Begins at the Waitaki River, and runs north to the Hurunui, a distance of about 180 miles, and the average width of the Province is about 80 miles.

We took the reader as far as Waiinate, from whence to Timaru, a distance of about 25 miles, is all good agricultural land, and is in the hands of private owners. Timaru is a substantial town of some 4,000 inhabitants. It has large grain stores, flour mills, and the usual freezing works, and a first-class harbour made by an artificial breakwater. From Timaru for a radius of 25 miles all around, the land comprises rolling downs of great fertility and beauty.

At St. Andrew's, six miles south of Timaru, is the Pareora Estate, the property of the N.Z. and A.L. Co., which the Company consider, acre for acre, the most valuable property they have. It consists of 14,000 acres of down land, grows turnips and green crops admirably, while sheep and all other live stock are as healthy as possible. Good metalled roads give access to every portion of the estate, and provide downhill carriage to the St. Andrew's Railway Station, where there is a thriving township and large public school. The price of land is £8 to £10 per acre. The Levels Estate, at the back of Timaru, is perhaps the most valuable estate in New Zealand. It contains 60,000 acres, of which 40,000 acres are in English grass or in process of cultivation. The whole estate is rendered accessible by means of the Fairlie Creek Railway, which runs right through it for about 20 miles and affords means of transit for produce at seven different railway stations.

Well-formed roads, the excellence of which is the subject of constant remark by new-comers to the district, tap the remoter portion of the laud, and either provide downhill carriage to Timaru direct or lead directly to the stations on the Fairlie Creek Railway. Wheat averages 28 to 30 bushels per acre. Oats and all ordinary farm produce can be produced under most favourable circumstances as regards climate and soil. Twenty to twenty-five thousand sheep are fattened every year; so no more need be said in favour of the turnips and mangolds grown on the Levels.

There are man 7 miles of well-trimmed hedges on the property, with here and there handsome plantations which both add to the natural beauty of the country and afford warm shelter to stock in boisterous weather.

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The price of land is from £5 to £9 per acre in this district, and a very large area is in large blocks, in private hands. The Bank of New Zealand Estates Company own the properties of Eskbank and Seadown in this district.

Hundreds of farmers send their produce to Timaru, as may well be imagined when it is known that the exports of Timaru considerably exceed half a million.