THE WAIKATO LAND ASSOCIATION'S ESTATE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 6399, 22 May 1882, Page 6

THE WAIKATO LAND ASSOCIATION'S ESTATE.

——.♦_ _— ' [FBOM OUB SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.] > Afvisrr "to as it is) • bettor known, perhaps, ( by its . historical name, " the Piako Swamp," waswhatlhad •'long promised.myself, and what; had I had .- the pEeaeure of an acquaintance.with tho affable and courteous manager, Mr. Henry Reynolds, I should have long aa,o made Somehow 1 had conceived the'idoa that tho visit of a stranger, actuated solely by enri-: Osity, would be deemed an intrusion, but, on presenting myself at the Woodlands Station, one day last week, I found myself agreeably ' disappointed. A hospitable weteomo was 'accorded me. Iwasriotoiilycourteously shown over the home paddocks and homesteads, r, hat' a horse and guide provided for my use, - and I had the opportunity of riding during tho remainder of that day o.ud a portion of the next over some thousands of acres of : land which not three years ago was most of it a ' dismal awamp, but which now is covered, -even at this season of the year, with rich grass and clover, or is growing' heavy crops ' of turnips for winter feed. The two tilings which at once strike the visitor for the first time to this estate are tho vastness of the undertaking and the order ' and system with which the work of recla- ■' mation obc7 improvement, even in the minur test details, is being carried out. Wood- ~ lands is now (since the late sale of the Sureka Station with 2000 acres : of ' land to Sir.. Suttor for the satisfactory price of £18,000) the head station on the property, and from its pleasant lawns and grassy paddocks - nearly the whole estate,' some 90,000 acres, lies stretched before the. eye. On \the left, the blue wooded hills which skirt the ;Mangawhara and Tauhei Creeks—fall 30 : miles in "'front, the lofty range of Tβ Aroha—and c -,to'the right, some miles away, ; -the"-lower' ■Maungakawa ranges whijh, striking into the ' main swamp, divide it into two forks, tho further one leading ;up /the "Valley of the Thames, the other towards Piako— "these form a grand background to what will one day be a magnificent scene, a ■"Vast plain of fertile-;,; country * over with a thousand homesteads; ■ Here '■and there'too to : therear,iand along the <"Mangawhara and Tauhei creeks the same- ' ness of the scene is' relieved'by extensive 'patches of natural forest, liiuch of which contains valuable timber. In many spots in "'the great swamp itself are to be foundknolls, or islands, as they are calledv of more or less extent, which have been ploughed and sovrn ' -with grass, and now carry-a considerable number of stock. Planting, too, is being .carried out by the company, , which grows its own nurseries of trees," in every available apot, even miles away put in the swamp, ' where the trens will be valuable both as aholter for the cattle and in beautifying the ..country. '' _ , •■'' _ : To undertake the drainage of something like 140 squaro mile 3 of such a country as this, over a Urge proportion of which a man it one time could not safely travel alone, was a bold and daring conception. The proprietors must hnvebeen far-seeing men, have - had a large command of capital, and been possessed of great perseverance and determi- „.' nation, to carry through.so vast a work, one which was bound to lie either a great success ; or a great failure/ Whatever may, however, at ene time have been thought of the venture, the result haß now been placed beyond a doubt. Two great points have been proved— the one, that under a systematic plan of drain- - age and reclamation the swump laud may be ' brought into a practical stilts of cultivation ■ at a reasonable cost;" the pther, that when J- ' so reclaimed it is capable Cif carrying heavy crops of either grass, cereids, or roots, and producing beef, mutton, and wool of the " best quality. That which individual settlers ! > of moderate, means would have been unable ■ to accomplish, if these' swamps had been ; cut up and sold in small blocks, except-at an enormous and altogether - unprofitable - expenditure, associated capital has been able to effect. A large and . comprehen.sive system of drainage, and therefore carried but at a minimum cost per ■ acre, has. been 'planned for the- entire property, and is being gradually worked up' '.' to. Main drains/traverse the swamp for - miles, the soil thrown out forms the roads alongside, while at 10 chain intervals lesser side ditches drain the intermediate'.blocks. .-: .When thus laid dry, a narrow ; strip of the ■ ecrub on the outer-edge of these pieces of '■ reclaimedswamp (wlich are covered with ',-,. more or less growih of vegetation, of flax, ; tea-tree, or rushes) is cut down, left lying till thoroughly dead, and then, with a suit- - able wind, fired in the autumn; A fairly - dean burn of the several drain enclosed : 'undertaken on the estate have naturally been, commenced from the Waikato end, to which i there was railway, river,Vndroad communication. There havo: been three large and two smaller stations established. That of Sureka was, until t tvo. years ago, the head - station; now the Woodlands is the chief, and here Mr. Henry Reynolds,'the general ■"» manager, resides. The other stations are:, '.