SETTLING THE KING COUNTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13638, 4 January 1908, Page 6

SETTLING THE KING COUNTRY.

OTOROHANGA'S FUTURE. THE KAWA SWAMP. HALF-A-MILLION ACRES OF ROLLING DOWNS. WESTWARD OF THE MAIN TRUNK. NO. HI BY OUR SPECIAL COMMISSIONER. . A SCOKK of years ago, when I rode into Otorohanga from Pirongia, there was a Native Land Court sitting, which was to adjust all land difficulties, and bring an era of peace and prosperity to that politically disturbed district. There was a Native Land Court sitting when I visited Otorohanga a few days ago, and for aught I know courts may have been sitting ever since rny last visit, but land difficulties still exist, and will exist for another 20 yeans, if there is no better method mstituted. The common thing is for one Native Court tc upset the finding of its predecessor, or to institute a totally new set of claims. It requires a Draconian tribunal to reduce the present chaos to order, and though it might inflict an individual injustice here and there, the immense benefit to the community, Maori and pakeha alike, would quite outweigh any chance of a tururaka getting more than his share, or a rangatira loeing a fragment of his ancestors' claims. MAORI LAND CLAIMS. The absence of any authenticated register, a printed document, setting forth prepakeha Maori land claims, the inextricable confusion due to conquest and reconquest, between tribe i-nd tribe, the numerous exchanges aud gifts, between. Maoris —have produced a mixed tangle that no court on earth could unravel, and though I have an especial admiration for the patience aud discretion of our Native Laud Court judges, and 'or their fine discrimination, J recognise that, the work put upon them is really impossible for human beings to. perform. The old Maori saying that only land and women were worth fighting for shows something of the native thought. While land could be won by fighting and held by fighting, the man in possession needed no better title deed than his tomahawk; but when it comes to proving his claims in a Native Land Courtwell, the tomahawk does not count, and nothing else seems capable of taking ite place except a power that wili take unto itself the absolute settlement of his land affairs. EMBRYO AGRICULTURAL CENTRE. Otorohanga is admirably situated lor becoming the business contra of a very large area of agricultural land. No less than six broad valleys radiate from it, or near it, and rising from these valleys is downs country —easy rolling downs, that'stretch to the foot of Pirohgia on the west aud to the Rangitoto Ranges on the east. Southward are valleys and downs. Northwards downs ant swamps right to the Puniu. Judging by the view that one obtains of these swamps when passing through them by the Main Trunk line, or by overlooking them from the neighbournig downs, one is favourably impressed with their promise of making in the first place valuable flax areas, and eventually becoming rich pastures. At this time of the yeajr the llax is in flower, and one can see the pahs brown koradi stems spreading thick for miles. No doubt the swamps will have to be drained in order to produce m-tckotable flax, but draining is only a small matter compared with the returns obtained. In some places there should be from £10 to £20 worth of green flax per acre, and the general average would run high.

A MAORI LAND DEAL.

Bordering the railway, to the north of Otorohanga, is the Kawa Swamp, of about 8000 acres, more or less. Mr. Walsh has leased from the Maoris a block of 5000 acres, and other owners hold 3000 acres. A drainage board i* being formed, and active operations would have been commenced some time ago, but for a curious difficulty. The. Maoris were willing enough to lease the swamp, but when it came to draining, it was found that (hey held the outlet as an eel fishing ground, and refused the lessees permission to cany a ditch through their ground unless compensation was paid. The area of ground at the swamp outlet is about 15 acres, and the Maoris demanded, it is said, £5000 for this small section. lam told that a compromise is being arrived at, which puts the value at about £1000. This seems a lot of' money lor 15 acres of unimproved land, and it might appear as if fir- Maori owners had got a squeeze on the pakeha, but in fairness to the Maori it should be said that the outlet of the Kawa Swamp has for many generations been a source of revenue, became of the enormous quantities of eels caught there.

