LAND FOR SETTLEMENT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 75, Issue 13, 16 January 1932, Page 12

LAND FOR SETTLEMENT

DEVELOPMENTAL WORK THE GALATEA ESTATE FIRST SELECTION NEXT YEAR The Lands Department will take official possession of the Galatea Estate on March 31, and expects to throw open several thousand acres for selection next year. In the interval the reading, upon which considerable progress has been made by the Public Works Department, will be completed, besides the clearing, fencing and sowing of the whole or part of each section with grass, and the planting of shelter belts. The total area is 22,000 acres. It is a strip of land eight miles long and four miles wide, lying roughly north and south beneath the Urewera Hills. The sections to be first settled will be along the west and south sides, with a tongue or two further north. The fencing, which is in the hands of the Public Works Department, will run into a very considerable mileage. No less than 54,000 posts will be required. These are being cut in a Crown forest area in the Urewera a little beyond Te Whaiti. The task has absorbed a considerable number of Europeans and Maoris, who otherwise might have been unemployed. Between 10,000 and 20,000 posts have still to be delivered. Great Shelter Belt Scheme, The shelter belt scheme, which will be carried out in the winter by the State Forest Service, will probably be the most comprehensive ever undertaken in this country. The prevailing wind is a southerly, and the object is to run seven belts at about equal in tervals right across the block. Each belt will be about four miles in length. When these belts attain size—and in this area growth is very rapid—they are expected to have a considerable influence upon the productivity of the land. By next year the total area cleared of scrub where necessary .nd sown in grass will be between 4000 and 5000 acres. In some cases sections will be almost completely in grass. In others the proportion will reach a minimum of about one-quarter of the area. A township site is being subdivided in the centre of the block. So far homestead housing has not been considered, but arrangements have been made to take over a number of the “married quarters” used by the Public Works Department ter accommodating employees and their families on the Ohura railway works, which are now reaching completion. These buildings, which are built to be dismantled in sections, will be used in the first instance to accommodate men engaged on the developmental work. 38,561 Acres Being Prepared. The total area in the Auckland land district that is being prepared for settlement is 38,561 acres. The next largest block is that in the Rotorua district of some 10,000 acres, upon the grassing of which the Department of Agriculture has made considerable progress on behalf of the Lands Department. The other three areas arc at ’Whanganiarino, Otorohanga and Te Teko. The Whangamarino area, near Mercer, which is 820 acres in extent, is known as the island block, standing above the level of the swamp. The land has been ploughed and cultivation is proceeding in preparation for grassing in the autumn. The Mangatutu block in the Otorohanga district has an area of 500 acres. It is open fern land. Ploughing is nearing completion, and it will be grassed after the necessary amount of cultivation has been done. It will be subdivided into five farms, which will be suitable for dairying. The To Teko land is known as the Onepu block, of some 3300 acres, on the upper fringes of the Rangitaiki Plain. An area of 380 acres has already been grassed and at present is being grazed by dry stock. It has been subdivided into four farms, which will be offered for selection shortly. The preparation has included the clearing of heavy scrub, some draining, fencing and the provision of a water Ripply. The take of grass has been very satisfactory, but the hot weather has caused the plants to run rapidly into seed heads, as is generally the case this year. Restoring Abandoned Farms. Another activity in this district has been on abandoned farms in bush country, where the second growth had made such headway as to put them completely out of production. The system decided upon was to employ men at a small weekly wage, plus 15s a week for “keep” to take charge of clearing operations and the reforming of fencing bv unemployed drawing relief wages, on the understanding that if they were considered satisfactory they would have the option of taking up the farms when they reached the point of production. For positions on these rms, on eight or nine farms, no less than 250 applications were received from all types of men who had been thrown out of city employment or had been forced to walk off their farms. Practically none, had any money to speak of, but quite a number had had experience in bushland development, and the commissioner, Mr (4 Graham, had difficult) in selecting the men most likely to succeed in their task. In this land district last calendar rear 11,153 acres of new land was settled bv 72 men. in addition to the disposal "of partially-developed farms, whose owners had given up. The demand continues from men of all sorts of occupations. Few have any capital, but hope that the State will finance thorn romnlctelv.