-■ Mount Pleasant, on the Mangawhara river ■- -or creek, at: the north-west: corner of the . :'■ property; Newateiid, near the late Eureka - -*-'station, on the l.'iako-Hamiltqn-road, and . the two substations of Hokonui and Hillside.' - Itia now just thvee years ago that opera- ; tions were commenced at Woodlands, then a dreary waste, and. no. one-,visiting it to-day would believe, unless credibly told :' so, that the handsome two-storey residence, \- euiToanded with thriving plantations and ' pictnresquely laidi-out grounds, the cluster or buildings, the adjacent tracts of land in '," grass, roots, maize,*aad sorghum, and tne . large . paddocks of graun. stubble, were the work of so short a time. In Mr. Reynolds the company* has evidently a most able and efficient manager, a. man of comprehensive mind, and at the same time neglecting net -erea the. smallest detail of / economical managements The organisation,-: of the every-day work appears to be perfect.' Every-i ' thing about tlie place ivas proceeding with the regularity of clockwork. The manager ■•■ has evidently, a genius for mechanics. Nothing that would save expenditure in labour ia neglected. Even the water from the swamp is turned to- valuable account.- A drain running back some miles into the swamp'empties itself by a concrete conduit on to an overshot wheel, and furnishes the '•'• motive power for a variety of work. A large ": three-storied mill, - with '' blacksmjth/.'and wheelwright shops: attached,'U here erected. . . The basement floor of the: building :ia occu- . pied as a saw : mill, and ai; the time of my ;'.' visit men wereemployed in cuttingjnp flitches ■ of kauri into plank. This kacri is found in - one of the company's bushes, about a mile and a-half distant, and is probably the only instance of .this timber being, found so far '.-■'■ seuth of Auckland. Many, of'the trees turn out 10,000 to 12, 000 feet of timber, I was told, and the largestpyet standing, measnres- - twenty-nine^feet in girth. A considerable quantity-of timber is used,, not. only, for buildings, bat bridges, and otlier works, and ■ is all sawn at the company's own mill. . On the second floor, a threshing machine, worked bjr a belt from below,' wasT'bpsy at work '..... threshing out, one of the wheat stacks, and in the storey above is a cha.ff-cutting machine and :al'" grain crusher, worked by the same motive power. Perhaps as pretty a sight as any, and: one not usually met ..with, was the rick yard, with its double row of thirty large stacks of wheat; and oats, neatly built and thatched, the produce of ISO acres of land. Another use to which the circular, •* saw is put etruck iis as ingenious. Instead of, having the puriri.poste used ,for.fencing , split the exact size required, they are split twice as largo as needed and' then sawn in two lengthwise, giving to each post a flat surface for stapling the wires, and the average time taken in sawing'these posts in two is one a minute. Not only have the permanent buildings on the property since the mill has been at work been erected from kauri grown and sawn on the estate, but there was standing ready made alongside the mill at the time of my visit a new notion of Mr. Reynold s, namely, a moveable wooden hut on wheels, fitted up with a table and sleeping bunks for eight men, which could be driven to any part of the estate where drainage or other ' - contract w_qrks were being carried out Of • course, on a.property, and where 80 many cattle of a valuable class are kept (3omeof the bulls have 4 been purchased it large sums), and where the number is annually increasing, there is ample accommo > dation needed for stock in tue shape of buildings. The cattle sheds are substantial and commodious. At this season of the year, when the bulla are kept separate from the cows, there are a number,of first-. ■i class Shorthorns and Hereford bulls in loose boxes or pens, with small paddocks attached, where they will be kept during the ■winter. Two or three very tine mobs of Hereford bulls were also grazing in the home padddoks. There are large covered sheds for housing the dairy cows at night during > winter, and a large range of stabling with spacious lofts overhead, in one of which was stored the grass seed' for eoine 0000 acres of land which nad been drained this summer, and trould- have been ■ sown by now, but for • 'the early, rains preventing the burninK.of " of the rubbish on the land.. In the artificial ' manure's shed, besides a large compartment

il filled; with island'guano, yas'o "large" qu*n-l t' tity of Ngaruawabia lime, the effect of which, j on swamp land, Mr. Reynolds is about to. try. The turnipai.of'.whioh: there are about. 