NORTH ISLAND LANDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13700, 17 March 1908, Page 5

NORTH ISLAND LANDS.

O SOUTHERN MEMBER'S VIEWS. [BY' TELEGRAPH. — CORRESPONDENT.] Donedin, Monday, Mr. J. F. Akn'oi-d, M.P., who has just returned from a visit bo the North Island, on being interviewed, stated in regard to the country along the Main Trunk line, that the assertion that there are thousands of acres that are absolutely useless is quite correct. It is, he says, now cover- j ed with bush, and when cleared it will only be suitable for sheep grazing. When one remembered that at the present time this land in its crude state was being sold at from £20 to £30 per acre, one wondered what would be the condition of some of these settlers in a few years' time should there be a slump in mutton and wool. * "'The great, question the North Island has to deal with," said Mr. Arnold, "is that of land values. At present, if the bush is burnt oh" a very good crop of grass can be produced, but it is questionable whether this will las! more than three or four years, and it is difficult to hay how the same standard is to be maintained. So, white ii is true that a very large number of settler** are going to the North Island, and if would appear as if there was a great future before it in contradistinction to he South Island, 1 think that in a few years it will he found that the North Island is not the haven of rest for the settler' that is anticipated, and that the South Island will once more j regain the position that, if has occupied I in the past." j