HOPS AND FRUIT.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14143, 1 March 1910, Page 2

HOPS AND FRUIT.

MOTUEKA'S STAPLE PRODUCTS. Mr R. Irwin, master of the Riwaka School, near the coast of Golden Bay, in Nelson district, who is spending a few days of his hop-season school holidays with his relatives in Timaru, lias kindly furnished the following notes on how the people make their living in that district of the Dominion. When Mr Irwin left, hop-picking was general in the district. Owing to the dry spell the hop crops were lighter in many districts, but the Riwaka crops were up to the average, and good prices were anticipated. The picking of the hops is done mostly by women and children. The wage given is 2d per bushel, and a good picker will pick 40 to 50 bushels daily. Many families make a good cheque, some as much as £2O in the season. Tents are provided' in the gardens for the pickers, who come from a distance, and many people spend their annual holiday in the hop-gardens, the exhilarating outdoor life, together with the appetising scent of the hops, being conducive to good health. The fruit industry is making rapid strides, thousands of additional trees being planted annually. The chief drawback is the want of a good market. The bulk of the fruit is shipped to Wellington, and since the connection of Auckland by rait with Wellington, the market in the latter city is often glutted. What is wanted is a good export trade, and attention is now being given to this by the Government, and also by enterprising firms in Nelson city. The quantity of fruit shipped from the Motuoka wharf is enormous. The small fruits, gooseberries, currants and raspberries, come in about New Year, and then follow plums, peaches, pears, nectarines, strawberries and apples. A considerable trade is duiio in apples, this fruit being shipped not only in cases .but also in sacks. ' Fruit-growing is a pleasant, and not too strenuous occupation. That it pays well is evident by the neat, handsome residences that grace the thriving well-kept farms, and ilowers in profusion, verdant lawns, and pretty walks, combine to make attractive the external appearance of the cosy homes.

Life in Nelson seems not nearly so strenuous as in ' Canterbury. The people seem to have more time for pleasure and outdoor exhilaration, and they make good use oi their lei.lire time. The . good old gum.es of cricket and football are enthusiastically lollowcd in their season, while tenuis lawns abound everywhere. Riwaka is fortunate in possessing a beautiful sandy beach, fringed with native bush. This is largely used as a health resort, and in the holiday time is a veritable canvas town, there being as many as 60 tents on the foreshore at a time. Here the parents spend a happy time reading and fishing' while the little ones romp and race on the golden shore like little arabs. Tlure is scarcely a family in Riwaka that does not make its annual trip to tho seaside.

Riwaka has the same relation to Motueka as Winchester has to Temuka, only the two former are seaports. The roads are excellent everywhere. A small steamer, the "Koi," runs daily from Nelson to Motueka, the run across taking about two hours. A new steamer, the Nikau, has latelybeen built for the carrying and passenger trade, between Wellington and Motueka. Mr Irwin, on the way down, made the trip by this vessel, the time occupied in crossing the straits being between 13 and 14 Lours. Riwaka is also connected by daily coach with Nelson. Over the hills from liiwaka lie the Takaka plains. Takaka is on Golden Bay, and is also a thriving district. It has its annual agricultural and horticultural shows, hitherto always opened by a Minister of the Crown —a great function, its miniature port, a district High School, etc., etc' The Governor, Lord l'lunlcett, was visiting this district the .week'.JMr Irwin left. His reception was a nftist hearty one. After complimenting the residents on the thriving appearance of the country, he said, in effect, "You may speak of your hops, and your fruit, your dairy produce, and your stock, but the best asset you have is the thriving, healthy children, who grace this gathering to-day." Though Motueka, Riwaka and Takaka are out of the beaten tracks, they are not neglected, and now that their member, Hon. Rod McKenzie, is a Minister of the Crown, great things are expected. The Hon. T. McKenzie also recently paid a visit to this promising district, and spoke very favourably of its possibilities. Motueka, like Timaru in the early days, has had great trouble with its harbour, the depth of water, and silting being the chief drawback!. Mr Marchant, of Timaru, has lately made a couple of visits to advise the Harbour Board re improvements. Nelson district, as a whole, is awakening to its possibilities. Freezing works have been established, and' large ocean liners now visit the harbour with 6afety. The railway is being steadily pushed on to Murehison, a rising to\vn about 50 miles south of Nelson city. When this line is' completed, it will prove to Nelson city what the opening of the first railway proved to Wellington city. Thousands of acres of good land have recently been taken ur> in the vicinity of Murehison, and await only the completion of the railway to turn the now isolated farms into flourishing homesteads. There is also a revival in the mining industries of the west coast of the province. "