The Feilding Star. Oroua and Kiwitea Counties' Gazette. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1912. John Bull Still Alive.

Feilding Star, Volume VII, Issue 1882, 24 September 1912, Page 2

The Feilding Star. Oroua and Kiwitea Counties' Gazette. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1912. John Bull Still Alive.

Croakers, pessimists, and scaremongers generally would have us believo that J. Bull, Universal Merchant. Manufacturer, and Agriculturist, somo time ago reached the apex of his greatness, that he is now sliding down the other side of the pyramid, and that it only needs someone to put out his foot to trip the old man when ho will bo sent headlong to the bottom, and that he will fall liko Lucifer, never to rise again. As showing the utter falsity of this opinion, some figures published in the report of the Commission on the Cost of Living are worth quoting. In a table comparing the relative positions of New Zealand, with 66 million acres of land surface, and Great Britain, with 56 million acres, it is shown that the Dominion has approximately 16 million acres in cultivation, and Britain twice as much. New Zealand has 14J million acres in permanent pastures, and Britain 22 million acres. Britain has 1A million horses for agricultural purposes, and New Zealand 400,000. New Zealand contains two million head of cattle, and Britain three' and a half times that number. Wo boast 24 million sheep, but Britain beats us by 3£ millions. Against our 350,000 pigs, Britain can place three millions more than that number. In 1910 New Zealand produced 8} million bushels of wheat, and- Britain 6U million bushels. New Zealand grew a million bushels of barley, while Britain reaped 60 times that quantity. Compared with 10 million bushels of oats grown here, Britain registered 123 million bushels. After this, wo can at least sympathise with the old English farmer who complained that his crop was "terrible wearin' on the ground." The Commission adds the comment that "it is not commonly known that Great Britain, with its high density of population, colossal manufacturing interests, and climatic disadvantages necessitating stall feeding of cattlo in winter, is so highly productive in foodstuffs." Truly, John Bull has life and breath in him vet.