THE KARAMEA SETTLEMENT.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 423, 20 March 1880, Page 22

THE KARAMEA SETTLEMENT.

A visitor to the Karamea settlement, who with a companion went overland from Motueka, has furnished the Nelson Mail with an account of the trip, and of the settlement. He says they left Mitueka on the afternoon of Monday," the 16th instant, and walked by way of the Table Land, the road to the summit being in very fair order, and from thence to the Leslie the track is blocked with fallen timber and undergrowth. From the confluence of the Leslie with the Karamea the travelling is of the roughest description, and in many places is nothing but clambering and clirnbiug, hands and arms being brought into requisition quite as much as feet and legs. A great deal more thau the £IOOO voted will be required to complete this track. On Friday afternoon, after a rough journey of five days, ' the settlement was reached, and it formed a pretty as well as a welcome sight, clearings having been made in several places, and many picturesque dwellings surroundedby bits of garden being visible in the bush. The majority of the huts are built of fern trees, and thatched, but there are also three or four wooden buildings which were erected by the Government. The population consists of 79 adults and 81 children, amongst the former of whom the work of the survey now being carried on in this district has been, and is being, equally divided, and that with a small expenditure by the County Council, has been the only means of earning money that the settlers have had sicce the Government works were stopped. The blocks of land taken up by them vary in size from ten to 100 acres, and all appear to be thoroughly well pleased with the quality of the soil. The majority are located on what is known as the " Promised Laud," but there are also several families ou the opposite side of the river, where the land is equally good. The crops grown in the district, consisting principally of potatoes and swedes, are described as being really splendid. There are also grown magnificent vegetables, The settlers all seemed moderately contented and happy, but what is felt by all to be the chief drawback is the infrequency of communication with the outer world. At present a steamer calls there once a month, going in, perhaps, on one tid<-s and out on the next, and this being the only available means of visiting the settlement with any degree of comfort, it follows that the district must remain a terra incognita to outsiders, for none would care to visit it with the knowledge that a whole month must elapse before an opportunity offered of getting away again. This seclusion, too, must weigh with many who know the country, and are aware of the excellence of the soil, and who would be prepared to settle there if the means of communication were more frequent. The inducements to a hard working man, with a little money on which he could live for a time, to set le there are, as the informant of the Mail considers, very great, owing to the character of the soil, which in many places is eight and ten feet deep, and, as has already been proved, is fertile to a degree. It is, however, heavily timbered, and the clearing would involve a large amount of labor, but, once brought under the plough, it would be second to none in New Zealand, either for grain, or root crops.