THE NORTH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6061, 21 April 1881, Page 6

THE NORTH.

1 [by our special reporter.] No. XV. (Continued).—TAUHOA. This is a large district, the land, some years ago, having been set apart for selection under the Homestead Act. At the first, I believe, 10,000 acres were thrown open, SOOO of which have been taken up. On thi3 block there are upwards of 40 homesteads, with a. population of nearly 200, the average number of acres to "each homestead being about 200. Riding through the block I came across one of the more recent arrivals, a settler from Canterbury, who formerly resided between Timarti and Oamaru. Four families—with an average of six each—had come from the Canterbury province, and had taken up land at Tauhoa—altogether nearly 1000 acres, though in different sections. ]\lr. Allen, one of these settlers, has lately built a small steamer at Tauhoa, with the intention of running her between there and Helensville, whither, at the time of my visit, she had gone to get the boiler and necessary machinery fitted in. On the whole, as far as I could leam, these Southern people are satisfied with their selections, and will, no doubt, make useful settlers. By this homestead arrangement, many of the Tauhoa settlers have secured extensive holdings, and tolerably good land. Here are a few names with the amounts of land possessed Eyre, 450 acres; Levets, 460 ; Buckton, 400 ; Burdett, 400 ; Oldfield, 360 ; , Perkins, 350. There are half a dozen settlers with 300 acres each, the rest having lots ranging from 250 to SO. I was informed that a good number of the settlers had fulfilled the conditions of the Act, and had made application for their deeds of transfer, but had not obtained them. Only a small > number have as yet secured their deeds. The district is gradually progressing, i- Not long since the Board of Education had a school and a teacher's residence erected. A second school is held in another part of the settlement in a building not belonging to the Board. An Episcopalian church has also been recently built, and occupies a proi minent position. ' The nature and quality of the Tauhoa , land varies considerably. Taking the dis- ; triet as a whole, the land is more or less j broken throughout. Level ground is the ; exception. On some farms the ridges are steep and precipitous. Save to a limited i extent, there cannot be much cropping done on land so uneven. It will have to be chiefly a grazing country. At present a j great many sheep are kept—flocks ranging |up to 200 in number. Most of the settlers i have dairies, and have on the average six : cows and upwards. No cheese is made, fresh and Bait butter being the product generally preferred. Maize iB cultivated for ' seed and green stuff. Last season no wheat was grown, and potatoes were not a firstrate crop. Orchards have been receiving ; attention, and are gradually being established and enlarged, so that in time Tauhoa i should be a fruit-producing district. Some of the soil should be well adapted to the fruit industry. Originally forest, tea-tree, or fern land, the soil varies in quality from very good to very bad. There are 2000 acres of land not yet taken up, included in which must be some of the barren hills that I had the pleasure of riding over—land of no agricultural value, so bad that it is almost a shame to offer it for selection. I saw really good laud at Tauhoa, especially some that had been bush. Around lvikitangeo—a high hill, from which can be seen both the east and west coasts—is some very fine soil. At the foot of this hill Mr. J. Wilson, Chairman of the Highway Board, has a good little farm of 120 acres —the soil mostly a sandy loam, which holds grass remarkably well. A fine stream of water runs just below the house—a weatherboard building, as, indeed, most of the houses are in this district. . A very substantial four-railed fence has been erected round part of the boundary —the remainder being a seven-wire fence, both of which are sheep-proof, a small flock of sheep being kept. Mr. Wilson has laid out an orchard of two acres, stocked 'with all kinds of fruit-trees, some a good size. A small dairy is carried on. Lying on the slope, and taking in part of Kikitangeo, is the property of the Levets, consisting of 460 acres, originally, I believe, all bush land. A good show of work has been done on this place, in chopping, clearing, fencing, and so on. Some 150 acres are in grass, upon which both sheep and cattle graze. A rather extensive dairy is kept, 13 cows being generally milked. A neat house, with a verandah in front, occupies a good site, near to which are the usual out-build-ings. Five acres had been stumped and ploughed, and was in crop, a paling fence enclosing a good portion of it. Here it is proposed to plant a good-sized orchard, the soil and situation being apparently suitable for growing fruit. The best-worked and most advanced farm -in Tauhoa is that of Mr. Wyatt, who has 260 acres, and has been in the district 10 years. One hundred and fifty acres of this 1 was forest, the rest all poor fern land. The latter, however, has all been ploughed, and is now mostly in grass. Mr. Wyatt's method of getting fern land into pasture is to clear in autumn, plough up after rain has fallen, cross-plough in October, harrow and bum fern-root and rubbish, made into heaps, during the summer, and afterwards ridge up the land and sow about April. A twentyacre paddock that had been broken up was, at the time of my visit, receiving the following treatment: —About 200 sheep were being folded on small sections of it each night. Hurdles were used to enclose them, the hurdles being shifted every day. The advantage to be derived from this system was, the land got consolidated by the tread of the sheep, and was partly enriched by their droppings. Probably as good a result, and with less trouble, would have followed if the land had been well rolled, and a little bonedust applied. Mr. Wyatt has about 50 acres to sow down this autumn. He had a capital crop of Italian rye-grass in one paddock, which he cut for hay, as he did also three acres of oats. Fifteen cows are usually milked, and butter made and put away in brine each churning. As I had to start from Port Albert for Kaiwaka in the morning, I had no time to visit other farms ; but, as far as I could ascertain, the settlers generally were making good progress on their several places. No. XVI.—KAIWAIvA. From Port Albert to Ivaiwaka is rather a long journey, especially on a hot day, and under a blazing sun. Luckily I was on a good lady's pony, or, perhaps, I ought to say on a lady's good pony. The word good, however, will be appropriate in either place ; for, I am sure, she was very good to lend me her pony, aud the pony itself was a fine one to ride. The road winds about considerably, heading several of tlxe tributaries of the Oruawharo. Substantial bridges are over the various creeks and tidal rivers, the road is partly formed here and there, and is pretty level for this part of the country. At one spot a. diversion has been made, the original road going over a high hill. Happily the present generation of engineers do not seem to believe in hills, at least not in the tops of them. They prefer to wind round, and make the journey pleasanter, and not so hard upon the lungs of men or animals. ■ The road was chiefly through open country, raost of it poor land not worth cultivating, though not a little of it was taken up by Nonconformist settlers, the district being