihe fullest development of the dis trice. What is required is a greater sub division of the laud, either on freehold terms, or as leases or rents. Th-* owners of these large areas will do well to consider this. They will iu a very short time reap their reward, and tbe land will thtii be doing what it was intended to do, maintain its due propoitiou of those who are willing ai d iudustru.ua. We visited other settlements, ami climbed J'irongi.a, ou account of which, for reasons of space, we defer to another oceasiou. Aou.s.