OUR NORTHERN LETTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2200, 30 April 1896, Page 18

OUR NORTHERN LETTER.

(Fbom Odh Own Cobresfondent. ) Colyton, April 20. VOICES OF THE NIGHT.

The evening breeza from the north-east had swept the heavy sombre pall of day clouds from the sky, and under the stillness of the star-lit blue the voices of the night filled the hedge-grown lake with a music all their own. The notes swelling that solemn anthem came from the cricket-tuned grass blades, the softly-sighing firs ; from the murmuring sheep folds, the bleating lambs to their anxious answering dams ; from the meadows sounding of the lowing kine, blended with the deeper intonation of a shorthorn lord of the herd, far and near ; from the bay of the watchdog by the dwellings of men, through the windows of which streamed out between the plantations household firoß and other lights ; from the contented sounds of the comfortable porker, unmindful of the nearness of his dissolution into harvest ham ; from the sfniited snort of the horse eagerly cropping the delicious dew-lipped grasses of the fields ; from the wailing cry of the napping owl iv her soliiary grandeur in the deeper receoses of the bush ; from the distant rush and roar of a railway train tome three miles away ; from the sweet sounds of a chapel bell, and the organ-led choir within— hark ! they sing " Pull for the shore, sailor"; from the suddenly-startled billing and cooing of a pair of nineteenth-century lovers by yonder trellis-covered wayside'seat ; from f m ther off fast-falling murmurs of that unintelligible music that comes stealing into the heart of some rural-lane stroller through a stilly night ; from the sudden awakening of a million other sounds by the rising of tbe great harvest moon out east-* there, and her following floods of light that fill the land ; from the beating pulse, quicker under influence of the tuneful times of that refulgent solemn hour of the dying autumn.

COLYTON AND ITS KNVIRONMENTS. About 23 years ago an association was formed called " The Immigrants and Colonial Aids Company," promoted to aid Britain's poor to come out here and settle on the land. They were given on landing acre blocks and cottages at what is now known as Feildiug, and three years to pay for these holdings'.' They had, in addition to this, at aay time the option of taking up land ip blocks of from 40 acres and upwards, the upset price per acre being £3, on deferred payment extending over a period of seven years, with right of renewal, the first three years of purchase to be without 1 interest, and the block to be chosen from comprising. 7600 acres of upland bush land. The scheme worked well, and now all the block ia in a ] gocd state of pasture, and the families are all doing well ; and the name of the old company has been changed to "The Immigrants and Colonial Loan Company, Limited," the objects of which are solely to lend money to block settlers requiring it at easy rates of interest. But Colyton and district prospers, and the residents happily need few such loans. The land, which has all been denuded of its forest, and grows all the richest of grasses luxuriantly, has risen so much in value that £20 per acre has come to be reckoned as the value, and if you want any you simply won't get it under tbat sum, and that a farm, too. The climate is salubrious, the soil kindly, the folk thrifty, and the roads passing by their homes good. THE HAPPY HOMES OF THE VALLEY PEOPLE. As bike and I shoot down the hill sloping into the Valley road, the general course of which is north-eaßt and south-west, we pause opposite SHENLBY HILL, the home of Mr George Ashwoith, who farms 80 acre 3, and drawa daily 30gals of milk fiota the | udders of 20 Jersey cows, the yield being sold to I the Colyton Creamery hard by. Mr Ash worth was the first settler in this valley. He is a cousin of the late Mark Lemon, and can well remember the loved form of Oharlftß Dickens wandering in the streets of London's poor. The master novelist was, he says, mostly to be found either in a casualty ward or up some alley amongst the weak and helpless beings of the earth. MIDLANDS. Following the cont ur of the valley for a mile and Midlands, the well-tended patrimony of Mr Ji B. O. Colby, comes into vkv. Xke hearty

owner, who comes of a good old Yorkshire family, is hard at it improving his grounds. Away back upon the sunny well-grassed uplands and on the rolling grounds feed 800 full grown orossbrods and 500 lambs, the fleeoes of the former having clipped last year an average of 81b. Mr Colby i 3 making great improvements' everywhere. Next is OXFORD FABM, of 72 acre*, feeding 200 crosabreds and a number of dairy cows, and growing as rich grass as any land in the Manawatu district. The home is owned by Mr Francis Allerby, who has toiled there incessantly for over nice years. TE KOIU HOME. In a cosy, sunny nook of the north-eastern face of the terraced valley stands Te Kura, the new home of Mr W. B. Dyer, who has just set in to stump and improve his 100 acres of naturallydrained, undulating land. Below runs the valley road, and along the line of Te Kura's western boundary courses the Midland road, by which the wayfarer may get either to Ashurst or Falmerston. KENT FARM. Coursing about one mile of Eerpsntines at the bottom of the valley, bowling over en route one or two gentle laminations, yon suddenly sweap round into Kent farm of 81 acres, k«ep : ng 160 crossbreds and 20 dairy cows. The piopeifcy, which is wellwatered, is owned by Mr Jumes Whittaker, who has been there over eight years and is doing well. BLENHEIM FARM, of 130 acres, is situate on the Tainui road between Palmerston and Feilding, and is owned by Mr John Wratt, who grazes 55 head of prime cattle, 40 of which are dairy cows yielding over 70gal of milk, which givea a high peicentuge of butter fat at the Colyton Creamery. Mr Wratt has turned his property into good grass land during the last decade.