A MAORI EEL FARM

The old owner:* of thus outlet had lines of fi*li weirs erected, so as to catch the eels as they migrated from the swamp at the beginning of summer. This migration usually took place during the Christmas rains, and was due, no doubt, to the habit of these- creatures going annually to the sea. Mi-. J. Oniisby, of Otorohanga, who possesses a wide knowledge of Maori lore, informed me that the Kawa eels were traded among the coastal natives for sen fish. and among the inland tribes for preserved pigeons, or other food material. The Maoris had several methods of preserving these eels; the simplest one was to keep them alive. This was done by placing them, when caught, in large woven baskets sunk in the water. Thus they were available at any time. There were two methods of drying eels, the tuna kope- and the tuna, kawii. When the eels were coming down from the swamp in shoals, it was impossible to deal with them day by day. so relays of men were told off to .deal with the weir baskets. These were regularly emptied night and day, and the live contents placed in dry pits. Under the tuna kope method, the eels, when dead, were spitted on stiff fern stems, and in this form were leaned in great rows against manuka bars; a long fire was made between the rows, and the embers were gradually raked close to the fish, which were slowly grilled, and turned in the grilling by the flax stem. The fish were exposed to the tire until the fat came to the surface o" their bodies, and then they were cooled off, and stored away in some dry places. In the Tuna. Kawii method the eels were lashed together by the head between two sticks- a long lire'was made, and then covered with green scrub, and the bundles of eels were placed on the scrub and submitted for a time to smoke and steam and heat. When the green scrub caught fire the eels were singed, and then token away to be. hung in rows under the thatch of open-sided sheds. These bundles of dried eels really presented money, and formed a well-recognised currency, "which could buy almost anything. The possessors 01 such an eel fishery as "that at the Kawa outlet were looked "upon as rich, for they had a regular and large income. It amounted to thousands of pounds (of eels) yearly, so no wonder a big value is put on. that 15 acres which forms their pa.tuna ground. Of course, in these degenerate days, the eel currency has depreciated considerably, and the King Country natives are quite' familiar with the British £ s d still, even now, dried eels are marketable, and a fat pair, threaded on fern stems and cooked in their wrapper of tender ranrekau leaves, is a delicacy to win the heart of a rival Chief. The Kawa swamp will be drained, and will in quite a short time yield a big crop of flax, worth, of course, many thousands of pounds more than the eel fisheries ever yielded. And when flax-growing ceases the land no doubt will be turned" into dairy farms. ARABLE COUNTRY. The swamp lands, important as they are, count, as nothing beside the great stretch of rolling downs country. ' Those who know

Kihikihi and ,Te Awainutu to-day can form a very good idea of what the country about Otorohanga ran be made when once the European settler gets to work. I estimate the area of ploughable country surrounding Otorohanga at fully 300,000 acres, and. as I remarked in' a previous article, much of it is as fine a root cropping soil as any in New Zee land, and should make ideal sheepfattening farms. At the present time nearly the whole of this area is unoccupied, hut 1 was informed that the Government have secured nearly 200.000 acres to the eastward of.the Main Trunk line, at a cost of (from 15s to 20s per acre, and if the Lands Department would offer it to-day under the freehold tenure, at twice this amount, every acre would be quickly settled. I have had an opportunity of inspecting some of this land, for I have ridden through it, from Te Kuiti to Kihikihi, and a few 'lays ago I rode inland from Hangatiki towards To Kuiti, and then turned northwards to Otorohanga, and northwards again via Kio Kio. On my first journey there was not a sign of settlement or cultivation to be seen. To-day there are a good many excellent new farms eastward of the line, and anyone who is doubtful as to the capabilities of the soil should visit these farms and have a talk with their owners. There is quite a. good summer road running parallel with the railway line, eastward of Hangatiki and Otorohanga, and the farms i mention adjoin this road. Sir Robert Stout, and Mr. Lowrie, director of the Lincoln Agricultural College, have recently been declaiming against the high price of land in New Zealand. No doubt they refer to the highly-improved farms in the vicinity of towns, or to those in highly-impioved and closely-settled districts, but incidentally they give the public an impression that all land in the Dominion is too highly priced for farming purposes, and in doing this they are perpetrating a wrong and doing an unnecessary injury to New Zealand. Land can be obtained about Otorohanga by purchase in some instances, but principally on lease, at a. capital value of from 15s tc 40s per acre, and it is expected that the Government will soon be aide to open land there for selection at about, 25s or 30s per acre. If Mr. Lowrie or any of the young New Zealanders he is teaching-agriculture, could not, with a moderate amount of capita!, quickly transform this cheap land into farms as productive as those they quote as being sold at £50 and £35 per acre, then I know nothing about land or its possibilities. CHEAP FARMING LAND. Whilst good virgin arable land bordering a railway can be bought for anything between £1 and £2 per acre, or leased on long terms at as many shillings, there need be no complaint regarding the high price of laud in this country. The tact of the matter is that many people- still think that the only hind worth having lies south of Cook Strait, and know nothing about the King Country or other unsettled Northern districts; whilst, of course, there are men who want to acquire land with all the advantages of good roads and nearness to town at a price little higher than was given for it when it was virgin bush and far removed from civilisation. WESTWARD OF THE RAILWAY. I rode to the westward of the Main Trunk by the Waitomo Road to Hangatiki through Maori land for the most part", but nearly all rolling downs country, with a free, warm soil. Wherever grasses and clovers have had a chance they grow luxuriantly, and this land stifttches away north-west to the foot of Pirongki and south-west to the Hauturu Ranges" Open fern country for the greater part, but such fern. Kipling speaks of ''Fern unto the saddle tow, - ' but there is fern there above the rider's shoulders, aye, and above his head in places. This district to the west of the line is intersected by some of the loveliest valleys in New Zealand ; broad and shallow, vet warm and sheltered; watered by noble streams, tributaries of the Waipa. I count it. a, shame that one is able to ride for hours —even for days—through such promising country without seeing a farm or a sign of settlement. To the land lover it is ""ide.il country, with its streams and its Hats and its broad, easy slopes. It should be covered with- hundreds of beautiful farms and •comfortable- homesteads, and it will bo one of these days. How long ahead Ido not know, but its day will come.