UNDEVELOPED-COUNTRY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16483, 8 March 1917, Page 9

UNDEVELOPED-COUNTRY

_ ■■~•,' » I. ....... AN OUTBACK FLAXM.U. MAORI SHEEP FARMS. ;■ No. TO ..... - ;-,< [Br OUB BFECIAL COMMISSIONER.] ■ . I enjoyed my short stay nt the (Kara flax mill, because it gave me some insight into the manner of life led by those men who are establishing '[ new industries in new places.' Ota;a, with its big stripping shed arid ; its 'numerous substantial huts and cottages, has the appearance of -a straggly village suddenly planted on rolling fern land. , Just below it begin the great swampß, which go down to Roto Aiva. Across ''.the creek, ,-■ making ■ an ..unbroken wall of vegetation, is a fine mixed forest. Southwards of )it open: tussock ; land_; rolls to J the feet |of ; Tongariro • and - Ruapehu. Westward of iE stretch'; plains 'made parklike by grassy glades and clumps of forest to /the Main Trunk line." The weathor was I too bad for the flax-cutters to ,go into. the £ swamp, consequently the .. mill was ;.' not running. '' I ; chatted 'with I some of the men sitting to leeward of one of the ' huts sheltered from tho fierce wind and'.'-. the . rain squalls, J arid > heard J their views •on politics and ' war..;'•. In; spite of their isolated'lives they are well informed on .'current' matters, and not averse to expressing their opinions' in candid ' speech. I suppose few people work : harder 'than the flax millers, and few men work:under rougher conditions. The cutters out in the swamps and creek beds must be skilful and hardy men to handle the tons of green leaf which -must pass through their liand3; the haulers to convey the leaf to the mill have to negotiate the roughest of rough,roads, arid. when the mill is in full awing <t' overy ■• hand, must ; : keep going at speed or the organisation : fails! Elax is ip, the best fibre, is /nearly... double the [trice it was some years ago, otherwise men .would riot have the inducement to :onvey heavy machinery '; to such out-of-/he-way places at (Kara, which is probably duo of the most back-block mills in New Zealand. *'. ■. " sV '• •'•; - : ; Extensive Idle Territory. ', I rode with Mr. Asher westward along the Tokaariu-Waimarinb track, and saw spreading out in all directions a vast expanse of open grassy plains, and rolling iowns country. Including tho wide valley of the Waikato there is a stretch of :omparatively. level land, here, fully 50 iiiles in width by' I do not know how nany in length, for it is more or less open, md easy country, as far as the Aucklandttotorua railway to the northward, and :urther even than that. At a low estimate there is a block of country extending rom the foot of the big mountains where [• was riding to the settled land 1 .'about \ Tautari and Wharepuhunga, and between j -he Main Trunk, lino and Lake Taupo, j -vhich measures more than " a thousand' iqunro miles, the bulk of if good amble j and, and yet it is practically unpopulated J md unproductive. ''Men are pushing back nto it from the' Main Trunk lino, but hey are handicapped by lack of roads, ind by Maori lease conditions. ; The State 3 doing ;■■ practically v nothing to open up his vast territory, arid yet (people prate , bout there being no land left for settle- . nent in New .Zealand; and vtlio'bulk of S T e^.'Zealariders neither know":nor. care hat -so much, land, lies : unused at the iresent time. • ' .t i '• ,' High Grassy Plate,.".; The country through which we rode re- ; minded \. me very much : . of i the upper 4 por-

