COMMISSIONER OF CROWN LANDS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12817, 17 July 1912, Page 5

COMMISSIONER OF CROWN LANDS

A VISIT TO THE COUNTRY.

Mr 11. T. Sadd, Commissioner of Crown Lands, m company with Messrs Hyde, Birrell, and Ross, yesterday journeyed out to the railhead at Rakauroa, and m spite of' the inclement* weather, managed to see a- good deal of the surrounding country and: interview -several of the settlers. Owing to the kindness land courtesy of the District Engineer,, a van was attached t# the,' ballast train; at Otoko to convey the party to the' railhead. Mr h?add says he was very much impressed with the quality of the flat agricultural land extending for eeveral miles out along the railway line: from Gisborne. It istiof ifirst-clasß qual-: ity, and from the cropfc of maize, pumpkins, etc., still ungurnered, he considers is second to none m New Zealand. ./£ihe> number of sheep and cattle grazing on the paddocks next the line also testified to its very Jaiyje v , qturying capacity.* /llie^ hilly, land extending out to Rakauroa 1 and beyond m every direction, especially to Ma ta/\vn i , ■ is : . pastoral country, and' the few isettlers the Commissioner was able to see and talk to are very satisfied with their prospects, and pleased at the extension of the railway, which ,eiihances the value- of their land to a very large extent, and willbolvg the problem of I the want of metal by taking the heavy traffic off the roads and leaving them fairly good for light traffic '

"I learnt," said Mr Sadd to an interviewer, to-day i ■ "that one settler near Matawai had recently sold out his freehold and leasehold land at the high price of £12 ' per acre ; that' another fattened from 60 to 70 per cent, of his lambs on pasture alone ; another young settler 10 miles out from the Otoko settlement, only four years out from the Motherland, had m two years felled and. grassed about 150 acres, on< whidh he liad 350 sheep, and a contract let for another ' 120. acres, and was about to increase his stock. He iwas more than satisfied with his prospects. "The more 1 see of the Hawke's Bay (district," added the Commissioner, "tlje, more impressed I am by the need for closer settlement. In onosb cases the holdings are far too large, and are m consequence not producing anything like their capabilities. •■ I am told that 1 have not yet seen the ; best parts ■of the out-districts, *nd * that out towards ' MatftWai, Mangatu, and m the of Tbiaga Bay, there* is most excellent pastoral land. I shall take the first opportunity, as soon- as the winter is over< and the roads better7"to make mygelf acquainted' with the Poverty Bay district, and then judge for myself the capabilities and requirements •of the district. To-day I; proceed to Te Arai settlement by motor car to see that settlement, the , Willows,, and several other places m ,t,ha,t direction, and this must suffice for the' present, as my services are* required back at Napier to inspect some more . estates m that vicinity which, are being offered to the Government iov. closer .settlement."