SOIL SURVEY OF HAWKE’S BAY

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 286, 30 August 1935, Page 19

SOIL SURVEY OF HAWKE’S BAY

District’s Co-operation

DEVELOPING PRODUCTIVE POSSIBILITIES

Dominion Special Service.

Hastings, August 29.

A proposal that a soil and land utilisation survey of Hawke's Bay should be undertaken for the purpose of developing the productive possibilities of the district was put before a fairly well attended meeting in the Hastings Assembly Hall yesterday afternoon, and following an address by Dr. E. Marsden, secretary of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, it was unanimously decided that a committee be set up for the purpose of co-operating with the department in the carrying out of the survey. The meeting was presided over by the Mayor, Mr. G. A. Maddison, and there was also present Mr. R. B. Tennant, director of the Fields Division of the Department of Agriculture. “I look on the visit of these two gentlemen as a mission through which will bt> made for us adequate and efficient facilities for our future needs,” said the'Mayor. "The undertaking of a soil survey in Hawke’s Bay is not merely of interest to Hastings, but to the whole of Hawke’s Bay from Wairoa to Dannevirke. Practically the whole of the work will be carried out by the Government, but it solicits the co-operation arifl sympathy of all local citizensand local bodies, who will be asked to contribute small sums. Hawke’s Bay is one of the most backward provinces in New Zealand in the establishment of secondary industries and tne purpose of this survey: is to exploit the possibilities of establishing interests in the district other than such things as meat and wool alone."

Three Outstanding Facts.

There were three outstanding facts which had to be considered in New Zealand, Dr. Marsden said. The first was that there was a large amount of unemployment, the second was that our population for the first time was almost stationary, and the third was that .under a recent agreement we were compelled to accept regulation of markets, which meant that New Zealand had now to negotiate for the right to market its own products. *' ? “Hawke’s Bay has gone ahead with harbour development, hospitals, roads, • etc.y and has financed them in the hope of an< expanding population and_ industries, but if it is faced with more difficult markets, and a stationary population, it becomes necessary to look around not only to maintain the present 'standard of living, but, if possible, to get something better and to’diversify our production,” 4 said Dr. Marsden. The Dominion had not been sufficiently interested in the common problems underlying each industry as a whole,' and had failed to apply certain methods of modern industry. For instance, there were many who felt that the farmer was an individual producer, and. they quite failed to realise that he. was simply a part'of the dairy factory or of the meat company which he supplied. “A freezing works is simply a big manufacturing concern, and its capital is that of the farmers who are supplying it,” he eaid. Sizing Up Assets. Dr. Marsden went on to say that tbjre were no good -maps of Hawke’s Bayiign>L no geological survey had so far bbeh car? . ried out for,;.the benefit of-; the province.. These, together with.rsoil; maps, . were necessary for the sizing up of the. assets of the province and exploitation of its resources for the individual and common good. He described .soil surveys which had been undertaken in various' parts of New Zealand and said that the valueof fertiliser on farms could be indicated through a soil survey. He pointed out that through an improper understanding of the soil stock had failed to thrive iu certain parts, and through a survey the incidence of bush sickness, for example, had been delimited and remedies indicated. “The soil map is the basis on which the farmer and the agricultural instructor is able to think and to indicate how the soil cn his property is most suitably managed. It is really ground work which will make agricultural research workers and farmers help to interpret their trials and act with less uncertainty,” said Dr. Marsden. “It is going to be wopth while to have a map of soil types which will be a guide to agricultural activity in helping to forecast whether certain land would be useful for certain purposes and in dealing with stock ailments of nutrition origin and so on. These things are very obscure at the moment, but a soil map will be a basis for the agriculturist to work on. It will be useful for the sizing up of land assets so as to aim at making every acre yield its maximum and be most suitably employed. Possibilities of ’District. Mr. Tennent touched on the possibilities of the district in the growing of such things as maize, millets and subterranean clover. “We have never had a real stocktaking of the district,” he said, “and until we do, it is not possible to put forward a plan for the development of the district to its utmost capabilities. Nothing but good can come out of the scheme and Hawke's Bay. if it undertakes the project, will be giving a lead which is badly needed in the Dominion.

“I think we can all agree that a soil survey of the district is necessary and worthy of the sympathy of the whole of Hawke’s Bay,” eaid Mr. Ralph Paynter. Mr. Paynter then moved a resolution that a provisional committee be set up to form a Hawke’s Bay Development ijeague to co-operate with the department in making a land utilisation and soil survey of the district.

The committee nominated by Mr. Paynter was as follow: Messrs. G. A. Maddison, T. Mason Chambers, E. J. Herrick, R. E. Talbot, J. H. Macniven, D. G. Begley, F. B. Logan, C. O. Morse, R. D. Brown, W. E. Bate, H. W. C. Baird, L. C. Rolls and Ralph Paynter, with Mr. J, O. Kelsey as provisional secretary. This resolution was unanimously carried. In answer to a question Mr. G. A. Mad. dison stated that the cost of the survey w-ould be about £2cPO of which the department asked the district to find £lOO in cash, but in addition it would be necessary to provide certain maps and an aerial survey, etc. In all about £250 would be needed, and he hoped that all local bodies, farmers and others interested would respond and that within the next few days there would be promised or in hand the £250 required.