PROGRESS IN THE NORTH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19986, 30 June 1928, Page 10

PROGRESS IN THE NORTH.

Confidence in the prospects of the district lying between Rotorua and Taupo, for the development of which the Government has decided to extend the railway, rests not only upon knowledge of the country to be traversed, but also upon experience of the results that have been obtained in other portions of the province where the progress of settlement has been similarly impeded by scepticism and persistent depreciation. Reference has already been made to the manner in which the North Auckland peninsula, for so long handicapped by contemptuous propaganda, is now gaining recognition as a region possessing remarkable natural advantages, and requiring only adequate developmental facilities and intelligent treatment of its soils to make its due contribution to the national production of wealth. Its possibilities are evident from the progress that has been made during the last few years. Twenty years ago, the nine counties north of the Waitemata County contained a population of only 30,000 ; there were only short, isolated sections of railways, and the deficiencies of the roading are notorious. The, census of 1921 showed an increase in population of only 10,000 in 15 years. According to the official estimates, the growth in the next six years was 20,000 to a total of nearly 60,000. This expansion is a reflection of the progress in settlement, and of the improvement in the use of the land. The agricultural and pastoral statistics for 1926-27 show a total of 1,173,000 acres undet cultivation, an increase of 64,000 acres in five years, and that a period not remarkable for activity in land settlement. The North is notably a district of small holdings; the total area of occupied land, 2,168,000 acres, comprised 6800 holdings, md average of 320 acres, as against the Dominion average of 509 acres. They carried, in the aggregate, 314,000 cattle, including 120,000 dairy cows, 668,000 sheep and 64,000 pigs. The depression in the export beef trade has been severely felt in the Northern districts, but compensation has been found in the development of dairying, the number of milking cows having increased by 24,000 in five years, and in the expansion of flocks for wool and lamb production, these having increased by 115.000 in the same short period. Similarly, pigs have increased from 32.000 to 64,000. This impressive progress is. however, only the initial sta<?e of thp development induced by the improvement during the period in transport facilities, in the acciuisi tion and dissemination of knowledge regarding the special problems of soil treatment and in the srrndnni correction of the ignorance and the prejudices that have in the past handicapped the progress of the North.