NEW ZEALAND FOR BRITISH FARMERS. TO THE EDITOR OF THE EVENING POST,

Evening Post, Volume XXII, Issue 151, 29 December 1881, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND FOR BRITISH FARMERS. TO THE EDITOR OF THE EVENING POST,

Sir — In reference to your leading article of the 19th insfc., yon see Mr. Honing agreps with me that the yrlca of land is too high ; alao that we must have capital. I should like to know what ho calls moderate— is it Is 61 or ; there are plenty who might reaih the first Yon state that those who bought land at a reasonable figure have done well. Kemember oats and wheat brought 5s to 7s per bushel ; hay and straw, £i to £7 per ton; potatoes, JCS to -£15(1 have paid JE2O per ton); butter, Is to 3a 6d p>er lb; onions, from 4A to Is Now they are as follows :— Oats, Is 6d to 2s 6d ; wheat, 4a Id ; hay and straw, from £2 to £2 ; potatoes, £1 5s to £3 (very rare) ; butter, 6d to Is 6d ; onions, ' £d to 2d ; cabbage, carrots, and turnips, at less than half. How about the prices of beef and mutton— a good cheep then 253, now os to 7a ; beef then 35s per cwt, now 16a. How about the labour in clearing flax, fern, and draining, and freights, auctioneers, wharfage, Ac ? What we want is manufactures to employ people, so that they may consume what we grow, or somewhere to export to. One man could grow enongh to feed 500 people in vegetables; now there is a farmer to about every Bix, if you take ths Email gardens. Even with Mr. Herring I can agree, but he nront leave the WellingtQn district for a sheep run, and go further narth, as the frosts cnt everything up, and the farther north less frost, and consequently earlier crops. I am, &0., G«OD NIGHT. '