DETERIORATED LAND

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 109, 1 February 1929, Page 18

DETERIORATED LAND

LIGHT ON k A BIG PROBLEM VIEWS OF MR. A. STUART Dominion Special Service. ' Marton, January 30. The problem of deteriorated lands has been taken up by the Wellington Provincial Executive of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union, and for its consideration a ' very interesting statement has been prepared by Mr. A. Stuart, of “Runnymede,” Marton, who is a practical farmer, and a member of the Wellington Lands Board. This will be discussed at next meeting, but in the . meantime /the statement is available for publica- ■ tion :< — gj > " “I am well acquainted as to what has been done to help the settlers who are trying to farm this class of country,” says Mr. Stuart. “In what may be termed (the deteriorated area, you get the various ' classes of land, which makes it much -harder to know what to do. If the poor land were altogether, it would then only ' be a matter of deciding from an economic V.point of view whether the land was worth reading, and providing with other necessary facilities for the farmer to carry on. "It is useless listening to the theorist on this important subject; one has to be well conversant with this subject to be able even to discuss it, leave alone to offer suggestions that would overcome the difficulty. '' Land Misjudged. “I went over a portion of this class of country some time ago, and was able to see for myself what the trouble was in ■ many cases. First of all, the land I refer to had unfortunately grown the class of -timber that indicated good land. •' “It is my opinion, beyond doubt that the settlers who took up the land first judged the land by the timber that was growing bn it, in place of judging the soil. Certain ■areas have no substance or vitality in the ..soil to produce anything. . z ’ “While the land referred to was in bush "a certain amount of vegetation accumu- ' lated; this, combined with the potash •'-'from the bush fires after felling, supplied /sufficient plant food for a few years, so :.that the settlers were able to carry a reasonable number of stock which automatically gave a fair return. When this '‘accumulated, vegetation and potash were used up, there was not plant food in the ;; soil itself to produce anything. It may -be rather a strange comparison, but I would compare it to filling a lamp with . kerosene. - The lamp wjll burn while the kerosene lasts, but no longer; if you want -more light, you will have to refill. So the. same thing applies to this class of coun- ' try. The grass grew while the stimulant lasted; the stimulant being now exhausted, the question to decide in many cases is: Is it going to pay from an economical point of view to replace plant food? To Manure, or Not? V “It is not a case of the land deteriorating; there was never anything to de- • teriorate. As I have already stated, it ..was only while the accumulated vegetation and potash lasted that anything could be grown. Certain areas would take too much feeding to give a return of 20s. in the £l. So I am satisfied in my own mind that certain areas are not worth farming, in fact, it is a great pity that large areas of this class of. country should ever have been robbed of its natural covering, the bush. Everyone knows' • that a revaluation committee was set up by the Government to revalue this class of country; every settler that applied for it got his place revalued. The . capital value was written down to a minimum, and many concessions were given. In granting concessions, the Department was faced with many difficulties. Owing to private mortgages in many instances, it would only have meant increasing the security of the mortgagees in place of giving relief to, the settler. Quite a number of mortgages have ceased to be of any value, but the mortgagees are holding on to see if something cannot be saved out of the wreck. Provision of Roads. “Ono Of the main problems affecting this Class of country is the reading facilities. What With vacant sections, and those who are unable to pay rates, it is very hard for the local body concerned to keep the roads in any sort of repair. The poor land being intermingled with the other makes the roading question a very difficult one. However, if people are going to be kept on this class of country, it is absolutely essential that they should be provided with reasonable road access to their various holdings. The motor-car has become a necessity, and it is hard, and even unreasonable, to ask anyone to live on a farm in an isolated district without motor-car access. It is wasting time talking about what our forefathers did; the methods and conditions of the present day have to be considered. The craving for city and town is getting more acute every day, so if the settlers are to be kept on this class of country, where only a bare living and little amusement or recreation can be got, the roading facilities will have to be faced by the Government. Where the land will return 20s in the £1 everything possible should be done to keep the land in occupation. There are certain areas that I have no doubt will have to be abandoned. “In going back to the roading question. I fail to see why the unemployed should not be sent into the back country to do work of a productive nature, making roads, etc., in place of spending thousands of pounds in the various cities. While the Government continue to spoon-feed people in the cities, the unemployed will continue to increase in numbers: if sent into the back‘ country, 1 think it might help to solve the unemployment question. “I must say that in the deteriorated areas there are quite a large number of settlers of good type, both men and women, working hard in spite of the fact that in some cases their prospects are not ■ very bright, and where the land is at all productive they -should be given all the assistance and encouragement that is possible.” ,