1400 acres this year on the estate, are drilled! in with 2cwt. of bonedust or guano, and then, not touched, not even thinned y 12ozs. ofj seed to the acre is used. When ready for the stock tho cattle'are turned upon the; land. • i A very large proportion of this estate has,, since work was first commenced upon'itat tho Eureka in 1875, been more or less reclaimed and brought into cultivation. At the Waikato end several sections of; dry land aud: swamp have been purchased and added to the ; original grant,' these, lands having been bought either for the sake of 'frontage to -the ; Main South-road or for drainage purposes. ■ Tho property,- indeed, l:aa a large frontago to this road. Driving from Hamilton to Woodlands the traveller strikes the corner of. the estate, some five miles from the gate turning in'to the i station, and carries, tho outer fence of the I' property with him the. entire distance, except in th.e case of the frontage of ono 400acre farm. The Hokonui and Hillside stations are to be seen to ; the right. At the latter a remarkably/fine patch of 140 acres of blocks is thus ; made, the . grass seed is sown upon tho ashes, . aud in th# coming spring thero iß' good feed lor stock, which improves the more the land is trodden over anil consolidated. Some.of the lands ridden over last week by your correspondent, which had boon thus treated tho foLceat .having been sown not quite three years are 1 even st the present adTftoced season of -the year ankle deep in rich clover and grasses, a thick and close sward, and had been heavily> stocked through tho summer until the. last'moqth or six; weeks; indeed, everywhere -cxccpt one or two paddocks about the homestead, where tho horse stocfc had been pasturod, tho grass was rank and abundant.; But lam digressing. The works - as yet turnips is being fed off with cattle, ■ and behind the Hokonui station, sheltered by. surrounding bush,'was another.patchiof 150: acres of as tine turnips as;could anywhere be seen in Waikato. On tho Woodlands and. Komokorau block, we rode through some' hundreds* of acres of turnips more or less forward, and ttith the exception. of; one or two patches, ! where sown late, looking rq-, markably well. - .! ! For convenience sake tho estate has beep surveyed, and ia marked off on carefullyprepared plans into blocks, of .from .6000 to 15,000 acres each, the maps of which were kindly iplaced before your: .correspondent Each of these 'blocks is again subdivided into sections of from 640 to I*2oo acres, showing- the exaot position of every" drain as j cut, or laid out •by tho drain-' ing engineer,- to be cut as tho work of reclamation proceeds/ The cultivated and grassed tracts are shown, as also the drained lands ready for burning and grassing, the patches of bush, creeks, lakes, and other Batumi characteristics of the land. THE MASGAWUARA. BLOCK, on which the Mount Pleasant Station is situated, comprises 10,300 acres. Drainage operations have been extensively, carried out upon' this block. A large proportion is sown with grasses and another large portion is drained, and was ready for burning off preparatory to sowing, when the wet weather set in unexpectedly a month ago, and the burning will have to stand over for another season. This block was always a.favourite with the natives, and the' remains -of old settlements and peach orchards are to be found all along the banks of . the river. Mount Pleasant station is situated on a picturesque rise about a mile from the Mangawhara River, on which .a good comfortable homestead and substantial outbuildings have, been erected. A very valuable virgin forest of 1500 acres in extent is growing on this block, and it is into the Mangawhara River that the great main outlet drain empties itself. ' THB KOiIOKOHAtr BLOCK, containing 10.564 acres, adjoins the Mangawhara block. A deep, wide drain divides the- two, and along this, on a good dray road formed from' the soil taken from the drain, we rode for some three orfour miles, crossing a considerable tract of drained land, ready for burning, and a' larger proportion under grass, the stock upon the latter looking in first-class condition, and the grass itself chiefly clover, ryegrass, and cocksfoot, looking as well as grazier could wish. Turning from the road, a canter across a square mile of this pasture showed the same thick even sward, the soil where visible being of the texture that is best designated as "fat," arid reminding the writer much of the rich fen lands of Lincolnshire, once a waste of swamp, now amongst the richest in the kingdom. The cattle in some'of tho paddocks were supplied with water in reservoirs, pumped by windmills." These windmills, I should mention, are manufactured on the premises, where I noticed also an iron wind-. mill, working on the turbine principle, which hadbeen imported from America, but was informed that windmills, equally efficient for the purpose, can be made in the workshops at Woodlands for less than a third the cost. On'the Komokorau block is one of the most expensive works of the company—the opening up. of an old creek for several miles— by which the great bulk, of the land on this section is thoroughly drained. There are also several patches of bush, varying from 50 to 250 acres each in extent on this block, arid .some 1500 or 1600 acres, of swamp land, thoroughly drained, and ready for burning, which must now stand over till next season on account of the rains. The Komokorau and Mangawhara blocks will be perhaps the most valuable on the • eatato. rhe.erop3 are simply magnificent, and in more than one place the fact was noticeable that the soil thrown up from the drains, where it had rotted and fallen, was growing in extraordinarily rich herbage, having in fact much the appearance of the celebrated Lincolnshire "warp," a river deposit of jreat fertilising qualities, which is there :arted away to the up lands, and used as a nannre. . THE WOODLANDS BLOCK contains 5950 acres, on which is the chicf itation already referred to. I observed on ibis block also something like a couple of iquaro miles of drained land, which had riissed burning this season. Some quarter of l mile or so from the homestead, and skirting ;he south road, are some patches of natural orest, which add much to tho. beauty and iomelinoss of the scenery. THB HOKONUt BLOCK, foe largest of the four, comprises 14.9G0 teres'.