OPOTIKI.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 7006, 1 May 1884, Page 3

OPOTIKI.

Great fears are now entertained with regard to the ripening of the maize crop, in oehsequence of the late and prolonged rainy spring and the now rapidly approaching winter. A few-there are who were, fortunate enough to get their maize planted very early in the season, and it attained saiScient substance to withstand the subsequent rainfall. Others, again, are favoured by either natural or artificially well-drained surfaces, and in these cases the brope look promising; but, unfortunately, a number of our settlers waited for finer weather, and then planted, and the seed rotted, and was replanted over and over again, and now the day's are shortening and the nights becoming frosty, and the maize has not ripened. This is the more unfortunate, aa maize of the quality such as Opotiki has ' hitherto produced promises to command a high price in the Auckland market thla season, and we have something like 800 acres in this crop.' Now, this, at our usual yield of at leaat 60 bushels to the acre, represents 48.000 bushels as the total prodnofc * of the season, had it not been for the disastrous continuation of otonnjr -wnather "In the spring. Potatoes, of which.-w&-h«[e comparatively none planted, are turning ant unusually well, and are in rapidly increasing demand. Puriri timber is also becoming an important item of commerce in Opotiki, in the shape of posts and blocks. The settlement is more or less surrounded by heavy bushes, consisting chiefly of puriri, and now that the roads have been formed, and in some cases metalled, to within easy distance of these bushes; the work,of felling and.splitting haa become a source of profitable in'dustry. . ";."..—..__ The 3 ketches Venus and Opotiki, 'the steamer Stafia, and latterly the schooner Opotiki, have been kept busy conveying.the last of last year's maize into the market, aa the increased .price has induced holders) to part, and there is now very little, if any, left in the district. The County Council haa caught the contagion of go-aheadism, and have resolved to strike a county rate for the first time, and to borrow a sum under the Roads and B.ridges Construction Act, for the purpose of completing the road from here to Whakatarie, passing through the settlements of Waiotahi and Uhiwa,' with the ultimate view of continuing .on to Tauranga, aa it ia considered that the establishment of overland communication by coach or dray with Taurariga will materially advance the Interests of Opotiki, and eventually lead to the opening up of the road from here to Gisborne, which would render Opotiki a thriving, and prosperous agricultural end commercial centre.—l Own Correspondent. April2l.j .. ■'■'•:-.' .