ABANDONED FARMS

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21244, 16 August 1934, Page 12

ABANDONED FARMS

♦- FOOTHILLS AREA IN SOUTH CANTERBURY fFrom Our Parliamentary Reporter.! WELLINGTON. August 15. The establishment of a demonstration farm on one of the abandoned •farms in the foothills of South Can- ; terbury is not considered necessary by men who recently made an investigation of the area, according to a state- +. merit made by the Minister for Lands < the Hon. E. A. Ransom) in the House of Representatives this after- * noon. The minister, replying to a question by Mr T. D. Burnett (C., Temuka), 1 ■who had asked liim what progress the , department had made with its promise

to establish a farm, said that the position regarding abandoned farms in the foothill area of South Canterbury was recently investigated by a committee comprising officers of the Lands Department, in association with 7 officers of the State Advances and Valuation Departments. The committee concluded that it was not necessary to establish a demonstration farm iu the district. The results obtained by practical farmers within the area had already demonstrated the methods and action necessary to obtain the most satisfactory results from farming these lands, and the most urgent question was the provision of ways and means to put these methods into general practice. In the committee's opinion the main requirements were mole draining or subsoiling treatment, ample horse or other power to ensure proper cultivation, and liberal application of carbonate of lime, supplemented with dressings of superphosphate. This formula was also supported by Mr J. W. Deem, formerly Director of the Fields Division of the Department of Agriculture, who had full knowledge of the district. Arrangements were in train to recondition several properties which were in the hands of the Lands Department, and it was proposed to take early steps to have them reoccupiecL