LIME PRODUCING COY.

Greymouth Evening Star, 8 November 1923, Page 3

LIME PRODUCING COY.

SECRETARY’S REVIEW.

The following is contributed by Mr J. Murdoch, secretary of the West Coast Farmers’ Lime Producing Co., Ltd. :—

In. acknowledgment of the courtesy shown by the Editor of the “Star,'’ who wrote that he would be glad to publish any items of interest to readers, so long as the notes are brief and “pithy,” I respond to the kind invitation, and will leave it to the tender mercies of readers as to whether they are brief and “pithy.” On October 1 I was appointed secretary of this company and Mr W. Wood, a man of large and varied experience both in New Zealand and America, was engaged as manager. With the advent of spring the farmers seemed to waken to the fact that their .supplies of lime were exhausted. They at once commenced to bombard us with orders. Some seemed to be in such a hurry that one would need an aeroplane to supply their immediate needs. We must ask for patience, because the extra work of reorganisation takes extra time before you get the machinery running smoothly. You know it is a common .saying that “A new broom sweeps clean.” Well, I will be quite satisfied if I can make a clean sweep of all the debts owing to its as well as by the company.

We received orders for our 200 tons of lime during October, and if shareholders and non-shareholders could only keep up these figures for the 12 months, it would not be long before we would be able to pay dividends. Quite a wrong impression still exists in the minds of many farmers. In the supplementary prospectus it was stated that “The company according to resolution can supply shareholders only, and supplies are now prevented going to outsiders.” Let me say this, that non-shareholders -will be treated just the .same as shareholders, provided they pay for the lime when they get it. The Railway Department carry agricultural lime free on the railway up to 100 miles providing that not less than a 6ton truck is ordered. It must be for a bona fide farmer as we must guarantee this with each consignment. If a merchant or storekeeper orders lime to sell again he must pay freight, or if the farmer orders less than a 6-ton truck he must pay freight. If any non-shareholder- sends in an O’-rier for a 6-ton truck and is not supplied, all he has to do is to notify the Railway Department. All the shares have been sold except about 410, and it is not likely that we are going to refuse to .supply any bona fide farmer who is able to pay. for his lime.

The writer spent nine weeks touring through Taranaki and Hawkes Bay during last winter, and is of the opinion that here on this Coast we have land when properly drained and limed equal to much of the cow-spank-ing farms of Taranaki district, without the disadvantages,<>f some poor fellows with land at £2OO an acre, and, of course, the usual sixth and seventh mortgages round their necks. I would say to West Coast farmers, drain and lime your land; you must put back some of the earnings of the soil to feed and nourish the plant food for succeeding crops. If you do not feed your stock, you cannot expect to get the same results as'lll6 man who does. You cannot year after year take good crops off the same ground without giving back food in the shape of manure and lime.

In conclusion, let me invite any visitors to Ross, whether they are shareholders or not, to inspect the lime works, and we will guarantee that they will receive courtesy and consideration: To those who are sufficiently interested' to view the difference between some paddocks in Ross that Have been limed and then look at others that have not had a bag of lime, we can show a fine example of what can be done with lime. Since the opening of the tunnel the prospects of this company have considerably brightened. We are railing rix tons of building lime per week to a Christchurch firm, and when a 'ucerne grower in Oxford wants 45 ion.i for his farm the possibilities of Canteibury for agricultural lime are .. ><> siderable, as the extra railage over the 100-mile limit, including the tunnel rate, is about 7/6 per ton on a 6-ton true®:.