THE FUTURE OF NORTH AUCKLAND.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11993, 16 March 1901, Page 8

THE FUTURE OF NORTH AUCKLAND.

(Froh Oun Own Correspondent,) AUCKLAND, March 15. Every person interested in tho provincial district of Auckland is gratified at the Minister of Lands (the Hon. T.-Y. Duncan) having made so careful a tour of the settlements in the north of Auckland, and at the high opinion which he has repeatedly expressed of the future of that part of the colony. His emphatic statements will astonish some of our southern fellow colonists, and cause pome surprise oven amongst residents in Auckland, who have been accustomed to slight the "backward north." Southern visitors to the north have been wont to take the south as a standard and to see nothing but the respects in which the south lias the advantage. They absolutely refused to consider as of any value or consequence the many respects in which the north has the advantage over the rest of the colony. Mr Duncan confesses that he is to some extent a convert, and that be goes back to Wellington with different opinions from what he formerly entertained. He points out that the north has advantages in its climate, facilities for water carriage, etc. He sees that in the north can be produce'd crops that cannot be cultivated in the south. He considers that within the next 10 years there will bo a largo influx of population to the distriot, and is satisfied that the expenditure of monoy in railway construction will be a good investment for the colony. Aucklanders are much gratified at Mr Duncan's appreciation of tho north, and at his having given so much time to a careful examination of its capabilities.