HARBOR ENDOWMENT

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17747, 6 April 1932, Page 6

HARBOR ENDOWMENT

TAUWHAREPARAE INSPECTED “A MAGNIFICENT BLOCK” BOARD MEMBERS IMPRESSED “I hud no idea the endowment was such a fine one. The block is really a magnificent one, and the board is indeed fortunate to have it in its possession,” remarked a member of the Gisborne. Harbor Board to-day, discussing the visit, paid yesterday to the Tauwhareparae block, in the Tolaga Bay district, from which, the hoard draws its endowment, income. More .than one member of the inspecting party had been hitherto without knowledge of the class of land comprising the endowment area, or of the stage- 1o which the block had been developed, and they shared the favorable impression voiced in the remarks quoted above.

Tho Harbor Board party’s main objective was a good view of the 18,000 acres of which the leaseholds will shortly expire, and which will have to be re-offered by public auction. It has been suggested that the existing leaseholds should be subdivided, before the property is again made available for occupation on tho leasehold basis, and it was the intention of the inspecting party to secure first-hand knowledge of the situation in that portion of tlie endowment area, in anticipation of subdivision discussions lgter. The board has a standing committee entrusted with the Tauwharcparae endowment business, but it had been intimated that tlie subcommittee would prefer the co-operation of the whole board in the matter of policy now to be decided.

Realising that they were seeing the country at its best, the members of tlie board were impressed by the handsome aspect of the portions of the block viewed. The domestication of these areas has advanced considerably in recent years, and those board members who expected to see rough country in process of being broken in were agreeably surprised. The hills and valleys alike bear a rich growth of grass, and then- is an almost total absence of “rough stuff” such as would detract from the value of the land for leasing purposes. Much of the grass is of English varieties, and is well established in fine open pastures, enjoying a good situation with regard to sunshine.

On the balance of the property, from what the board members were able to see during their flying tour, conditions were almost identical, and the whole 45,000 acres of the Tauwhareparae endowment constitutes a highly valuable block of pastoral land.