WESTERN COASTLANDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20537, 11 April 1930, Page 8

WESTERN COASTLANDS.

RAGLAN and kawhia.

PROMISING DISTRICTS.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS.

CONTRAST WITH EARLY DAYS.

[BT OCR SPECIAL COMMISSIONER.] No. I.

Between "tho Waikato Heads and the Jlarakopa estuary on tho western side of tho Auckland Province lies a great area of coastal land which, though handicapped for many years by lack of roads and other difficulties, appears now to have reached an important stage of development, and to offer many attractions and many practical advantages for new settlers and new industries. Tho district alluded to embraces all Ihft western slopes of the Hakarimata ranges and tho easy rolling country about tho wide reaching harbours of Kawhia, Aotea and Raglan, as well as ar «nually extensive stretch of similar bordering tho ocean. It is a picturesque and pleasant region of wido slopes and long valleys, watered by innumerable streams and possessing a climate mild almost as North Auckland and capablo of growing pasture practically all tho year round, all manner of fruits and vegetables and farm crops, and at tho same time providing healthy and congenial conditions for human life.

In any other part of the world this fine stretch of country would long ago have attracted a denso rural population, but. New Zealand has not had the surplus ppople to crowd its land, nor has it ever ■told tho outsido peoples anything about its beauties or its material advantages. Besides this it has been suffering, as many other parts of New Zealand have Buffered, through the long delay in solving the problem of equitably dealing with tha Maori land problem and the making of roads through unsettled or sparsely settled lands where neither the State nor tho Maori landholders have provided organisation or adequate funds to carry on these essential public works.

Conditions have changed slowly, but they

have changed for tho better. Two ' metalled highways and two roads not so good now link these coastlands with the Main Trunk railway, somo of tho land settlement difficulties have been removed, and at the present time there is every promiso of steady progress and increased agricultural and pastoral activity.

Tho Western Pioneers. 'When I first saw these western coastal lands of the Auckland Province I looked down on them from tho summit of Mount Pirongia,'nearly 50 years ago, and even now I can recall tho impression of a remarkable land and seascape-. Long folds of virgin forest sloped down to widespreading harbours and to a smooth summer sea, and I thought then what a magniticent iield it offered for settlement, although in those days there was no dairying industry and no export of frozen meat from these parts. It was easy, however, to believe that if on the European shores of the Mediterranean great populations could exist for countless centuries on tho products of the land, men of our own race could establish themselves and live in comfort on the products of their own labour. I knew, 100, that tha Maoris had lived there since Turi, in the first of tho Polynesian canoes, landed at Aotea, and these first immigrants came with but a few implements of wood for cultivation and no food plants save shrivelled kumaras and taros.

Over half a century ago there were pakehas about the shores of the Whaingaroa, or Raglan, harbour, for adventurous men like the Cogswells, the Days, "Wilsons, Mitchells, Riscels, Suttons, Moons and others had carved out homes for themselves and were living, and living well, without the aid of cream cheques or Government advances. Changes have been made since days, but until recently these districts changed very slowly, for there were serious problems to face, and our race is slow to move, if sure. Two Great Difficulties.

• The two greatest difficulties which have hampered settlement in this part of the .Auckland Province have been lack of roads and Maori-owned lands. The two, though apparently separate, arc interlocked in many ways. The first, I think, has been largely overcome by the assistance of the State through tho Highways Board. There are now at least n't only two fine roads over the ranges to the west—one through Whatawhata to Raglan, the other through Pirongia to Kawhia —but motor services have been established, giving rapid daily communication between these two centres arid the outer world. I travelled by these means a few days ago to both places and I could not help comparing the ease and swiftness of modern methods'with my first journey when I travelled on horseback by forest tracks and had to ford, rivers and estuaries. I saw, too, what these modern conveniences mean to the settlers.

Not only can they reach Hamilton or .Auckland in a few hours, but they have their daily delivery of letters and newspapers. I saw the Heraj.,d and mailbags tossed off at scores of farm gates and local residents coming and going without any trouble or exertion on their own part. How different, how much better than when tho distance had to be covered in the saddle or even in the horse coach, ploughing its slow way up heavy inclines and through deep mud. The good roads once only dreamt of and longed for are a reality. They have broken tho old isolation and improved the social conditions of great districts and undoubtedly prepared the way for closer settlement and for future progress. Future Prospects.

If, fppins, also, as if the long-insoluble Maori land problem is within measureablo distance of being solved and by the sound and satisfactory method of helping the Maoris to become farmers, thus leading the way to their becoming producers and ratepayers. There is going 011 at tlio present timo a. great and important movement in this direction and I have very great faith in its ultimate success. This solution of the Maori problem was suggested many years ago in this journal and has been urged by it consistently, but, like the roading difficulty, it is of necessity a slow movement. It has taken years for the leaders of the Maoris to recognise a this means of overcoming the problem. It has taken just as long to educato the Maori people into the belief that it was possible and acceptable. Tho old idea of living on the rentals from lands leased fo pakeha, farmers, though still adhered to by those fortunate Maoris who own enough land, does not appeal to tho rising generation, who have only claims to small portions of separate areas. But it is from the leaders that direction has come, and in the near future we shall see developments which will materially affect not only the whole Maori race, but practically the whole of the Western coastal lands from Port Waikato to beyond Marakopa.