THE MATAMATA ESTATE

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1680, 11 May 1904, Page 79 (Supplement)

THE MATAMATA ESTATE

THE COMING SALE. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPERTY. Who does hot remember J C. Firth of the" Venerable presence. the fluent tongue, and the genial manner ? Out of the adventurous life of the early Maori times he emerged a colonist with great ideas. In his middle life he built the greatest flourmill in the North, and the best finished. He spoke' of it as embodying his aspirations, and he said that its greatness matched the adventures of bis •earlier more strenuous days Later he was a familiar figure with all who go down to the sea in ships; to whom -he talked charmingly of the virtues of the much-despised pumice as the champion insulating agent. He established his works by the side of the rolling Waikato. and he travelled with persuasive words Avhich were a very encyclopedia of the history of maritime fires and their causes. For the spontaneously combustible charcoal (as he called it), he offered the carefully-prepared product of his pumice mills; wandering in many lands he knew no fatigue, and his eloquence svas a perennial fountain. Later still he came amongst us, when Parliament was sitting: with a big’ scheme for the harnessing of the great liuka Falls, that wonder of the Upper Waikato, for the benefit of the miners of the Waihi. Every legislator loved to hear him talk, everyone of them believed in his marvellous predictions of the future glory of the electric power: but collectively they decided to keep the water power for the State. When he had exhausted the future it was his habit to turn to the past; and what more pleasant was there in his past than the memories of the big estate he had carved out for himself at the Matamata ? Of the fertility of that property and of its capacity and its beauty be never tired of talking, llut there were other things to talk about; for example his trips to the United States whence he returned with great Imperialistic ideas more vast and plausible than anything that has been put on paper by bis juniors since Iris time. We have all read the books into which he put them and admired the industry, versatility and courage of the old man. The estate, however, passed away and became the property of the Assets Board, and its great future became the destiny, of the. stranger. Sic transit !

This is the estate of Matamata which the Government has acquired from the Board, and is now offering for occupation under the Land for Settlements Act. The last day fixed for the applications (the limit) is the 2nd of June; the first ballot will be on the 10th, and a pamphlet tells the public all that intending settlers want to know about the place. The property, according to this authority, is situated in the county of Piako, on the Auckland-Rotorua railway line, which runs through he settlement for eight miles, the Waharoa station being at 118 miles, the Matamata station at 122 miles, the Ilinuera station at 127 miles. It is within convenient distances of Rotorua, T'e Aroha, Cambridge, Okoroire and Morrinsville, and the City of Auckland can he reached in five hours by rail. There are 42,000 acres, divided into 117 farms, varying in area from 46f acres to £B4 acres; there is a “small grazing ran” of 2856 acres and- several township allotments. The altitude of the place does not exceed 211 ft and the hills on the western portion rise about 250 ft more. The quality is divided into three parts in the official description. These are—the lower terraces, in which the soil is of a light easily-worked loam, resting on a bed of pumice gravel, and it gratefully to cultivation and fertilisers/" becondly, there are the downs, in which the land is heavier, and is in excellent grass at the present time. Thirdly, the hills on the south-west are “not so good," as the official description, has it, but they are excellent country, in a beautiful climate. “The' grass/' says the report, “at present on the settlement is generally of good kinds. All root crops do well, and probably in no part of the colony can turnips be grown to such perfection as at Matamata. Oats and wheat have also been grown, but the soil is not of a kind adapted to cereals in usual rotation/'’ The level lands are admirable for the dairy industry, and the hill lands are good for “depasturing sheep and cattle/'’ a:J officially reticent way of saying that they are ideal country. The present carrying capacity is 35_,000 sheep, 3000 head of cattle and 3.50 horses on about 22,000 acres of cultivated grass, and 3000 acres of turnips and green oats. It is a capacity of nearly two sheep per acre of cultivated land. Timber for all purposes can be obtained easily by rail from the forests at Mamaku, Otorolianga and Taupiri. Most of the loads are made and the balance of those necessary will very shortly be completed. Possession will be given on the Ist.of July, except in the case of some twenty-seven sections, for which the date fixed is the Ist of October. Tnere is a •creamery in full work on the property, and several sites for such establishments have been reserved. The property will be offered on the usual terms and , conditions under the lease-in-perpetuity system (999 years" lease), and attention is drawn, to the following condition as to cropping:—“The ■ lessee shall not take more than three crops, two of which must be root crops, from the same land in succession, and either with or immediately after a third crop of any kind he shall sow the land down with good permanent cultivated grasses and clovers, and allow the land to remain as pasture for at least three years from the harvesting or eatinsr off of the last crop before being again cropped. Standard manure equal to not less thaD lcwt of bonedust and lcwt of superphosphate per acre shall be applied to every crop, and to land laid down in permanent pasture, excepting in the case of one following one eaten off the ground/" A largo number of intending selectors is expected to visit the place during the month that.is bafore the last day. of application, June 2nd, and the department expects much keen competition.,