IRRIGATION SUCCESSES

Evening Star, Issue 20253, 14 August 1929, Page 2

IRRIGATION SUCCESSES

SUBPRISiHG RESULTS [From Our Parliamentary Reporter.] WELLINGTON. August 13. Faming pursuits in Central Ota-o arc very closely associated with irrigation, and the future of that pan of the district in regard to increased produc tion is largely dependent on the judicious development and use of lands where water can be made available at a payable price (states tho Crown Lauds Commissioner for Otago, in bis annual survey of land settlement). He goes on to say that a relatively small area of irrigable land, held in conjunction with a fairly large area of run country, makes a very valuable and profitable property, which can easily bear a high rate for water; and this is the ideal use to which irrigation can be put. Ida Valley country gives a remark- - ble example of this. A few years ago the output of fat lambs, from that district could be estimated in hundreds, while last year 44,000 fat lambs were trucked from Poolburn railway station. Dairying-would appear to be the most profitable class of farming to which a small self-contained irrigated furu. could be put, and there seems to be reasonable prospect of a settler maxing a fair living by this method, even with an ordinary herd of, say. thirty cows. The returns from cows in Central Otago are in many cases surprisingly high, considering tho long winter and the short milking season; and these, no doubt, could be considerably increased by systematic culling and careful breeding. No'other kind of farming offers such possibilities to settlers on tho smaller areas which can be served with a supply of water. ; It is pleasing to note that farmers throughout Otago aro going in more and more for improving their pastures by top-dressing, etc., and are also mak ing great improvements in their stock, so that more stock, and stock of a better class, is now being carried. The gradual spread of manuka scrub in certain parts of the district has been causing much concern of late years. An area of 2,521 acres, chiefly consisting of Crown leases, was purchased during the year, bringing" the total area of freehold in Otago up to 9,310,628 acres. LANDS FOR SELECTION. Practically all land in Otago which is at all attractive and suitable for settlement is Held under one tenure or another, and there are very few areas available for disposal in the near future, about 4,000 acres of partially irrigable land on Pisa Flats, near .Cromwell, being the only fairly large area immediately in sight. Some pastoral lands under Part VI. of tho Act will, ns tho licenses expire, provide for further settlers, and possibilities in bins direction are being carefully watched; but, while both those tenures may bo subdivided, and give. opportunities of ■placing more settlers on the land, it is questioned in some quarters whether there would bo any increased production.