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severely handicapped until the application of limonite brought some success in the period 1930-35. Not until the introduction of cobaltized superphosphate in 1935 was real progress possible. This opened an era of development which gathered pace until halted by fertilizer and material shortages, since phosphatic top-dressing is essential to pumice-land farming, especially in the early stages. Tauranga County shows a most spectacular rise in sheep numbers which continued over war years because much of the area was already established in grass. Three-quarters of the ewes in this county are mated to Southdown rams for fat-lamb production. The State, through the Maori Affairs Department and the Department of Lands and Survey, is concerned with breaking in extensive tracts in this region, using wethers and run cattle drawn from East Coast districts in the process. A fairly high percentage is recorded compared with other districts, but wethers give way to ewes or dairy cows, and the necessity for run cattle diminishes as consolidation and pasture establishment is achieved. While much pumice land is capable of early development, questions of transport and roading arise. Partly for this reason, fat-lamb production is a lesser consideration at this stage in Rotorua and Taupo Counties, the emphasis being on the sale of wool and surplus Romney ewes. {/) The East Cape (Opotiki, Matakaoa, Waiapu, Uawa, Waikohu, and Cook Counties) This region records a decline of 73,000 ewes since 1925, but the picture is rather that the first four counties mentioned above declined up to 1935, while in Cook County numbers increased. The northern counties are in fairly high rainfall areas, and some of the country is poor as well as steep. Reversion accounts for most of the decline in sheep, and farms have been abandoned in Opotiki County. There is less reversion in the southern part of the region where rainfall is lower, but the substantial increase in ewes in Cook County arises mostly from the improvement of the Gisborne flats, where the bulk of the fat-lamb farming on the East Coast is found. Erosion is serious in this region because of the effect of heavy downpours on papa hill country, but overstocking with sheep has opened and deteriorated the pastures and aggravated erosion troubles. In the past ten or fifteen years settlers have taken some steps to arrest the deterioration by increasing beef cattle to the extent of about 65,000 head, and the introduction of subterranean clover is also helping. Probably the decline in sheep numbers has not quite reached its end. Wool and surplus ewes and wethers are the principal products, and of about 250,000 ewes and 100,000 wethers which leave the region every year the greater part goes to the Waikato area. The distance from suitable markets makes it unprofitable to quit store lambs so that a high proportion of surplus stock are sold as two-tooth ewes and wethers. Transport costs, fencing, access, and labour problems are foremost, and the question of top-dressing hill country has been deferred for these reasons, although the present small beginnings in top-dressing should lead to a wider appreciation of its value. (g) The Western Uplands (Kawhia, Waitomo, Taumarunui, Ohura, Clifton, Whangamomona, Kaitieke, and Waimarino Counties) This region covers the extended limits of what is loosely referred to as the Iving-country, and it comprises a deeply dissected area, mostly of marine origin, which slopes from the pumice plateau to the western coast. Total