JUST BUTTLE FARM

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 145, 16 December 1926, Page 9

JUST BUTTLE FARM

BUT NOT SO,LITTLE AS IN 1925

BIGGEST-FARMS ALSO LESS,

'• In the "Statistical . Eeport on. the Agricultural^ and Pastoral Production of the Dominion of New Zealand," just issued by the Census and Statistics Office, the. 'Government Statistician' has: compiled "a volume of which eveiry farmer—in fact, every New Zealander —should buy a copy. It is informative, though in some placeE hard reading; at the Bame time not so hard M 'cross-word puzzles. ■■• ■ ' Under the-heading of "Sizes of Farms," the" Government Statistician shows that the average rural holding is 508.63 acres in-, extent.. The .difference between this and the :t925 average rural holding (507.49, acres) is slight. In a further table'it is shown that the number of holdings declined from 85,977 in 1925: to • 85,734 in 1926. Holdings from ten acres -up to 640 acres are tabulated .in si?: classes, ascording to size, and in overy class- the number of holdings is lessi in 1926 than in 1925. ' This indicates, a certain amount of aggregation. But at the top end of the scale—that is, among the largest holdings—there has also been adeclirie; holdings over 5000 acres are 12 less iii 1926 than in 1925, and that twelve implies that 133,443 \acres iof land has gone- into lower areaclasses* : : The net result of a reduction in the number of owners at both ends (the Kttle and the big) is an increase in the intermediate i area-classea. Hoi dings of 320 acres'-or less numbered 64,077 in 1926, as-against 64,358 in 1925, a decrease of 281; but holdings above 320 acres numbered 21,657 in 1926, against 21.619 in 1925, an increase of 38. The Government Statistician bums it up in this way: "The'decrease of 281 holdings of 320 acres or less is reflected in a decrease of 19,954 acres in the aggregate area of those holdings. The larger holdings, while iihowing an increase iii number of 38, reveal a docrease of 5589 acres in their aggregate area. ■' This is accounted for by the fact that the very large holdings (over 5000 acres) have decreased by 12, involving a decrease of ,183,443 acres.'-' The average farm is considerably smaller in the' North Island than in the South Islands- The-1 aroa of poor high country in the South makes this inevitable, though a, continuance of good farming in the South and bad farming (impoverishment of. pastures) in the North- might (lo something to redress tho balance, '■ particularly if :in the markets <>f tho world, sheep products wore to appreciate relatively to cow products. :