THE PUMICE LANDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17295, 20 October 1919, Page 9

THE PUMICE LANDS.

FIVE MILLION ACRES IDLE.

NEED FOE DEVELOPMENT. SETTLEMENT, AND POPULATION. No. I. i [BT our special commissioner] For a considerable number of years the New Zealand Herald has persisted in drawing public attention to the national importance of developing the vast areas of idle pumice country which exist in the central parts oi the North Island. It has shown again at id again that wherever private enterprise has been devoted to the. cultivation of ihis class of land, success has been won, it ordinary intelligent farming methods have been followed. The expansion of cultivation un the high plains at Waiouru, Kami, Waimarmu, and other places on the Main trunk line; the rapid spread of settlement along the route of the Taupo Totara Timber Company's railway, and the marked increase in stock-raising and dairying about Rotorua and in the Vv aiotapu district, definitely prove that settlers are able and willing to turn this class of land to productive use wherever and whenever they can secure it on reasonable terms, and gain access to it at a reasonable cist. There are, roughly, about five million acres of unoccupied and unused lands in the pumice country, and the settlement of this great, territory- would have most beneficial effects on the financial condition of New Zealand. It is worth while considering tha advantages that would accrue if this land were peopled and improved. In the first place, even if only two-thirds of it were turned into farm? and moderately cultivated, it would increase the national income by some mil lions of pounds yearly. Every year of cultivation would increase its productiveness, and its capacity for carrying population, so that in much less time than it has taken to bring such provinces as Canterbury or Taranaki to their present wealth-producing stage, we should have practically a irew province added to our list, which, under modern systems of farming, would yield to only the best in its output of meat, dairy produce, wool, timber, and other products.

Advantages of Utilising Idle Lands. The opening np of this central region of the North Island would provide for a very large increase in onr farming population, and would give scope for thousands of other primary producers. It conld, moreover, if properly opened up by roads and railways, improve enormously the means of communication between different parts of the North Island. This empty, roadless, railwayless, peopleless, central region is at present a barrier Between the east coast and the west, between northern and southern districts; between Auckland, Wellington, Taranaki. and Hawke's Bay. New Zealand's enormous war debt, and the annual charges for interest and pensions can only be paid by increased production from the land, and by the work of a largely-increased population; the settlement of these millions of acres of idle land offers opportunities for both. There are still other arguments in favour of turning our attention to these great pumice areas. The general increase in the value of farm products; the expenditure by the Government of millions of pounds for the acquisition of private estates, has sent np the selling price of land in the Dominion to a dangerously high level, and has made it practically impossible for a man with limited capital to acquire land, and has made it risky for anyone who dot? buy such land to work it profitably. The opening np of millions of acres of new lands, without detracting one iota from the productive value of the occupied land, would at least enable men with a moderate amount of capital to secure holdings at a low price, and would at the same time give them the chance to secure a share in the increase of values due to closer settlement. Sonrces of Water Power. The fact that the opening up of the central areas of the North Island and the building of roads and railways would make ! more accessible, and therefore more popu- , lar, the most important tourist and health ! resorts in the Dominion, is still another argument in favour of developing the pumice areas. All the great thermal centres of New Zealand are in the pumice country —Rotorua. Taupo, Wairakei, Waiotapu; the wonderful volcanic mountains of tie National Park can never be properly utilised nntil they can be visited at less cost in money, and time than at present, and then last, but not least, the pumice country is the chief source of hvdro-electric power in the North Island. The Waikato River, between Lake Taupo and Cambridge, falls a thousand feet, and is an unrivalled source of energy. There are scores of other rivers descending in rapids and falls from the high pumice plateau, all of which are capable of providing power, which will never be used unless the pumice areas are opened tip. How is the pumice country to be opened ? How can it be settled ? How can it be made productive? These, of course, are important questions, but they are not so difficult to answer as many people would suppose. The only way to open such country is to push roads and railways through it. It can be settled by offering industrious men holdings at a reasonable price under favourable terms and tenure, and. by either advancing capital for improvements to individual farmers, or by the State improving at its own expense each new holding sufficiently for the new occupier to make a living wage from the start. As to making this class of land productive, it has been proved in a hundred different places that cultivation, a moderate amount of manure, and a proper rotation of clovers, root crops, and pasture, not only enable dairying and stockfattening to be profitably carried out on such land, but enable the soil to be improved even while yielding fair returns on capital and labour. A Promising Starting - point. If I were asked whore and how the State could most readily begin to open up the pumice country to settlement in large areas, I should unhesitatingly declare in favour of the district between Rotorua and Taupo, and 1 should do this for the following reasons: —The Crown already owns the bulk of the land in this locality. having at the present time nearly a million acres which could be settled and improved most easily. A railway could be built from Rotorua to Tau]x>, which would not, i only make available a very great extent of j level or arable Crown lands for settlement, | but would help to open up the western ; side of the Urewera country, tap the great ' State forests between Rotorua and Waini tapu. make accessible the greatest source of water power on the Waikato, turn ; Lake Taupo into an inland navigation i centre, and give access to the chief tourist ! and health resorts and angling waters in i the Dominion. One has only to see what is taking place in the way of settlement. I along the route of the Taupo Totara Tin'j her Company's line to realise what would I take pla-ce if the railway were extended

' from Rotorua to Taupo. Tussock and fern would pi\f place to clovers and grasses, cattle and .-hpep would supplant the mobs of wild hoi'.-' :ind the whole countryside would be transformed from an empty wilderness into thickly-populated fanning ■ districts, which would produce an everI increasing amount of wealth, and carry j an ever-increasing population.