MIDHURST.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1061, 30 June 1892, Page 18

MIDHURST.

A correspondent sends the following : Can you find space in your widely circulated paper—the only Wellington paper to bo seen in these parts—for a letter from Midhirst? “ Midhirst.”.-you say. “Where and what is Midhirst?” Well, Midhirst is a township on the New Plymouth-Wanganui line, about three miles from Stratford, and about 27 from New Plymouth. Though it has not yet boomed so largely as Stratford, yet it has its own special natural advantages. As a starting point for tourists to Mount Egmont—that unique mountain of the world —the situation of Midhirst iB exceedingly convenient. It is nearer Mount Egmont than any other station on the line. The Denbigh road, which Is good for several miles, runs from Midhirst to the Mountain Reserve. From the boundary of the Reserve a good track up an easy spur to the summit can, and no doubt soon will be, cut. There is talk even now of d ing it by a local subscription. When that is done, the journey to and fro will be easily accomplished In a single day. Moreover, Midhirst stands at an elevation of over IGQO feet above the level of the sea, and thus tourists starting from Midhirst will have 1000 feet less to ascend than those starting from New Plymouth. The township, it is true, is not large, but it is steadily growing, and is already the centre from which a large number of settlers draw their supplies. Away to the eastward Btretches a vast tract of land, unsurpassed in the Colony for graz'ng purposes. At present this tract consists of bush farms and virgin bash, but such is the progress of settlement that in a few years it will rival, if n it excel, the choicest parts of the Canter-

bury Plains. Settlers are flocking in from all quarters, specially from * anterbury, and in consequence the demand for land greatly exceeds the supply. The other day I was talking %vith an old Canterbury settler who, after dropping, through a succession of bad seasons, a modest competency oa tho Canterbury Plai s. came here and invested the little he had left. He assured me the only regret he had was that.he had not invested here in the first instance. Another newcomer. who bought about six months a section of 100 J acres, told me recently that ho had been offered double money for his interest. So luxuriant is the grass that in many places stock cannot keep it down. There are no rabbits, no stoatß and weasels, no noxious vermin of any kind, bat instead shooting and fishing in abundance. The Taranaki district, as you know, has long been called the garden of New Zealand ; indeed, it has been said that at one time the local currency consisted of pumpkins and squashes. But be that as it may, it is only now that the original settlers, in this neighbourhood at all events, are beginning to reap the fruits of their tong and arduous toil. True heroes theae fellows must have been. They entered the forest many years ago with their only capital, stout hearts, and with axes over their shoulders. For many long and weary years everything they consumed and everything they had to sell had to be humped either on their own shoulders or on paok horses. When butter, their chief product, was selling at 3d or 4d a pound they were were often without a market at that. Still they struggled on and never lost heart. Truly, Sir Harry Atkinson was right when, aektd on one occasion in the House with a sneer, “ and what, pray, does Taranaki produce?” ho replied, “Taranaki, sir,

produces men.” Thanks to the establish* ment of butter and cheese factories, circumstances have changed much for the better since then, though they are still nothing oompared with what they will be. With capital and enterprise crowding in, the time iB not far distant when butter and cheese making will be supplemented by bacon curing, leather manufacture and the various industries, such as boot making, saddlery, eto., which either accompany or flow therefrom. That this is not wholly a dream, anyone may satisfy himself by glancing at a map that shows the countless streams radiating in all direotions from Mount Egmont, and affording a supply ol never failing water-power unsurpassed in the world. My letter is already so long that I cannot tell you more about our politios at present than that they are strongly Ministerial.