FENCING ACTIVITY

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIV, Issue 97, 7 April 1934, Page 11

FENCING ACTIVITY

Work in Hawke’s Bay Farmers in the Hawke’s Bay district are taking a greater interest in their fences this year. During recent trips around the district the writer has noticed new fences being erected in place of old ones, and °ld fences being renovated on several properties. In the Gisborne district a similar state of affairs rules. Better prices are the reason for this revival. Gisborne shcepfarmers are preparing for a busy season on their boundary fences. Suitable posts are difficut to obtain, and supplies are being secured from outside districts, accord ing to the “Poverty Bay Herald”. This activity is one result of the improved wool and meat prices. It was expected that there would be also a demand for fertilisers for sheep country, and although this has been partly fulfilled the orders coming to hand have not been as substantial as was thought. The demand for fertilisers, however, is greater at present than at this time last year, and suggests a reversion to the practice of using artificial manures which wns growing extensively before the slump.

But the first job requiring attention seems to be the fences. These have been neglected in many instances during the past few years in view of the prices for wool and meat being insufficient to have any but urgent work attended to. The result is that fences generally fell into a bad state of repair, and in some instances they might require renewing. Consequently sheep men all over the district have been ordering fencing material, and posts have been scarce. Totara has been coming from Taupo and the King Country, and punri from North Auckland and the Great Barrier Island. It appears that there is a substantial demand for posts all over the North Island, and that stocks held at the mills are down to a very low ebb, for some of the timber coming to hand recently was inclined to be green. It is feared that there may be a shortage of fencing posts for a time. Some orders sent forward by Gisborne firms before Christmas have not yet been filled. Supplies of fencing material have been coming to hand as rapidly as possible recently, farmers being keen to have them on their properties before the winter rains make carting difficult