DISTRESS IN THE NORTH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19417, 27 August 1926, Page 8

DISTRESS IN THE NORTH.

Sir, —The distress existing on our Northern gumfields is much to bo deplored. I and others have had letters from a teacher o£ a native school at Kohukohu, asking for old flannels or clothing. for children going to school. These were mainly children whose parents had been carried off in the dreadful epidemic of 1918. It is quite apparent that many who depended largely, if not entirely, for a livelihood upon gum-digging have been sorely hit by the depression of the market. This, added to the increasing difficulty cf finding gum in the steadily depleted gumbearing grounds, makes the poor gumdigger's lot a very hard one. This hits the rather improvident Maori population heavily also. I have dug gum for years, and it naturally helped mo toward establishing a footing on my 60acre section of land. The Minister of Lands states the land is so poor up near the extreme North that it will not grow anything. There are thousands of acres, stretching from Kaipara Heads to Kaitaja, which if properly treated would not only grow something to provide sustenance for man and beast, but would gradually increase in value. Plant a lot of this country with piues and gums to provide shelter and firewood and fencing material. Harrow and level tho old gum workings, and treat them with dressings of lime and super, or any proved suitable manures. Has tho Government not proved that these lands can be mads profitable, by taking land up at Puwera, near Whangarei, akin to much of the ordinary gumfields up North ? Why do not some men of brains and enterprise and- capital take up some of these idle lands and settle them with thrifty industrious settlers ? These lands could just now be had very cheap. Roads could be made by the Government to help and employ men for those taking sections. The problem needs to be faced. A.J.G. Arapohuc.