PASTORAL LANDS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VII, Issue 1956, 22 May 1920, Page 14

PASTORAL LANDS.

ROYAL COMMISSION. Tht Southern Pastoral Lands Commlsslon, ■which has been sitting in the Land Board, room, Christchurcli, since Thursday, concluded the hearing of evidence in Christchurch last evening. This is a Royal Commission appointed to ascertain whether the pastoral Crown lands of Canterbury, Otago and Southland are being leased and utilised in the best manner, and whether the pasturage of the land is deteriorating, and, if so, the cause of such deterioration and how best to remedy that deterioration, and to improve the conditions of settlement of the lands. The Commission consists of Messrs B. T. Sadd (chairman), A. Mcliincs, D. Jardine, R. Scott, C. Todd, W. B. Buckhurst and Dr L. Cockayne, F.R.S. James P. Wilson, ranger, Public Trust Office, said he had studied rabbits in Central Otago. As long as* the present system of trapping was carried on, rabbits would never be got rid of, because trapping kills the natural enemies of the rabbits. Poisoning, if properly carried out, achieved fairly Sood results, but those results were estroyed by rabbits coming from other properties. When trapping was carried on in September, about Clyde, down to Mt. Ida, he had not seen weasels until the end of the year, but from then up till March they began to show themselves again. "The whole trouble is to get men to do the work of trapping faithfully," the witness stated. "I have known of young rabbits too young - for commercial purposes being caught, and one of the legs being amputated to give the rabbit a commercial value later on." He thought that there was an excess of summer country in Central Otago, and good results would be obtained if more winter country were available, and lucerne-growing were developed. To Mr Todd: Trappers had told him that jt was not an uncommon tiling to kill 10 weasels in a week when trapping rabbits. Ten rabbits were reckoned to b» equal to a sheep, and at one time the Alexandra freezing works were putting through 20,000 rabbits per day. He considered the fiG years' lease was the best, and was as good as freehold. A 21 vears' lease did not give a man time to get back his outlay in improvements. ~ A. Macpherson, Fields Instructor of the Department of Agriculture, and specialist in lucerne culture, stated that he conducted experiments in 1909 with a view to finding out if pastoral lands in Central Otago and the Mackenzie Country could be revegetated. In 10 years he did not notice much improvement in these districts; in some parts the Mackenzie Country had gone back very much. The causes of deterioration were: —Unseasonable fires, rabbit.-., drought and over-stocking. To remedy matters, the rabbits had to be got rid ol altogether, and the areas sown with suitable grasses and deep-rooted plants. He did not anticipate much improvement from native vegetation. It took a long time for native vegetation to come back. F.xpcrience showed that lucerne would grow in the Mackenzie Country, but it was essential that it should have the necessary bacteria. Lucerne grew well in the Mackenzie Country, without inoculated soil, but in order to make certain, farmers were advised to treat a portion of their area with inoculated soil. Properly dealt with, the Mackenzie Country would grow large areas of lucerne. To Mr Mclnnes: Pastoralists made the mistake of putting stock on land too soon after surface sowing. Mr Macpherson exhibited a number of photographs showing the results of experiments in lucerne-growing in and about Christchurcli. k Joseph E. Todhunter, sheepfarmer, Clarence Bridge, said he held a grazing run of 18,900 acres, and the tenure was insufficient to ensure the best use being made of the • land. The great question the Government had to look to was to get the country developed, and he thought that, if the lease could be remodelled so as to give such stability of tenure that the lessee could borrow on it, such an alteration would be to the advantage of the State and the lessee. He did not know of any cases where rents had been Increased. He thought grazing runs should be leased with a purchasing clause. As regarded national endowment lands, there should be a provision limiting the extent to which the rent could be increased at each valuation. That would make the lease sufficientlv stable to finance on. To Mr Todd: Under a stable tenure he could nearly double the carrying capacity of his land. The Commission left for Cass to-day for the hearing of further evidence.