WEDNESDAY, MAY 27, 1885.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 118, 27 May 1885, Page 2

WEDNESDAY, MAY 27, 1885.

The agricultural statistics of the colony taken in February and March of the current year throw considerable light upon the depression in tlie South Island. The losses upon wheat rowing in Canterbury the previous year had produced a reaction against the growth of that cereal, and there were 58,056 acres less put under wheat in 1885 than in the previous year. This represents a decrease in the yield of 974,14S bushels. In oats, the area sown was 20,000 acres greater than in ISS4, and there was a slight increase in barley, but decreases in turnips and other crops. The totul area under crop was 55,201 acres less than during the previous year, but the grass lands had increased from 846,753 acres of ploughed land to 1,012,964 acres. The ascendancy of pastoral over agricultural pursuits would entail a diminution in the number of labourers employed. In Otago there was the same decline in wheatgrowing and increase in the growth of oats, but the total area under- crop, unlike Canterbury, was 30,848 acres greater in 1885 than 1884; the sown grasses on ploughed land had also increased by 104,234 acres.

The returns for Auckland look mean beside those of the great agricultural provinces. The total area iti wheat here in 1885 was 6,264 acres, or about 3,000 acres less than in the preceding year. In oats for grain 5,271 acres were sown—a small increase over ISS4. Potatoes, barley, and turnips exhibited slight increases, but the total area under crop was o»ly 44,430 acres as compared with 489,254 acres in Canterbury; 496,023 acres in Otago; and 40,207 acres in Wellington. The grass sown in ploughed land in Auckland was 318,792 acres; in Canterbury, 1,012,964 acres; in Otago, 830,804 acres; and Wellington, 905,274 acres.

We are obliged to admit, in view of these figures, that agriculture in Auckland is still in a very undeveloped state. There is, however, a cheering feature about the returns. The number of freehold holdings proves Auckland to be a country occupied by small settlers. There are 5,216 separate holdings of freehold land over one acre in extent in Auckland, and only 4,188 in Canterbury; 4,863 in Otago, and 2,333 holdings in Wellington. The agricultural population here arc largely engaged working their own land, and if the results are small, their position at least gives an assurance against such periods of depression as are inevitable when farming is carried on upon a huge scale with borrowed capital, and it secures ah independence and moderate comfort which can never belong to the mere labourer who is dependent for his daily bread upon the financial resources of great landowners or companies, which are, no doubt, engaged in meritorious operations of great advantage to the country, but often attended with very dubious commercial results that may at any moment necessitate the discharge ot large numbers of men, bringing about such a condition of depression and positive want as now prevails in Canterbury.