Hatuma Settlement.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XXIII, Issue 4182, 30 March 1901, Page 4

Hatuma Settlement.

Opening for Selection. Full Particulars. The Hatuma Settlement, the land comprising which was acquired by the Government from Mr Purvis Russell, under the Land for Settlement Act, will be open for selection on Thursday, the 25th April. Farmers and graziers are, by the opening up of this property, offered an opportunity to obtain holdings in one of the finest districts in the North Island. The land is situated fifty miles from Napier, on the main trunk railway, between that town and Wellington, and lies between the Oruawharo Estate (Mr Sydney Johnston’s) and the Arlington Estate (Mr W. L. Newman’s). The township of Waipukurau adjoins Hatuma on the north-east, and the township of Takapau is distant about four miles from the western boundary of the settlement, while Waipawa is nine miles away. The main trunk railway runs through the settlement for eight nr’.es, and there is a railway siding at the Hatuma township reserve. The altitude of the country varies from 500 feet to 1900 feet above sea-level. The total area to be offered for selection is 25,737 acres, which has been sub-divided into fiftyfour farms on lease in perpetuity, and four small grazing runs. The size of the farms vary from 111 acres to 774 acres, and the rent per acre per annum is variously 4s 5s 7|d, 58 l(Hd, 6s, 6s 4|d, 6s 6d, Cs 9d, 6s 10£d, 7s, 7s 3d, 7s 4sd, 7s 6d, 7s 9d, 8s l|d, and 8s 7-sd. The small grazing runs range in area from 1134 acres to 1509 acres, and the rent per acre per annum is variously 3s 4|d, 4s 9d, 5s 3d, and 6s 4£d. The existing fences have been utilised to the best advantage as boundaries of sections.

The quality of the land in Hatuma Settlement is described as good. The downs and flats are well adapted for general agriculture and dairy farming, the depth of the soil varying from six inches to twelve inches on a clt.y subsoil. The hilly portion is composed almost entirely of well-watered limestone ranges of good quality, and well suited for mixed farming. With the exception of a few patches of scrub, the country is all open, well grassed, with native and artificial grasses, a large portion being ploughable. The north-western sections are permanently watered by the Maharakeke Stream, and the south-eastern sections by the Ngahape Stream. There are also numerous small streams and springs in different parts of the settlement. The climate is good, and there is a fair average rainfall. A township reserve of 221 acres has been set apart for future subdivision into small lots. A school site of five acres, a cemetery reserve, and various small reserves have been laid off. The buildings and fencing are of a substantial character, and in a goed state of

repair. All improvements other than buildings go with the land.

When Hatuma was in th 6 bands of Mr Russell it oarried 39,000 sheep and 850 great cattle, and it is said to have yielded during the last few years a net income of £9535 per annum. The land now about to be offered for selection is rented at £7643 per annum (exclusive of the village reserve of 221 acres not yet offered for selection), which is a good deal less than what Mr Russell is said to have earned from the property. The average production of wool for the last three years was about 3235 cwt, and the sheep have clipped from 81b to lOflb each. The whole run is healthy sheep country. The rents of the land to be offered for selection have been carefully ascertained by two competent valuers, who have determined the relative value of every section in the estate, so that each farm, according to its rent, is of relatively the same value as any other, and it therefore depends mainly upon the means and business training of the selector as to the kind of property which he should apply for. Each section is of the same relative value.

During the past eight years Mr Russell is said to have spent upon improvements on Hatuma £13,500. These improvements were in the direction of grass-seed sowing, draining, ploughing, fencing and buddings. Most of the buildings have been separately valued, and their values have been reduced considerably, as it is conceded that there are on the homestead, for instance, more buildings than are required for the working of a farm of 962 acres. The mansion house alone is said to have cost £2400 and it is now to be offered at a rent based on a capital value of £IOO0 v - The cottages on the estate are reduced somewhat in the same proportion. Should the selector of the homestead desire to sell and remove any of the houses which he does not require, he may do so on paying the purchase money practically to his own credit, and reducing his rent in consequence. That is to say, supposing he wishes to sell the manager’s house, or the gardener’s cottage, he could pay the £l5O or £IOO respectively which he received into the Land for Settlements Account, and his rent would be reduced accordingly.

It is the intention of the Government to construct a passable road to every section within a reasonable time, but the whole of the roads will not be gravelled or metalled. The country is dry, and the ground generally hard, and only such poi cions of the roads as become soft during the winter will be covered with grtfvel or metal. One spring on the estate is reserved, and a general power is reserved to take water from any other springs, in order that, in a dry season, they may be made, if possible, available for any stock or any settler on the settlement. Successful applicants for sections and small grazing runs in the settlement will be given possession at once. A guide will be at the Hatuma homestead after the Ist April to show intending selectors over the land.