ALONG THE MAIN TRUNK

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 6702, 28 December 1908, Page 6

ALONG THE MAIN TRUNK

EVNGATAUA— A PLACE 'WITH A FUTURE.

(From Our Local Correspondent). Rannataua, 2200 feet above sea-leyel, promises to "become a town, of some importance. On December otli the Mot sale and ballot of town and suburban sections (then a flat, or felled bush) « held by the CommißSioiiei ot ” ?" n Lands at Ohakune, when sixtj sections were taken up by fifty-one I vious to that date there »as a 8 x 10, sawmill, gram tdore, £ lc £ c J, fo store and billiard room, butcher bootmaker and blacksmith shops, two boaicliiij? houses, but no sleeping accommotl.tion for travellers. Ttere are also a few nice cottages for the manager and others working for the Eangatnua sawmill. These are all built on the sav mill’s private property or on the roan area. The remainder of the population (public works men, sawmill hands and others) are living in tents, sheds and outhouses, pitched and built on the load and alongside the railway .line. The sections were taken up principalis bj these dwellers in tents, etc., and most ot the purchasers have started clearing operations. Builders have started already; one to build a two-story boardinghouse and another an indispensable hairdresser and billiard saloon. Another blacksmith is starting, and other business places are being talked of. there are several municipal and other reserves set apart. A school is being built .by the Education Department to accommodate forty children. Since tho contract was let forty children have been placed on the roll and have been, receiving tuition in the railway workshops, and when Perham and Larsen start their two saw-mills they will bring between thirty and forty more children, so the school will have to be added to as soon as it is built.

Now wliat is going to build this town? XUrstly,. Rangataua is laid out at the lower end of a level tract of land of more than 11,000 acres in extent. It is situated 198 miles from Wellington and about 220 from Auckland, on the Main Trunk railway line. The Bailway Department has erected a good stationhouse and workshops, eleven houses and cottages, and three more are to be built. A.U are built of first-class material, with every convenience, to accommodate the railway officials and working staff. There are three sawmills erected and four more to be erected shortly, within a .mile and a half of the station. The Powell VVood Process, Ltd,, have nearly completed their timber-preserving works, which will be capable of treating 150,000 feet of timber per week, the motive power being electricity, which power we hope to use for lighting the town. These sawmills and works will engage oyer 200 men, who, with their families, will neces»;sitato all branches of trade being represented in the town. The flatness of the land will be suitable for extensively addling to or increasing the station yard ,and buildings at a minimum, cost. It is plain to see by the number ot mills that the main industry is the timber work, the specie beng mostly irimu, matai, white pine, and birch (red, .brown and grey). Regarding the slackmess in the timber trade just now, things brightened a little after the election, and it is quite reasonable to believe that after the holidays an understanding will be arrived at whereby the trade will resume its former healthy condition, after which the finest forest now left in New Zealand will hum with prosperity for fifteen to twenty years. The distance from Rangataua to the summit ot Mount Ruapehu is thirteen miles and as there is an easy grade and a magnificent open forest of about eight miles, a tourist road could be constructed at a reasonable cost, which would be an attraction for mountaineers. TJie trout fishing in the streams is also excellent. , „ ... The climate is very healthy, though the winters are a little colder than in the lower country. Man. and beast wheal properly housed and fed profit by the change, the air being bracing and invigorating. ilangataua has" already been visited by our indefatigable member, Mr Jennings, and steps are being taken with the view of forming and metalling the streets and footpaths. Regarding the soil. The soil is of a light loamy nature, on volcanic subsoil, email fruits ripen quickly and grass grows luxuriantly in tfie spring and summer, but is somewhat retarded m early spring by late frosts, and also by early frosts in the autumn, showing that the winters are longer than down country. There are generally two fo three ■falls of snow during winter. "About four miles in a south-westerly direction the subsoil changes to papa with heavier soil, the country being more broken, where ! the land Vinters dj sheep to the acre. Most of the dairy farmers m Waima',rino country turn their cows out in the autumn into the Crown and native bush ’lands, where they thrive on karimu and .five-finger scrub, and the bush forms a good shelter for them in- the winter. During October, when tile spring grass has made a good start, the farmers go out into the forest, and with their dogs muster the cattle, bringing in cows and calves, dry stock, and occasionally a wild bull or two, all in capital condition, and if one party brings in stock belonging to another ten or twelve miles olf, word is sent by them to the owners. Thus, though the climate is cold the hearts of the back-block settlers are warm, and they follow the golden rule of “Do as you would be done by."