THE UPPER CLUTHA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22905, 12 June 1936, Page 4

THE UPPER CLUTHA

ixi nir editor Sir,—l recently read of a small paddock of 45 acres of barley at Hawea Flat producincr an average yield of 06 bushels to the acre—an event which, had it happened in any other part of the Dominion, would have been heralded from one end of the country to the other as proof of the wonderful productivity of the soil. Yet the praises of Uawea Flat an a grain-growing district remain unsung. My object in writing you. Sir. is merely In the somewhat vacuo hope of interesting the people of Dunedin, and possibly

the Otago Expansion League, in the wonderful potentialities of the Upper Ciutha Valley, if an abundant supply of water were available for irrigation. It is reported that the Minister ot Publie Works is shortly to visit the district, and the time seems opportune to bring before him the needs of the district. Unfortunately, the people of these parts are not co-operators, and seem to know little of the ehoulder-to-shoulder movement so necessary to plead their cause with success. Moreover, they seem to view with a measure of mistrust any movement on the part of Dunedin people to " boost" Central Otago, despite the fact that so many movements have been initiated there which have meant so much for the district. There is the HaweaWanaka scheme, at the suggestion ot which on one occasion in Cromwell the Chamber of Commerce took fright, and there is the ever-green pet of the Expansion League, the Haast Pass road. Now, what about it? —I am, etc., Digger. Cromwell, June 10.