- Drainage operations have been largely arried out on this block, and some of them ■t great cost through low lying bush country, >ut- the land is, of rich quality and very •aluable—the, turnips here were far the inest to be seen on tho estate. A large prolortion. ef land on this block too has' missed he burning season,.making some six thou- [ and acres altogether which should have ■ leen burned and grassed this autumn. There re two fine farms jutting into tho Hokonui ; ilock and fronting the main road, of 400 cires each ; one of these, Ormond's, has been rtely purchased by the company and added ( o the estate, tho other is occupied by two ons of the owner, Mr. Primrose, who lives limselfon a smaller farm near Hamilton, j nd is one of tho best-farmers of the district, ;rowing large crops of wheat and other rain, : i j'J The ■ four .blocks above mentioned comrise ill aill 42,104 acres, or nearly half the ntire estate, and are all more' or less in a eclaimed Btate, being either' under grass nd crop, or drained ready for burning, r in course of drainage. Lately there 150 men employed upon tho drains and itlier works, but at present tho number has leeri reduced. These blocks are altogether lutside the earlier work done at Newstead, ome account of which you may shortly :xpect. The cattle kept upon the property are >oth Shorthorns and Herefords, but tho vhite faces largely predominate. Thera yas ■ no such thing as a " scrubber " to bo teen. : There is a well-bred herd of 1000 sows, and the bulls are pure-bred, many of hem imported animals. Altogether there ire 3300 large cattle and 1500 sheep upon he property, and from the rapidity with vhich the land is being reclaimed, and the leavy crops of grass and turnips it produces vhen reclaimed, these herds must, in tho :ourse- of a Bhort time, be very largely ncreased,/ and , the sales of beef help considerably to lessen the annual outlay on the work of swamp reclamation. This naturally leads to the question of a market, and will render it necessary that Maocat.oaa such as this, the Auckland Company and others should combine for the establishment of central slaughtering yards in Waikato and the tortt be 01 prices, ■ while .. all that the colony is to produce for years will not sensibly affect the market at Home. Of course such an undertaking' as. I have imperfectly attempted to give an idea of—the reclamation

of the great PiaW S'wampi-is' carried 'out; I more with'-the object of deriving a profit from the re-aale of the land in small farms to| bona jtae.settlers, than from its cultivation:;' but while tho work and expense' of reclaraa-; tkra are:going.:on,: the farming of.the re-' claimed maybe made to materially, assist in that work. ■' Even outside .that viow o£ the question, the i large companies can only expect to find cuetomers for their land by letting it bo seen that the farmer can get a living from it, and this ho cannot do if the local markets are 'overstocked. Another and a very , important opening for an immediate return on their outlay by tho company may fairly bo looked for, if- the cheese and bacon factories now about to bo established near Hamilton and To Awamutu turn out anything liko as successful as anticipated. There is no limit to the extent to which theso factories may be reproduced and multiplied In the district, for they will be independent of local consumption, and have an unfailing market in tho Homo country and elsewhere.' Tho W.iikato Land Association will be able, to lot hundreds of small farms, with or without tho necessary cattle, on such blocks as the Mangawhara, Komokorau, and Hokonui, for moderate rents, and on easy purchasing terms, for such dairying purposes, to their own and to the genoralboneht of the district and country. Xheso reclaimed swamp lauds are the best that could be used for dairy purposes, having a rank growth of grass throughout tho driest summers, when the naturally dry lands and hillsidoß are bare with drought. It is satisfactory to feel that, while largely beneSttiug themselves by the vast undertaking on which they have entered, tho Wailcato. Land Association will bo public benefactors also. The speculation is one which few, would have had tho boldness to have ontored, upon—much capital, even yet, will hive to be expended before tho work is completed--but there is monoy in the enterprise. Other capitalists have seem this lately, arid hence we have such corporations as the Auckland Agricultural Company and others following in tho footstops of the pioneer swamp reclamation company, whoso enterprise we have now to do with; And none will grudge them their success. But for the undertaking of Itke work by associated capital, amongst the members-of whoso company was to be found a combination of many business qualities, coupled with tho com : mand of money, the JPiako swamp might have remained for more than a generation to come a dreary waste of uuproductive country. What would have resulted only in. rained means and. disappointed hopes, if undertaken, a.- patch hero and a patch there, by individual settlers, Can; it. has been shown, bo economically and profitably for alt carried out on. a comprehensive scale by. the united efforts of faith, brains, and money. . .--