THE FUTURE OF CAMBRIDGE.

Waikato Independent, Volume XXX, Issue 2308, 8 March 1930, Page 4

THE FUTURE OF CAMBRIDGE.

During his speech at the public farewell accorded him at Cambridge yesterday, Mr E. Vcale struck an optimistic note in his remarks regarding the future of Cambridge. There are always plenty of pessimists who seem to take pleasure in decrying their own town and district, and who never tire of telling others that “Cambridge is as dead os a door-nail, and will never bo any bigger and better than it is today.” Thus it is cheering to find a real live optimist among us. Mr Vcale’s prophecy that the whole of the country between Cambridge and Hamilton, along the main road, will in the near future, be cut into very ' small holdings, will probably prove true. This is a most favoured district in many ways. We have fertile land, capable of much greater production, while the climate is so favourable, with a most dependable rainfall, that many of the farms might well be sub-divided into small holdings. As South Auckland de-

velops and grows—and it has made wonderful progress during the past 20 years—there will be much scope for the small holder, and as the population increases, and the markets improve, we may expect to see hundreds of small farmers occupying lands now held in large blocks. Already there are many people in New Zealand earning a good

living off very small areas of land by market gardening, fruit-growing, beekeeping, etc. This class of farming must assuredly grow, and as it does the prosperity of the country will increas. The developments of modern science, too, arc in the direction of increased production, so that we may confidently look forward to the time when small farmers with from ten to fifty acres will obtain a better living than many of those with much larger holdings. In any development in this direction the Cambridge district should obtain its full share, on account of its many advantages. The innovation of the motor car and the formation of good roads are two factors that must bo reckoned with

in the near future. The Cambridge district has been looked at with longing eyes in the past, but many have thought it too far from the big centres. With good permanent roading, however, we are being brought much nearer to the cities,with their conveniences and their markets, and districts that have “the goods,” such as our own, will assuredly reap the harvest in the near future.