A NEW ZEALANDER IN MANITOBA.

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 98, 22 October 1904, Page 9

A NEW ZEALANDER IN MANITOBA.

♦ IMPRESSIONS OF THE COUNTRY. SOME INTERESTING PARTICULARS. Mr. Harold Kinniburgh, late of Wellington and now of the Experimental Farm at Brandon, Manitoba, gives some items of interest to those who may contemplate trying their fortunes in Canada. "In the short space of a month," he writes, "tho whole appearance of the country has changed from a. verdant green to miles upon miles of golden heads of grain. In a month from now it will all be either in the elevators or in private granaries. Tho first snow of winter falls aboufc the 10th of October, and then it is time to buy fur coats and felt shoes, and prepare for a temperature that seldom rises above zero. It's A HARD COUNTRY TO LIVE IN, and they say (apparently with some truth, if one may judge from the appearance of the general run of fanners) that a man is done at the age of thirtyfive. This is hardly to be wondered at considering the way they live. Of course there' are exceptions, but a good majority of Canadian farmers are in debt up to the eyes, with no possible chance of ever getting out again. As far as I can see, it is all for the want of a little management, forethought, and prudence. A farmer gets a good crop and clears a fair profit. Instead of putting some of ifc by as a reserve, he spends it all in new machinery (for which he has bo place to keep ifc in), and generally a new buggy and pair. You can see on almost every farm hundreds of dollars' worth of farm machinery falling to pieces, with no other cover than the sky. " Farming here is AY UNCOMFORTABLE BUSINESS. In the summer ifc is continuous hard work from morning till night. A man seldom gets a chance to read a paper or a book. In the winter you are all swathed in clothing, which must be uncomfortable, and the stoves have to be kept going day and nighfc for five months at least. There are some advantages, of course, such as the total absence of mud, the cheapness of land, and such like, but for comfort give me New Zealand. I may say right oufc that this is no country for a New Zealander who is already in fair circumstances. A FORERUNNER OF WINTER. "This morning (11th September) we had a slight frost, the first forerunner of winter. A splendid plot of tobacco on the farm, wanting barely a fortnight to mature, has gone down like grass before a scythe. Already the leaves are falling from the trees, and the farmers are cutting night and day. On a fine clear night you can hear the click-click of dozens of binders. Every one is working in feverish haste, because a, heavy frost just now means ruin to hundreds of farmers. Harvest hands are getting from forty-five to fifty dollars a month and board. " This is a poor country for the working "man in the winter. He is lucky if he gets a job at fifteen dollars a month tending cattle. If he fails to get on with a farmer he has to go to the bush, where ten chances to one he gets overrun with vermin. He makes good money in the summer and fall, but the winter pulls down his average some. It's not the farmer nor the hired man who makes the money here. It's the man with his coat on every time. I don't think I will take" to farming in Canada. I am enjoying j^ie best of health ; in fa'cfc," I neveV felt better in my life. The air seems to agree with me. Tke nights are never hot, and one sleeps like a log. One never feels tired or has an effort to get out of bed in the morning."