THE CROPS IN CANTERBURY.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 15490, 18 January 1916, Page 6

THE CROPS IN CANTERBURY.

SERIOUS WHEAT SHORTAGE ANTICIPATED. PRIME MINISTER'S TOUR OF INSPECTION. The Right Hon. the Prime Minister returned last evening from a tour round some of tho grain-growing districts in Canterbury, in company with Mr "NY. Xosworthy, M.P. In two days they travelled over 1~0 miles, traversing the Tai Tapu, Lincoln, Southbridge, Ellesmere, Springs County, Rakaia. Methven. Ashbnrton, W nkanui, and a 15-mile radius of Ashburton township, as well as Longbeach. Thence to Timaru. St. Andrews, and round by Claremout, and these are the impressions he formed.

''All of tho crops are."' -aid tho Prime Minister last night, •suffering from the drought, the osts suffering a great deal mora than tho wheat, but even the wheat crops are extraordinarily patchy. Most of them are, I am sorry to say, likely to give a very poor yield in comparison with an ordinary season, but in some places the wheat crops are really up to the average. Methven. for instance, where thero are some very line fields, teems to have had the benefit of what they call in Canterbury nor'-west showers. In consequence both crops and pastures are far better than the average. On some lands, •vhich were original swamps, but are now drained, at both Hinds and Longbeach there are gome very good crops 'for tho season, and they are likely to yield well in proportion to tho straw. That applies to the whole of tho crops I saw. The straw is short, but the heads seem to be very well filled. Tho important question is, of course, from the point of view of the Dominion, whether wo shall have sufficient wheat for our requirements. To that question it is impossible to £ivc a definite answer, and until the threshing machines get to work. Naturally, 1 am in a better position now to form an opinion after visiting the grain-growintr districts while harvesting was in full swing. I intend, with the data at my disposal, to go into the question at tho near future.

"Roughly, the position is this: Thcro are 100,000 acres more in wheat this year than last, but. the crop will not be nearly so big n; last year. All tnreshing machines will bo required to keep an accurate tal)~ of tho wheat threshing, to be suDpiied to tho Government Statistician, Wellington, so' that we shall lcnow_ as accurately as possible, what the position is. X may say that on tho whoio the wheat crop, disappointing a s it undoubtedly is to tho producer, is better than I expected to hnd it. The oats crop is not so good. To mo it was surprising that, taking into account the fact that I saw a number of tre«s of various kinds dying lor want of sufficient moisturo in tne soil, the crops were so good <ts they appear to be.

"mo result or the drought in Canterbury, Because (Jantcroury and i\ortn Utago are omv allected in tins way, will oe a serious national Joss. nua tne crops been normal, we snould have had a large quantity or wheat and oats to export. in going round the country as we have done me Jast day of two, and looking at tjie crops being harvested, ancl coming into contact with the grain producers, ono cannot lieip being impressed with tho statements in the puoiic Press that larihers were making rortunes. My opinion, after looking round hundreds of wheat-growing farms m the country, is that grain growers iii this province will have a great deal of difficulty in making ends meet. , That they will keep going and get through I have no doubt, because of all things a grain-growing farmer is an optimist, because if a crop is a failure one year he hopes for better things the next, and he is not always disappointed. It is an important matter that there should be a sufficient area sown in grain each year to provide for the Dominion's requirements, and the farmers have responded well to the appeal to grow more wheat and oats. Unless rain comes soon I do not know what farmers are going to do with store stocfk, as it will be impossible to grow root crops. Tho position is therefore a very serious one. I am sorry I will not be able t'o visit the North Canterbury district, as I hear that, while the crops are very good in tho Kaiapoi district, further north the conditions are very serious for want of rain."

The Ijlon. Dr. R. McNab, who passed through Christchurch last night' on his return to Wellington from a visit to the South, informed a "Press" representative last night that the country all along the line from Dunedin to Christchurch was very burnt up. South of Dunedin and in Southland, however, the country presented a very marked contrast to the state of thirds that prevailed in Canterbury and North Otago, and there were record crops.