NORTH AUCKLAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15825, 23 January 1915, Page 9

NORTH AUCKLAND.

A NEW PROVINCE.

larger THAN taranaki. FUTURE PROSPECTS. No. I. [by our special commissioner.] There is no part of New Zealand which has been more misrepresented and misunderstood in the past than North Auckan , there is no part so little appreciated even to-day, but it is at least being recognised as a district which has already produced an enormous amount of wealth m the shape of timber, gum, flax, coal, and cement, and it is beginning to he lecogmsed as a district which has alreadv developed large agricultural, pastoral and horticultural industries, and which offers greater possibilities for expansion in lese industries than any other portion <>t the Dominion. North Auckland is large enough to be counted a province in itself: its area is one-third greater than the whole of Taranaki. As a matter of fact, Taranaki, in spite of its great wealth production, contains only 2,412,600 acres, whilst the North of Auckland contains 3,743.360 acres. But it is not merely size which counts in agricultural expansion, it is soil, climate, and the contour of the country. In soils North Auckland has just about, the same proportion of fertile tnd medium areas as the best provinces in the Dominion. In climate it stands unequalled by any other part of New Zealand for farming purposes and excelled in no other part of the world. Great Areas 0 Ploughable Land. 111 contour or topographical features it stands unique- By far the greater proportion of its area is arable country and only one or two isolated points rise above an altitude of 3000 ft, while its innumerable harbours and waterways give advantages and beauties surpassing all other portions of New Zealand. It is estimated that in the North of Auckland there are over 2.000,000 acres of cultivatable country, and country which under intensive agriculture caji be made to yield a very high average per acre. In Canterbury, famous for its farm lands, there is very little more arable land, for even the most favourable estimates only put it down at. 2,405,360 acres, and a considerable proportion of this area is light and in some parts shingly soil. Canterbury has for so long been held up as the greatest farming district of the Dominion that few people realise how small an area it has of true farming country. Out of its total area of 9.604.045 acres 7,102.000 acres are classed by the Government Lands Department as mountainous countrv, and if it were not for the fact that about 5,000.000 acres of this country is covered with native grasses and can be grazed by sheep it would not count in farming at all.

These comparisons axe not made with any idea of belittling Canterbury, but rather the reverse, for statistics show how magnificently well the Canterbury people have done with the lands at their disposal, and statistics also show how far behind this province in farming is North Auckland, with all its natural advantages of climate, arable country, and waterways. Comparison with Canterbury. It has to be recognised that Canterbury soils in their virgin state were more naturally fertile and much more easy to work than those of North Auckland. The advantage, however, was and is much greater in the case of working than in fertility- Canterbury has 640,000 acres of first-class soil. If the volcanic country, the alluvial flats and swamps of North Auckland are classed according to their capacity for production then there is very little difference between the two districts in this respect.

The great difference lies in their natural conditions. When the first settlers saw tho Canterbury plains and downs they wero covered with rich pasture of native grasses. Without spending a single penny on clearing or seed sowing, these pastures could be heavily stocked. If ! crops were needed the early settlers merely had to put the plough into the grassy flats to produce them. Moreover, owing to the porous nature of tho soil, and to the general shingle formation of the subsoil, roads in the primitive condition of the country wero either unnecessary or singularly easy to make and maintain. One need not take into account the drawbacks of Maori wars and Maori land ownership, which hampered the North, or the handicap of political neglect and public ignorance. One has only to compare the physical differences between it and Canterbury to realise why agricultural progress has 'been so slow in the North Physical Disabilities. Through the length and breadth of the North Auckland Peninsula—from Auckland Harbour to the North Capethere was not, when the first white men came to New Zealand, sufficient open grass country to carry a small flock of sheep. Tho rich volcanic lands weie covered with dense bush, the hills were clad with mighty forests, the downs were matted with bracken and fern, the river flats were jungles of tropical luxuriance. Away from navigable waters, the early settlers had to follow winding Maori foot tracks, or to hew their way inch by inch through the dense vegetation which covered all the face of the country. The Canterbury pioneers took possession of land already made productive by nature. They occupied the land as a wellorganised and strong body of farmers under conditions suitable to their Old Country knowledge and experience, under laws fitted for the development of agriculture. Tho North Auckland pioneers, besides having difficulties in securing their holdings fiom unreliable Maoris or unsympathetic Government Departments, had to expend heavy It hour {>nd considerable capital in clearing bush or scrub, and in powmg imported seeds, before they could make* a ringle acre fit to carry stock or suitable for cultivation, and they had to fight the natural vegetation of the country for y°ars, in some instances, before they could make their pastures secure against the persistent native scrub and fern. The wars against the Maori tribes hampered settlement seriously in the North, but it is doubtful whether they hampered it as much as the fights against the native vegetation. The Present Position. v Whilst lands were cheap in Canterbury and Otago. and wool and wheat practic.iliv the only articles of exnort. no ■nan could be expected to prefer North Auckland for farming purposes. 'It is only since the Southern provinces have been fully settled and land values have gone up enormously all over New Zealand, and the application of i efrigeration has added meat and dairy Drodu<"« to our list of exports. that agriculturists have really turned their attention to the North ; and since attention has been given to it its capabilities and its possibilities have surprised and pleased everyone who has had experience there. Ten vears ago the few men who dared to state* that the North would become a great 'arming district were looked upon as dreamers. To-day. in every part of the North, on every class of soil, there is irrefutable evidence that all the leading branches of farming can be successfully carried on there. It already carries more dairy cows and produces more butter-fat than either Canterbury or Otago. Its fat cattle surpass those from any other district in New Zealand ; the best of its wool is equal to the best from any other district : :ts mutton and lamb is rapidly reaching a high" standard : its crops and grasses can scarcely be beaten, and its fruits are unrivalled. These are not mere assertions; they are actual facts borne out by the returns from dairy factories and fraezing works, and from actual cash returns from the leading markets of the ■world.