Master Mariner Now Farms At Wakanui

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30348, 25 January 1964, Page 7

Master Mariner Now Farms At Wakanui

"VOT many men bave had the opportunity to pursue two exacting careers in a lifetime and of these, few have made a success of both. Indeed, most find one career ample. But a master mariner who now farms at Wakanui, a few miles towards the coast from Ashburton, has made a success of two careers. He is Mr R. D. H. Wallace, who owns “Durbar Lodge” now a mixed cropping farm of 257 acres but once a wellknown trotting stud. Mr Wallace, who spent 25 years at sea, was in Sydney when he was offered the property whidh was then owned by Mr A. J. Nicoll. He took over the place in June, 1960, and left the sea in August of that year to begin a vocation which bore little resemblance to his previous occupation. Lambing Before he began farming his only experience was on properties during holiday periods and at Singapore during World War H, where he was a prisoner of war. However, he had a good knowledge of mechanical equipment, which has stood him in good stead. Helped by advice from his wife, father-in-laiw (Mr J. C. Guinness), who has a stud sheep farm near-by, and neighbours, he has transformed the farm from a trotting stud into its present state. Mr Wallace considers that one of his most notable achievements in the last four years has been his consistently high lambing percentage. This season, he said, he put 508 Romney ewes to the Hampshire Down rams. Of these, 470 were successfully mated and this resulted in 605 lambs being tailed—giving a figure of 147 per cent lambing for those ewes which were successfully tupped. The over-all lambing percentage of ewes put to the ram, including the 38 that were either dry or died, was 136. Mr Wallace, who runs a Hampshire Down stud, believes that one of the reasons for the high lambing percentage is the use of these rams. He thought that the Hampshire Down rams were also the governing factor that made the lambs fatten so well. He said that this was the

first year that he has not sold ell his ewes and lambs. At present he has sold 52 ewes and their 75 lambs and another 611 lambs have been consigned to the freezing works.

All tthe ewes and lambs were previously sold' in an effort to shut up clover for seed. Although this worked in the first year, Mr Wallace said, it had not worked since. Now he will sell only older ewes each year. On the rest of the farm he has 70 acres of wheat (Arawa, Aotea and Hilgendorf), 34 acres of barley and 30 acres of white clover. Another 20 acres, carrying potatoes, are under lease. Future plans are to continuue on much the same lines, with about 60 acres of wheat and 20 acres each of barley, grass seed and clover. Mir Wallace said that the main reasons why he left the sea for the farm were that he preferred working for himself and liked the better home life. “At sea I had a certain amount of home life but it was very erratic,” he said. Although he has never regretted his decision to farm, he admits to a desire to make one more sea trip, "to see if I can still do it.” The sea was not his first preference in life. He was first interested in flying and before the war was a member of the Napier Aero Club. When he could not go commercial flying he did what he considered was the next best thing and went to sea, as his father had done before he too, retired and came ashore. War Service During the war Mr Wallace was the third officer on the Hauraki when it was captured in the Indian Ocean. The crew and passengers were taken to Singapore and interned for the war’s duration. Before he took up farming, Mr Wallace was master of the Kaitoke, a cargo vessel trading between South Island ports and New . South Wales. He had been in command of ships for the Union Company for five years before he left the sea.

He still retains his connexions with the sea and is interested in new ships which come to New Zealand and the staff on these and other ships. He is on the committee of the Christchurch branch of the New Zealand Company of Master Mariners and has been a member since the branch’s inception.