The Opunake Times. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1894. LAND FOR SETTLEMENT.

Opunake Times, Volume I, Issue 45, 4 December 1894, Page 2

The Opunake Times. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1894. LAND FOR SETTLEMENT.

We are pleased to see that the block of native land between the Ngariki and Arawhata Hoads is now open, tenders being returnable early in January. The Public Trustee promises that as soon as possible after the acceptance of tenders contracts will be let for felling the bush on the roads one chain wide, and clearing a 12ft. track. We understand that the idea is to give the selectors the opportunity of taking the contracts, so that the road can be felled at the same time that the selectors go on with their own clearing. There are about 7000 acres in the block, the upset rental of which ranges from 8d to Is 3d per acre, and is divided into 32 lots. The settlement of this land will give a great impetus to the prosperity of Opunake and the surrounding country. Altogether there are about 30,000 acres to be let, which should all be placed in the market during the next twelve months, and as there is such an unsatisfied demand for land we anticipate seeing it all taken up and soon brought into occupation and cultivation. All those who have explored it are unanimous in praising its quality, as it seems the nearer you get to the Forest Beserve the better the quality becomes. Having such a large area of land lying waste in the immediate vicinity of the township has been a great drawback heretofore, but once settled and our shipping facilities provided for by means of the re-erection of the jetty, prosperous days are bound to come, and Opunake will go ahead on the road to prosperity at a very much accelerated pace. If these were Crown lands the demand would be very much greater, as people outside of the district are not particularly in favor of Maori leaseholds, through the complicated legislation in connection with them, and the autocracy of the department in charge of them. The bistory or the colony so far has shown that as European settlement advances the native population retires, and in the near future we anticipate that all these lands will become Crown lands. It is not so many years since the native population in the district was pretty dense, but now pahs which bad their hundreds of inhabitants are almost depopulated, and the probabilities, judging by the experience of the past, are that in the course of another ten years, there will be very few natives in occupation of the lands now set apart for them in the district.