CHATHAM ISLANDS FISH AND SHEEP ARE MAIN MONEY-MAKERS

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26319, 13 January 1951, Page 6

CHATHAM ISLANDS FISH AND SHEEP ARE MAIN MONEY-MAKERS

(•y « Staff lUportrr of “TM Prose.”)

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The economy of the Chatham Islands is based on sheep and fish, with cattle a small factor. Dairying has had its day and is unlikely to be revived until wool prices fall and more intensive farming is done on the low-lying, undulating lands. "What is good land here is exceptionally good,” said the Resident Commissioner (Mr G. Nevill), whose remark was fully supported by Mr R. D. Cannon (of Waitangi West station) and Mr S. P. Troy (of Kaingaroa station). Chatham comprises first-class limestone country, volcanic land, and an area of reclaimed sand dune country, originally shifting sand built up with organic matter. The calcareous tuff around Waitangi is rich in lime and volcanic materials.

A first survey of Chatham Island from the air suggests that it is mainly a swamp. It is a wrong impression. Altogether, there are 44 water basins on the island, ranging from the vast Te Whanga Lagoon—9o times the size of North and South Hagley Parks and two and a half times the area of the city of Christchurch —to small lakes. There is much peat land. The southern end of the island is the highest. The cliffs are up to 700 feet high and the highest point of the islands is Piritarawai, rising to 900 feet, while at the northern end the land undulates to 200 feet.

About 120,000 sheep and 8000 head of cattle are carried on Chatham and Pitt Islands, which annually ship to Lyttelton on the average 2250 bales of wool, 300 head of cattle, mostly stores, and between 20,000 and 24,000 store sheep.

The sheep are Romney crossbreds. They are strong and have proved the most suitable, particularly for what is an arduous trip to Waitangi and then to Lyttelton by ship. The farmers say that the islands could produce fat lambs for tht Canterbury market, but the shipping would knock them about too severely. Dear Superphosphate Some of the really good land carries five to six sheep to the acre, but in other parts five to six acres are needed to carry ope sheep. No topdressing of pastures is done. Limestone deposits are numerous on Chatham. but little is crushed for pastoral purposes. Superphosphate costs £2l 15s a ton to land.

“And that makes it prohibitive," said Mr Troy, "to use it other than on land for intensive agricultural cultivation.”

Another difficulty with importing manures to such stations as Kaingaroa and Waitangi West is that supplies have to be ordered a year Tn advance. The manure solidifies between landing and time for distribution, and every year Mr Troy has to recrush his supply. The shipping freight takes some of the gilt off tne gingerbread, now on the table of the Chatham farmers. It costs 15s a head to put sheep on to the Addington market, while cattle charges amount to £9 a head. With the present high prices for wool, the farmers do not complain unduly about paying £2 7s a bale to land their wool into the Christchurch stores. Not all the wool could be transported last season. The growers had a lucky break, as the 160 bales of the 1949-50 clip wilt be shipped this year to catch the higher prices. Five big stations are on the Chatham Island#. They are about 20.0*1 acres each and carry about 8000 sheep. Many small holdings run by natives carry 100 to 200 sheep. . Little Agriculture Agriculture is in its infancy, and Kaingaroa and Waitangi West stationholders claim that they are the pioneers. The tractor may play an important part in developing agriculture The first tractor arrived on Chatham Island only a few years ago. Good root crops, specially swedes, have been produced, and at Waitangi West, good wheat, averaging 35 to 40 bushels to the acre, has been grown for the station's needs. If shipping were not so difficult potatoes could also be grown for export. The settlers have lost interest in dairying. The potentialities of the Chathams for butter and cheese production were highly assessed by a land utilisation officer who spent 15 days there 13 years ago. A proposal to FS v , lve the drying industry met with little favour at a mass meeting of farmers. And. as the settlers emphasised last week, who would want to. go dairying when sheep and wool prices are so good? Most of the land near Waitangi suitable for dairying is owned by natives and they, like the European farmers, were discouraged when they were paid 6d per lb for butter-fat in 193637. A cheese factory was then pri-

