N.Z. FARMERS' TOUR.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 161, 10 July 1930, Page 8

N.Z. FARMERS' TOUR.

OBSERVATIONS IN AUSTRALIA

QUEENSLAND TOWNS

Interesting details of the New Zealand farmers' tour of Australia ,are._ contained in a letter received from oiie of the Auckland members of the party. "We are all- thoroughly enjoying- our trip," says the writer. On arrival in Sydney the party was welcomed in the Town Hall by the Minister of Agriculture, the Premier, Mr. T. R. Bavin, being indisposed. In the afternoon the visitors were taken on a sight-seeing trip around Sydney, visiting the beaches and places of cliicf» interest, * On the following day the New Zealanders left for the Jenolan Caves where a highly enjoyable couple of days were spent. One member of the touring party detected a light-fingered individual attempting to run through his pockets, but the man made good his escape. After returning from the caves the tourists left for Queensland by train. A heavy flood that washed away a portion of the railway line caused the party to make a detour of 150 miles. In the course of their tour the New Zealanders visited one district where there had been a drought for two years. A stop was made at Tenterfield, near the :i border, where the chief impression gained by the tourists was that the farmers' homes were poor and devoid of the comforts that are usually found in New Zealand farm houses. "In the fruit growing districts the tourists" were given paw-paws, a sweet tasting fruit about the size of a small water melon, and custard apples. Large and- juicy,' pine apples and mandarins were also distributed. • At Stanthorpe, a email town on the side of a 6100 ft hill, the tourists £aw houses built on piles with tin caps, the idea of the piles being to keep the houses free from ants. Some excellent farming landvwas seen at Warwick, which'lias a population of about 9000. The laud in this locality is valued at about £12 per acre, but in the opinion of some of the New Zealanders it would fetch £50 in the Dominion. Generally -speaking, the people in the districts visited seemed, prosperous and few empty houses were seen. Prickly pear, the tourists were told, had been' bad in some parts of the country,, but the settlers had now got an insect which was fast eradicating it. A civic reception awaited the tourists at. Toowoomba, which, 'is described by the writer as "a fine town," in which most of the homes are built, seven feet off the ground. To the visitors, however, the land looked understocked, and in their opinion the reason for this was that the sole crops consisted of native grasses, devoid of English mixtures. At Brisbane the New . Zealanders stayed at the Hotel Canberra, which was built by the prohibition party., Cotton mills were visited and the-tourists saw the manufacture of the seed into the finished product. An oil cakte, lyad-e from the kernel of the seed, was claimed to be the equal of linseed, oil cake for food for stock. Citrus fruits and bananas were considered by the writer to be better than anything he ha'd seen elsewhere.