tions of the Canterbury Plains, but the ~ soil was averagely much better than one finds in that big stretch of "country be. tween the Upper Waim'akiriri and the Waitaki. Instead of boulders and eoarsa '. sands, : there .was:- a •*" deep, <;;•' dark, ; easily worked loam, and this;Taiipoi country is also ; infinitely -better- watered .;■• by/springs and small _ streams. It is possibly , nearly twice as high above sea level as the upper part ■. of the Canterbury .Plain- but has a I muchy; better it climate, sufferingv neither | from . the i- devastating hot \ nor'.-westers ' which '' Canterbury ■ endures, nor the occa- ; | sionaJ heavy snowfalls. . There is room for J thousands of farms in this district I am j describing; and I the farmer ,> for the : most j part could drive his; plough into the soil i without any ;.preliminary.^ preparation of clearing or burning. If large areas of i this country were cultivated and turned j into farms it ; would become . one of the I most . picturesque districts in New > Zea- ■ land, and from what ,I ? could judge of j the,.soil' would require very little trouble Ito make it very .productive district. I Its.. elevation . above • sea level gives' it a wonderfully exhilarating. atmosphere,land j I should certainly rank it among the.-most bracing arid healthy;, districts to be found in temperate latitudes. '' ' ' ;-_.;'. • The Otukou Fa. - We. visited tho Otukou -pa, a f neat little i Maori settlement on the plains near, the foot of '.Tongariro, and afterwards M'ent on to a Maori -sheep.farm, which: belongs, i I believe, to the chief. Wakawairehu, who entertained "•; us -• hospitably. j ; -'c:; About: : the woobhed were■ magnificent flats of open tussock'land,,'the;soil being a t strong dark loam. _ A motor ploueh in-many parts of this , district ■ could draw a furrow a mile or: more long ■> without '■ striking, a'■ mound or ■a ' stono. ' ~ I f was told that : somo year's ago nearly 300.000 sheen were grazing on the natural pastures on the country around the central mountains, .arid there are ii, fair number about still. Over* 150' bales of wool were sent away from this district hist season, although the high prices ruling for , store stock :, have induced the Maoris to deplete -their flocks considerably. . Baron von Hochstetter, one of tho earliest travellers to penetrato this region, says of it: "Instead of barren wastes existing around Tonijariro,' as some suppose, one gazes upon wide ( plains ; - and mountains carpeted with, flowers of almost ] every Hue—there is a good pasturage all j round ; 'i and -a l long , way rip \ the mountain sides. .;.- . Here. are hill and valley and lake 'and snow-capped; mountains -.and smoking volcano, and also = rivers ; and 'forests, along whose border -, the scarlet nr'stletoe hangs in Great clusters with a wild '.;■■ profusion* and -> gorgeous beauty." Yet even to-<lay so little are we New tea,lander« interested -in the development of our country that our ', chief land officials still speak of this. district as ,if it were suitable only for,scenic reservos and tourist holiday grounds. West of Lake Taupo. :'■>. lnstead . of , returning to: Tokaanu by To Kooti's track ■~ or by> the main road,' via the i southern shores of Roto Aira, '; Mr. Asher led f the way northward across fine open ;; country, ;by■; a noble > forest, toward # the; western - shores of : Taupo. After./ riding, for.: some ;, miles " over ; the ; tussocks we entered, the forest, and I had : ; an opportunity of .seeing , something, of - its timber, resources. Great totaras grew in clumps and were very numerous, whilst other varieties jof valuable ;; timber * trees grew. to an impressive height. This forest willjsunpiy'the.-myis for many, a day, and when 1 ' the timber is cut out; the land' will ; make first-class asturo. ,; It ;; is all easy country, and it was :by: almost,inperceptiblo climbing that we reached fj the hich land - overlooking ■ Lake ; Tauno, • and then we dropped by somewhat steep, tracks -to a :belt of comparatively level ' country, and followed .it until we ;■ came; to ;' the native settlement of Waihi, at the foot of Kakaramea. ■:; Here, ;; close to thel road, §is a beautiful waterfall ;; or cataract which plunges through a frame of forest from a height of JLSSft. The native > village,' J the 3 picturesque waterfall, the slopes of Kakaramea, steaming ? through a thousand fissures,; and the great lake made .a charminc picture, ;and gave'one; the impression that Tokaanui has, strong claims as a' tourist place, for this is only 0119 of the • many * interesting ;■ spots 1 '; in its vicinity. • •■■■;, •,-,■•■:•- , ■■ ■ , •.' ; "''■'"■'''^vi ll i ll .'. 111 l. 1 ' , . 1 ,v, 1 ..'.■.:.-.A;>