USE OF THE LAND

Greymouth Evening Star, 5 December 1929, Page 12

USE OF THE LAND

A NEW ZEALAND SURVEY. In the elaborate report by the Government Statistician, on the agricultural and pastoral production of New Zealand, some important facts can be gleaned by carefully examining the statistics. The total area of the Dominion is about 66 mililon acres, but over 22 million acres are left out of the calculations as they comprise such unprofitable areas as mountain tops. Of the land in profitable use, the greatest proportion is under grass, but the grasslands which are sown pasture showed, a decrease last year, compared with 1928, of 16,018 acres. Tussock and other native grasses, on the other hand, are shown as having increased by nearly 40,000 acres. The most notable advance in land use of recent years has been in the establishment of plantations. These now total 293,911 acres, and during the year the areas planted in conifers have increased by 51,539 acres, and the eucalypts and broad-leaved trees by 10,829 acres. The following shows how

[ the land area of the Dominion is . utilised: — - Acres. , Orchards; market gardens, nurseries, vineyards, and ' seed gardens .. .. 31,271 Crops ■' .. .. 1,746,200 Residences, outbuildings, etc 73,263 Fallow land .. .. .. 117,944 Sown grasses .. ..16,855,512 New Zealand flax — — 62,704 Tussock and other native grasses 14,131,630 Fern, scrub, etc .. .. 4,016,774 Plantations, conifers .. 252,052 . Plantations, eucalypts and broad-leafed .. .. 41,859 Standing virgin bush — 3,883,805 Barren and unproductive land 2,309,117 Totals .. .. .. 43,522,131 It is shown that the areas in crops increased by 56,831 acres last year. Persons employed on farms, including those owners who work on the area, totalled 138,609, showing the substantial increase of 9128 for the year. Dairying leads the list as the land occupation, for it gives employment to 56,825; males and' 17;861 females." Another important development "in the use of the land is shown in the details of farm machinery. The advent of hydro-electricity has been welcomed in the dairying industry, with the result that since 1921 the number of electric motors used on farms, has

ris,en from 456 to 13,377 lasjt year, the nominal horse-power totalling 24,713. Farm’ tractors are also rapidly coming into use, 1506 additional machines of this type having been added last year, making a total of 3377. Thus it is not surprising, on turning to the particulars of horses in the Dominion, to find that last year they decreased by 8174 and now total under'3oo,ooo for the whole country.