AN OPPORTUNITY FOR SETTLEMENT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 15301, 24 August 1920, Page 4

AN OPPORTUNITY FOR SETTLEMENT.

The news that the valuable Opon ". estate, m the Te Arai and Patulahi districts, has boon placed under offer to the ■Oovriimen. at a price which, WO , understand, is well under the figure recently paid by the Government for other land acquired for soldier settlement oh thp' Poverty Bay flats, will he gratifying not only to -those most anxious to see tho settlement of our soldier boys upoithe land, hut to the whole enmmunity, for if the offer is accepted, as we trust it will lie, it opens a unifUio opportunity' , foi* promoting the development of i/ha district. Tt ia calculated that the estate;; can he subdivided into from eighty to.'.' one hundred farms, with various othe- 1 small sections suitable for use as hold* .ing paddocks for drovers. What thift measure of settlement would mean Uto the district can easily be appreciated. There- is no richer land m&U Poverty. Bay than that included m this Ttoa r estate, and seeing that the owner Ms prepared to meet the Government . oi* generous terms,, considering thc present high values of land,; it is necessary that the strongest influence should be brought to bear on the Government to ensure! that the 'opportunity is not allowed to pass. Tlie soldiers' organisation "will,, no*" doubt,- do all within its province to urge aceptance of the offer, and*V*vd feel sure it will have the men ready to take up the land iust so soop asit i_i. available. The Farmers' Union and' Chamber of Commerce would do "W^B also ( i move m the matter. ' Every? member of these bodies must reeognfe© what n*< excellent thing it would be fof. the welfare of the district to have close.-*.-, settlement on Opou. and if the matte-* is properly represented to the Govern* ment we are sanguine that a deal m. be effected and that the rich estate which, has been so long devoted to pasi toral purposes wil soon be carrying "-6? large nhmber of, vigorous young settler* , determined by their energy to increase" r its production and thereby to add to th& i general prosperity of the district.