A NEW PROVINCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18354, 21 March 1923, Page 11

A NEW PROVINCE.

STATE-MADE FARMS.

MAORI DAIRY FARMERS.

PROSPECTS OF TOKAANU.

[BY OT7B. SPECIAL COMMISSIONER.] No. VII. When I realise what excellent results have already been won by the employment of less than twenty-five prisoners for twelve months on the improvement of virgin pumice land at Hautu, on thjf shores of Lake Taupo, it makes mo wonder what might have been done by returned soldiers, if the Reparation Department) had devoted half the capital expended in purchasing improved privatelyowned estates, on the improvement of the great areas of Crown lands between Rotorua and Taupo. The Prisons Department have only spent a comparatively small sum at Hautu and yet they have formed the nucleus of at least two new farms, besides building some miles of road and doing much preparatory work. What a change could have been made in tlhis great empty new province if say £10.000,000 of the vast sum spent on repatriation linked with the labour of some thousands of sturdy young New Zealanders, had been devoted to improvement of the 500,000 acres of settleable country now lying idle north of Lake Tanpo. Such work would have created at least 2000 new farms and enormously increased the wealth production of New Zealand; and what opportunities there are yet for this class of work if soma scheme could be devised under which young New Zealanders and British immigrants with money and without money could be crganised to break in vt,hiß country on a large scale Most of the work of breaking in raw land at Hautu has been confined to th* Hats in the Waiotaka Valley. The soil on these flats is avoragely good, and some of the best is far superior to ordinary pumice soils. In its natural state this valley land is covered with tall manuka. The common method of dealing with this covering is to fell the manuka, burn it, and surface sow it with grasses. If the ,)ToSi»es take and pasture can be made to flourish until the stumps rot out, this method is successful enough, but.it prohibits cultivation for some years, and very often allows all sorts of noxious weeds and growth to establish themselves before ploughing can be done. Clearing Scrub Land. Mr. D. Blain has instituted a new method of clearing scrub country at Hautu. The manuka is grubbed out as it stands. The main surface roots are cut with an axe ; one or two men use the stem as a lever ; a few more cuts, and over go shrubs twenty feet high or more. II watched the, prisoners doing this work, and was astonished at the progress they made. The larger and straighter stems were cut up and stacked for firewood, or fence droppers, and the heads burnt. This leaves the ground ready straight away for the plough, and saves a large amount of firewood that would otherwise bo de stroyed. It also permits lines of scrub to be left as breakwinds, an important advantage, for besides providing shelter for stock tand crops, it acts as a nursery for the permanent lines of timber trees. 1 have already explained that a portion of the 60,000-acre Hautu block, which is being turned into improved farms for intending settlers, consists of the beautiful Waiotaka Valley. Unfortunately, the hills on the north side of the valley are not included in the block, but still be long to the Maoris. If these were purchased it would be a simple matter to lay off a series of farms, each including a fair proportion of hill and flat, and nach possessing a river frontage. There can be no doubt about these hill lands m-Virt" food farming country, for a very large proportion is easily ploughable, and Hue soil is an easily-worked loam, which will grow good root cropj and clover with the assistance of phosphates,, and make good pasture. Transforming a Valley. I believe that given time and support the work of a mere handful of State prisoners will result in the whole of this beautiful Waiotaka Valley with its hill slopes being turned into farming country. It is the intention of the Prisons Department to offer the farms they are making for settlement quite soon after the main improvement work has been done And to move the camp and the prisoners further up the valley as the work proceeds. This will mean that there will soon be three or four farms available, each one fenced, laid down in grass or crop, sheltered with hills of timber, and in most cases provided with , suitable buildings, and they will be good farms, too, with fertile flats and sunny slopes. " But," some people may say, " will they not be isolated ; is not communication, difficult?" I do not think so; this country at the southern end of Lake Taupo, with its extensive flats and fertile swamp areas and its great extent of ploughable loam country, is bound to attract settlement quite soon, and I believe that before the prisoners have had time to make a dozen farms or less Lake Taupo will be connected by rail with the Main Trunk line and turned into a navigable sea with steamers or launches plying to every part of its shores. The Waiotaka will then be only a day's journey from Auckland or Wellington and freight on all goods will be reduced enormously. Maoris and Dairying. I paid a visit to the Tuwharetoa dairy factory at Waihi, near Tokaanu. This factory, which is owned and supplied by Maoris, had just started at the time of my last visit to South Taupo about two years ago. I was delighted to find that in spite of the serious drop in prices for dairy produce soon after this factory was opened the suppliers have loyally supported it. One of the arguments which has often been urged against Maoris becoming farmers is that they could not stick to regular work. Now this factory started two years ago with five suppliers, and 75 cows. To-day it has 20 suppliers and over 300 cows. Not one supplier has dropped out, and new suppliers are coming in next season. Mr. T. Dempsey, the manager of the factory, informs me that the quality of the cows is steadily improving and that the last shipment of butter exported was graded superfine at Auckland, and that there were only five factories ahead of it at the great Waikato Dairy Show. This is highly creditable, not only to the manager, but to the Maori suppliers, some of whom pack cream for very long distances. At one time the Maori dropped all kinds of work to attend a tangi. I believe that not one of the factory suppliers has missed a milking on this account. There was a tangi on during my visit and the cook for the tangi, a busy man, did his milking at 4 a.m., and after a hard day's work did the evening milking. When Maoris can work like that they will make dairying a success. There seems every prospect of this factory largely increasing its output; new suppliers are promised from Mokai, Waitahanui and at Otuku, on the Waimarino Road. Some European settlers in the district intend to send in cream and I understand that the Prison Department's farm at Hautu is to begin supplying next season. It may astonish many people to bo told that Tokaanu or Waihi may become a great dairying centre, but there is no reason why it should not, and many reasons why it should. There is a very great extent of flat land and swamp land on the southern shores of Lake Taupo, and large areas of good easy bush country, some of which is now being put into pasture. One of the needs of the district is a few high-class bulls and nothing would help or encourage these Maori dairy farmers more than a present of one or more good young stock from some of our well-known breeders.