MOKAU RIVER DISTRICT

Taranaki Daily News, 27 May 1933, Page 12 (Supplement)

MOKAU RIVER DISTRICT

POTENTIALITIES FOR PRODUCTION. PROBLEM OF ROAD ACCESS. (By “TainuL”) To the great majority of residents of Taranaki the Mokau River country is terra incognita. The Mokau River to many certainly conjures up river and bush scenery rivalling that of the famed Wanganui river—and deservedly so, , too. The Mokau River as a tourist resort is well known in Taranaki and should be known further afield. It is also known that there are coal mines on the banks .of the river and that there have been sawmills. The river serves as a highway for a considerable; area of splendid fertile country that is already producing freely, and is destined in the near future to produce much more. A trip, even for a distance of only .10 miles up the river to where the Mokau River settlers held their Canine Carnival last week, was sufficient to convince even the casual observer making his first trip of. the s potentialities of the district, The improvements that have been affected are an eye-opener and it comes as no surprise to learn that already fully onethird of the cream supply to the Mokau factory comes from the river settlers. Launches run up the river for 18 miles every second day throughout the season ■ to collect it. . One can easily appreciate that the district is only at the fringe of production now, and that production will increase each year as the rich river flats, of which , there are many, are cleared, drained and brought into full production. There are also fertile valleys to be seen opening away from the, river, whilst the country generally is much more open than one. would suspect. There is quite a quantity -of terrace • land that can be and is,: being broken up. The country has been settled for about 40 years, but - it is only-pince the . war that it has been ■ closely- -settled, "chiefly with returned soldiers. And a fine band of pioneers, they 'have. proved, working hard and energetically to carve out homes for themselves, despite difficulties and hardships. They are , succeeding, too. The present slump, of course, has given them another setback. However, they are facing it with the same indomitable courage \ as they faced other hardships. They are • ably assisted by their wives and families, and all-will hope that through. What is chiefly needed to help them is a reasonable price for their produce. The country is ideal for mixed farming, so when wool slumped so badly the settlers fortunately were able to turn their ' attention more to dairying. The farms are still in the making, and the pastures have not yet reached that stage at which the farmers can rely on pasture management to supply the feed requirements of their ‘stock-'all through the year. 'That may come later, when hay and- ensilage can.be saved in considerable quantities. Fodder such as this is now saved further up the ’ river, where the country has been settled longer. Meanwhile the plough is freely .used, chou mollier being popular for spring feed, chou mollier and soft turnips for autumn feed and 'swedes for winter feed. AU of these do remarkably well in the district, and so ■ far they have been fortunate in escaping the ravages of the white moth. ' One settler has a crop of 16 acres of swedes that are doing, particularly well, and should provide a lot of feed. Fruit also grows very well. The apple trees this year are beefing very heavy crops,: whilst from samples seen and tested the fruit wotdd hold its, own for size and quality: with that grown anywhere 1 in New Zealand. The aesthetic side of life has not .been neglected, as the majority of homesteads posses flower gardens., . . .- The river provides a splendid highway, enabling the settlers to get their produce out and their goods and fertilisers in cheaply. Nevertheless the settlers feel the need of road access, particularly when there is a case of ‘accident or sudden illness. Moreover . driving stock and sheep through the bush is a laborious and difficult undertaking. On the Mokau side of the river there is a 12ft. road formed for about two miles. Thereafter a, 6ft track continues for a few miles,, running into a" 12ft. formed road which two miles further up connects with a 12ft road that has been formed across to the Mokau River from the Awakino Valley Road—a distance of about two miles. The metalling of these roads would be a great boon to the . settlers ‘higher up. the river, whilst the completion of the Mokau River Road would be welcomed by the settlers along the river. It is . work that might well be carried out by unemployed, as the settlers on file river are certainly deserving of - every consideration. However, despite all their hardships they are a bright and happy band, pulling well together, as the success of the - recent carnival showed and they are optimistically facing the future. There is already one school up the river near the mill, and the settlers about 10 miles up have applied for a permanent school to be established there. As members of the Education Board who visited the district, recently were most favourably impressed, the settlers are hopeful that this essential adjunct of successful settlement will soon be an established fact MORE WINTER MILKING. DAIRY INDUSTRY IN N.Z. An increasing tendency toward winter milking will very likely become apparent in the' dairy industry of New Zealand, Mr. R. Thomas, of London, who represents a firm of makers of dairy machinery,, remarked recently.. Mr. Thomas said over three-fifths of the butter-fat- produced in this country was produced in the months of November, December and January. The whole tendency of the industry had been for years to build toward a peak. That was not economic. It means that there'had to be larger factories to handle the product, bigger staffs to cope with it as. it came in a rush and bigger freez- * ing chambers for storage over the quiet months. All this meant greater overhead charges on the industry. Thpre would, he thought, be a ten- • d'ency to spread the production round the calendar more. This, of course, would make the none-too-easy. life of the dairy farmer even less easy, but with the prolem of balancing costs to show a margin on low prices he thought it would be necessary. / He also thought that the industry would . have to consider just what was the market offering it" The British Isles had a limited consumption. It was true that its people were not great butter eaters and perhaps could be induced to eat more, but generally speaking there must be a saturation point. Without entering into the quota or free market problem he said that the dairy produce of this country should be carefully inspected before being sent to Great Britain. A pound of whey butter or a pound of second-grade butter sold to an unsuspecting customer on the other side of the world did more harm to prejudice that person and her friends against the country of origin than the selling of 1000 satisfactory pounds could, undo.