vately owned at Te One, but it ha* long ceased to operate. What ww reported in 1938 is true to-day: “Chat ham Islauds as a whole badly nwi a dairying industry, but the resident as individuals seem generally to feel no need for dairying.” Even the owners of many small propertie* where cows could be run for domestir purposes do not run any cattle. Harvest From the Sea So rich are the fishing grounds of the Chatham Islands that fishermen frequently catch Bcwt of blue cod and groper a day with hand-lines. Before the war an Australian company operated off the Chathams but since the war the Chatham Islands Fishing Company. with its headquarters in Welling, ton, has controlled the fishing. Manning stalwart launches, many nf which travelled from New Zealand to the islands under their own power the fishermen deliver their catches to the 300-ton Manuka, a floating freezer which lies in Port Hunt in Petrie Bay' the only land-locked harbour on Chat ham. 18 miles by land and 10 miles by sea north-west of Waitangi. With the gales at the Chatham*— only seven calm days a year were recorded over a number of years—fishing is spasmodic. The launches have to be staunch, as sometimes they are at sea for a fortnight, riding out the storms and fishing in between. Dfesel engines are installed in most of the launches. For days on end southwesterlies blow, and the boats cannot fish, yet at other periods fishing weather is experienced for a month on end. Another hazard of fishing is ths many treacherous reefs in the Chatham waters, which have never been properly surveyed. About 50 ship* nave been wrecked on the shores or the reefs of the Chathams. Three “good” trips to Wellington with fish were made last year by the Manuka, said Mr J. Murdoch, manage? of the fishing company. The season in 1950 lasted eight months and a half. With the idea of resuming the fishing earlier. Mr Murdoch. Captain J. Dickinson (a Scot who has been at the* Chatham* for two years). Mr T. Donnelly (second engineer on the Manuka) and Mr F. Abernethy (the company’s freezing expert) were passengers in the Aotearoa on the trip chartered by the company, whieh is building a modern concrete freezing plant at Owens* at the south-eastern corner of the island.

Two-line Fishing Two hand-lines are used by the individual fishermen. Each has six hooks. So rich are the seas that as they haul up one line they drop the second line overboard. Chatham Island blue cod is famous. Though the fishing work is strenuous, the fishermen make good money. Mr Murdoch said that the price per lb paid them for whole fish was "payable to them.” The company is a big employer of labour, as 30 men are given regular employment as cleaner» and bexmakers and* working round the ship and the launches Even off the Waitangi wharf, jutting out from a small headland. Waitangi residents can quickl” haul in a good meal of fish, while the lagoon abounds with floundersand the many lakes with eels. The Te Whanga lagoon flounders have over the years been given a reputation which they apparently do not deserve. Settlers say the flounders are now poor, "although the locals like them.” . Although frequent changes of wind —and etrong winds at that— make the Chathams rather cloudily dreary, the islanders claim that in many respects the climate is similar to Wellington's. There are more rainy days, but the temperatures are within a confined range; the heaviest frosts are of only two degrees. . The absence of forests is striking. "Unless the Government carries out an afforestation programme, the island, in a few yean, will not only be out « firing, but out of shelter," said Mr Murdoch. ~, , ... _ Ake-ake and black punga are beint cut out. With its rainfall and high average temperature Chatham Island might be compared with the rainforest country of the North Island of New Zealand. On present-day costs, any householder would have to pay about £l. a bag for West Coast coal A survey showed that some lignite deposits are on the island; a member ot a family of farmers for three generations said the coal was merely outcrops and was not commercially workable. *.» peat on Ch-tham is not like the peat in Ireland, where it is cut and used as firing. Early In the war, the Governirtmt announced that a •'major” investigation was being made into the value of the peat as a possible source of substitutes for montan or other waxes. The islanders have heard nothing since. (To be Concluded.)