TE AKAU COUNTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11581, 20 February 1901, Page 6

TE AKAU COUNTRY.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—The Auckland peoplo are indebted to you for drawing attention to the above tract of country, situated at our very door, but practically locked up. The contrast between the country on one side' of the boundary line and that on the other is marked indeed: the one full of settlers, the other a mere run, mostly unimproved. We have at last come to see that tho country inhabited by settlers is of much greater value to the colony than that which is merely a run for cattle and sheep. In the one case there is the maximum of improvement, in tho other the minimum. The To Akau country shows this in a striking- way. The stretch of country alongside Te Akau is full of settlement. Worsp, Rutherford, Arnabokli, Lawson, Kelsey, Lawry, Barton, 0. Eyre, Hargrave, Murray, Jas. Murray, O. Eyre, May, Watson, Allen, Donny, Upton, Hewett, Stevenson, Macinillan, Seavills, Cogswell, G. Macmillan, Bull, S. Wilson, Picken, Wilson, 001. Dawson—these aro some whose names occur to me as I write. All are busily engaged in clearing off the bush, ploughing, fencing and building. On the other side of the line, on a stretch of country at least larger by one-third, is the Loan Company, vegetating on their lease, making no improvements, and resisting improvements devised by others to which in all fairnes.i they ought to contribute. I was lately :in Napier, and passed through the Te Auto country. I have 110 hesitation in saying that the land about Mangati in the Te Akau is as good as the land at Te Ante, and with reasonable management will carry as many sheep per acre. This may surprise those who have not seen Mangati, but will j be 110 surprise to those who have. Two or three months ago I was—with —standing on the boundary line of Mr. Allen's farm overlooking Te Akau, when a gentleman present, who would not thank me for using his name, stated that he had seen no better grass in Hawke's Bay, and certainly no one had seen more grass country tban ho. The difference between the Hawke's Bay land and Te Akau is in this : that while in Hawke's Bay the country is almost equally good for many miles, in Te Akau it is patchy. The native title is a- difficulty except to the initiated: but surely this if a case where the Government might well step in, and while conserving native rights secure the opening up of the country for settlement. We cast our eyes on the far-away lands of the King Country, while at our very door is a limestone country waiting for settlement.l am, etc. J. H. Upton. Auckland, February 20, 1901.