PUMICE LANDS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22901, 2 December 1937, Page 16

PUMICE LANDS

(MAGIC TRANSFORMATION ATI AMURI ROAD SCENE MILES OF- LUSH PASTURE SMILING I 'HOMES AND FACES 11. . During tjho coming holidays thousands; of motor .tourists will travel from Rotorua • <Jown tho Atiamuri Road.' Those who aro unfamiliar with the ■district will, be 'impressed mainly by the, extent o'f 'exotic forests. They will, see areas of 'scrub country which in common parla'hco will .not carry a rabbit to tho acre.; Byt unless they' are inor are more land observant than the majority of holidaymakers are,; they will not realise that the 20 miles of luxuriant pasture starting near the turn-off just' beyond Whaknrewarewa, is what Mr. A, F. Moncur, M.P,', has! well described as a modern miracle.

-•A Smiling District • ! The developed district embraces thei smiling pinc-dotted lands of Horohoro, beneath' a ; bush-clad precipice, where Maori families are proving their capacity to carry on dairying as well as the pakeha; jsgakuni, developed by the Department of Agriculture and 1 settled mainly by men who were sharemilkers for the Lands Department during the earlier stages of ths work; and the Guthrie Settlement, which came into being by the ol(3 pioneering system "'after a commission of inquiry had been convinced that the. seemingly worth- : less land could be rapidly turned,into first-class dairy farms. The observant traveller will see on the eastern side, not far from the turnoff, Maori ploughmen at work and hero and there down the belt small "patches of waste which have been left for one reason or another. But, unless he haa read of the miracle," he will find it difficult to. realise that.not a furrow had been turned, that not an acre within sight liad been' grassed prior to 1930. , , Two Hundred People The development schemes were initiated under the Land 1 Laws Amend* ment Act, 1929, Ngakuru, of 8300 acres; has been divided into 42 holdings and to-day has a. population of about 200 people. This .fact is a srtiking argument in support of tlio mothod of the State breaking iii such country in a comprehensive manner, establishing permanent pasture, fencing the farms into fairly small paddocks, erecting houses and sheds, planting shelter belts and allotting the-.farms to men who, ns share-nnlkerSj .have proved their efficiency, and to .others whose experience edsewhere has, satisfied the authorities. Every settler one met ,in tho course of a interesting day's travel over tho district was a .more than satisfied enthusiast. I

■ The national economic gain in bringing tha wilderness into a high state of production 'within a-few years is not the only thing: the opportunity given to men and womeii and children is just as important, especially in a period of unexampled unemployment. Happy Settlers "At last I have found daylight," declared one man whose case should be a stimulus to further State enterprise of the kind. "As a young man 1 worked as my father had done on a Smith Island eitate, as" a ploughman. I; <,.WneA my boys - ; were quite with the concurrence of my wife to try the N6rth in the hope of getting .out of the rut. For years we were share-milkers. Then came this chance. A few years ago I would not have dreamed it."possible that to-day I would 1 be established "on this, wonderful ' farm with a comparatively low overhead, not only with an assured living, .but _ very ! fair prospects for the boys. This is the ; way ,to . deal with unemployment. Under other circumstances my boys might have been a charge on the State. Here there is full-time work for all of us and oiir industry helps to produce *mjployment for others —from the , fertiliser works to the local transport firms." _ . -It..,sj:aa. inspiring, to hear the ; joyful note of this keen strong man with the old spirit of the individualist who made this country and to see the reason for jt-rlhsh'-. I>astur6; which,, • -the fine . Jjerfl coiuld not' ' the. closed hay paddocks almost' ready for .the mower, the paddock tilled for turnips, the trim homestehd around which young trees are ! growing and beside which the .ground is being prepared t for an orchard., - More Haw Land Adjoining ; sNo / Wonder one looked with- eagerness' toward the f rolling expanse' of scrub land, to th,e east where one was informed another. Ngakurn ■ could be made-on a rolling! area running to the TauPp Road north of Waiotapn. Vv./'Yeife; this is a winner :for' the State and for ourselves," said- the -farmer at partjng. "I hardly datp tell you. what thp farm is at present carrying in the way: of /Cattle, yet it will be -necessary for me to control, this grass with .the mower if I cannot get some sheep to help 'in that direction."- • i®' , On Guthrie the general overhead of the settlers is less—for- there a good deal of the development represents, their*,own' labour. Men of widely differing occupations . took up sections in the days' of difficulty ,and_ thev had to fand fscra'pe Vtb qualify for their State advances. But.they have all made a, sound.job a^e,still,.forking' dri remaining raw portions iii the :time they can spare. I ' ' / A Pedigree Herd It is worthy of remark that from a Guthrie farm, that of Messrs. Hutching Brothers, prize-wjnning Ayrshires have gone to the shows this summer. Who, viewing the country as it was seven years rigo, could: have believed that to-dav it would be carrying a herd of pedigree cattle? Through this new district there is no "bush-sickness," limonite licks being used to supply any iron deficiency, the cause of that trouble, which might exist. Mr. P. W. Smallfield, of the Department of Agriculture, who had much to do with the development of Ngakuru/has mentioned in a review of farming in the Auckland Province that this valley is suitable for fat-lamb raising. This was not a successful activity of the department until limonite licks were used. The department used both sheep and dry stock during the develop mental period and the expectation that sheep would do well has now been fulfilled. The initial development of such country can best be carried out with wethers and cattle, says Mr. Smallfield. These quickly turn the luxuriant clovergrowth into manure, raise the soil fer- ' tility and help in the establishment of good rye-grass and white clover pastures/ Even dairy cows will sometimes leave good pasture and fossick for a time among the roughage of fern if there is a patch of it in'the paddock. This helps to bring in :steep slopes which the plough has not touched. Clover produces nitrogen and humus is supplied by the droppings. Hooves help .to consolidate tho soil and superphosphate does; the rest (To be Continued.)