THE KING COUNTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20070, 6 October 1928, Page 10

THE KING COUNTRY.

RICH NATURAL RESOURCES. DEVELOPMENT INi SOUTH. TAUMARUNUI'S BRIGHT FUTURE. WIDE AREA FOR TRADING. [BY OUR SrECTAL-commissioner.] No. VII. A largo proportion of tins King Country north of Tc Kuiti is arable and possessing tliio right kind of soils is capable of intensive cultivation and therefore of high production. No one who has seen the development of the Waikato and of other highly prosperous parts of New Zealand ciin fail to recognise that it must, as time goes on, develop large and profitable agricultural industries. Since the markets for our products are now stabilised and prices are good it would be quite natural to expect a marked expansion of these industries. As a matter-of-fact the only reason for any restriction of this expansion will be a lack of confidence in .ourselves and in this splendid country, and the continuation of that timid locking np of capital against farm land andl farming enterprise. South of Te Kuiti the country on each sido of tho Main Trunk line rises gradually to Poro-o-Tarao and then falls into the watershed of the Wanganui River. It iis not such easy country a,s further northvrard, but still its folds are on a large scale find much of it is ploughable. Eastward of the line and away from the fine valleys (if Waimiha and Ongarue, spreading toward Lake Tanpo and the central pumice plateau, is a district practically untouched by settlers. Valuable Areas cif Forest. All this south-eastern part of the King <]!ountry is largely in the undeveloped stage, so far as farming :is concerned. It has been, and still is, so rich in valuable timber forests that milling has been its chief industry and even to-day one sees that nearly every station along the railway has its stacks of baulks "and boards. The scream of saws is heard as the slow train shunts at wayside centres and one tan find mills miles back from the' Main Trunk. In spite of its dominating timber industry settlement and farming are spreading eastward toward Taupo. A considerable Jimount of the cut out bush country has been sown in pasture and appears to be carrying grass quite well. Up the various beautiful valleys which wiind between masnive, but fairly easy hills, the alluvial flats are being turned into dairy farms and fattening grounds for the sheep bred on l:he higher lands. The settlers in this part of the King Country have not been saying much about themselves, nor has much, been said about ithem, but during the past few years, while farming has been at so low an ebb and while experts have been declaring that it is impossible to break in new land at a profit, these men have been, and still are, breaking-in new lands. Whero one can see their stock it is mostly of a good class and there are actually more root crops to bo seen than on the easier country to the north. Southern Business Centre. West of the Main Trunk; from Aria down to Tatu, is'a great block of limestone and papa country, which has been settled for a considerable time, so far as time goes in the King Country, but it seems but yesterday when. I rodo from Ongarue through Matiere and Ohura when the first bush was being felled for the sowing of pasture and there was no road beyond Tatu but a bridle track which led through the dark Tangaraku Gorge to Whangamomona. There has been a considerable amount of settlement since those days and the Auckland-Taranaki railway has been pushed slowly but surely through a very fine district. It is picturesque country rich in coal and it is in. these parts that certain authorities predict that supplies of petroleum oil may be found. The business centre of this southern part of the King Country is Taumarunui, a prosperous and well equipped town built on the banks of the Wanganui, where its greatest tributary, the Ongarue, joins this magnificent river. Taumarunui has a great trading radius. The Main Trunk line gives it command over all tho country southward to the old Aukati line and northward till it meets the competition of Te Kuiti. Tho Wanganui river carries steamer traffic to aud fro for it over a considerable distance, and roads radiate from it in all directions. Spread of Dairying. The town does the business, or at least the greater part of the business, of four I counties, Taumarunui, Ohura, Whangamomona and Kaitieki. All these districts are still more or less in the pioneer stage, but dairying is spreading over the once famous timber lands of Mananui, Kakahi and Owhango and up and down the valleys of the Wanganui, the Ongarue and the Taringamotu. Timber, dairy products, wool and live stock form the wealth of this portion of New Zealand, and though the former will most assuredly decline in volume as years go by it will employ a large amount of labour and provide quite a large amount of trade for Taumarunui merchants for a long while yet. And long before the last timber mill within its area ceases to run the farmers will be producing for it more wealth than ever its great forests yielded and will go on producing it in steadily increasing volume. Aftur travelling through the length of the King Country I see every reason to believe that it has a great future before it. The problem of deteriorated lands is being solved; all its farming industries show steady progress, and one of its greatest handicaps, ihe Maori owned lands, can be qnicklv lifted by wise legislation. The King Country undoubtedly possesses great natural resources and is blessed with climate and soils which would be envied by most countries. All that it requires now to make rapid progress is new settlement, new. capital, and a new agreement between the State and tho Maori landowners, an agreement which can be made of great benefit to both.