FROM THE LAND

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 127, 31 May 1928, Page 10

FROM THE LAND

INCREASED PRODUCTION . INTERESTING STATISTICS .Particulars tending to, show- .the in«creased production from farms were plac- ■ ed before the Royal Agricultural Sociejty'i Conference last evening by the Hon. 0. J. Hawken (Minister oil Agriculture). The Minister said that we< could not, look to the added farming'area ia New; Zealand as. they could in -Australia,, and consequently we had to. look to increased production from the land already- in use. For the purposes of comparison,, prices had been standardised, and figures had been taken for five-yearly periods. For the period' 1901-06 the average pro-, duction per year was £25,000;000. The next .five-yearly period it was £ 31,000,000 i an increase, of £5,500,000. In. the next five years 1911-16, embracing the start! of the war, the production rose tos £36,000.;----000, another rise, of £5,000,000. For 1915----21 it rose to £37,000,000, and ia 1321-1926 it rose to £44,000,000. Those figures were very instructive. There was. to. be seen the gradual rise before ythe war. Then, from 1911 to 1910 there was a slow rise o£ £2,000,000, suggesting a. slackening o£ production during those years. The figures from 1916 to. 1921 gave, a very consul- ' erable increase, of £7,000,000, and tha increase to 1926 was very big. Recognising the area of land brought in since the war as being very small, it would be seen, that i the farming practice must have improved /to a very great extent to provide tha actual increase in / production that had resulted. He thought that, it would be admitted that the figures were- very satisfactory. The increase from, 1918 to 1926 was £12,0Q0,00Q. The figures, for last, year showed a still greater increase,.and those for thia year were very satisfactory,; showing that the farmer in New Zealand wa» using his land much .better. The production of occupied land per acre for 1901-02 wa» 14s Id. In the next five years itiras 16s 2d, and in tUe following five years it was 17s Bd. After the war it fell to'lTs 2d. There was an actual loss in per acre production. It then rose to £1 0s 6d, and last year it amounted to £1 2s Bd. Dealing with the dairy industry,, the Minister said he thought that thai industry showed more consistent .advancement and improvement. In 1901 the production was 58,000,0001b of butter-fat. In 1906, 77,000,000. In the next five years 107,000,000, and for 1916-21, 132,000,000. Then it rose from 1921 to 1926 to, 225,000,----000. Last year, it rose to 259,000,000. The production per co.w started with 1271b and increased to 152, 154, and in 1921-26 to 179 Last year it was 198. Thin year, from figure* compiled already, it.f« cer- ! tain, to top the 2001b mark. That showed a continual improvement. In regard to sheep, in 1901 there were 19 250,000; 1906, 23,000,000; 1911, %000,----000; 1916, 24,000.000, There was. a drop from 1921 to 1526 to 23%. """^.Tbe number, however, rose a ßa™ t'jLW» 9'SSr and this year it would be 26,000,000. The most striking feature of the sheep returns was Jjrought out in the returns of the breeding ewes. The figures rose from »,..._ 650,000 to 12- millions; 12,650,000; 12,336,----000; 13,000,000. Last year the nwnber rose to 14,632,000. It showed that the farmer had turned his practice in the most profitable direction.