FARMING IN SOUTH AFRICA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CIX, Issue 13153, 15 June 1903, Page 6

FARMING IN SOUTH AFRICA.

A VISITOR’S VIEWS. LIFE IN LADYBRAND. Mr W. Heney, an old Christchurch resident, who left for South Africa, three years ago to take up a position in the telegraphic service, is at present on a holiday visit to his old home. In conversation with a “ Lyttelton Times ” reporter on Saturday, he threw some interesting side lights on life in the sturdy new colony. Mr Heney was for two and a half years associated with the military telegraphic service, but for the past nine months he has held the position of postmaster at Ladybrand. During his residence in this district he has seen a good deal of the processes of life and the possibilities of living in the Orange Colony, and not unnaturally has found time to institute some instructive comparisons between the methods of New Zealand and the methods of South Africa. He considers the prospects of settlement in the country excellent for men possessed of a little capital. The methods of farming have so far been very different from those prevailing in New Zealand. The Dutchmen simply tickle the ground, but it cannot always be induced to smile by this primitive process of agriculture. 'The whole of their machinery is, as a matter of fact, far too light to properly work the soil. The printipal crops grown are mealies (maize), wheat and Kaffir corn. Oats are grown only for fodder. As a rule, the crops are poor, something, to institute a local comparison, of the quality of those prevailing on the Eyreton plains. The oats when grown are simply tied up in small sheaves and exported as they stand. They provide the staple export of the district, and form the principal fodder supply for the whole of the Orange River Colony and Basutoland. Dairying in the district is still in its infancy, but there is no reason why it should not bo profitably established, for the Garden of the Orange River, as it is called, is splendidly watered. . Referring to the cost of living, Mr Heney said that, though living was expensive, "wages were correspondingly high. It was possible to live comfortably at_ a boardinghouse for £2 a week, hotel prices being considerably higher. Very few people, however, lived at either, the favourite system being to rent a couple of rooms and meal out. Tire prices quoted as prevailing in Johannesburg were due to the congestion in that city. Rents in Ladybrand were high, too, owing to the influx of people, principally from, the Old Country, at the conclusion of the __war; l £lo to - £ls a month was easily obtainable for four, to six-roomed cottages. Living, generally, was verv little dearer than in New Zealand. Meat was a trifle more expensive, but the operations of . the Cold Storage Company promised to remove this reproach at an early date. Skilled white labour was in good demand, coloui.ed labour. being only employed for the sheer hard manual work. When ho left, carpenters were earning as much (is £1 per day, and many of them were only " bush carpenters ” at that. First-class tradesmen would always get good remunerative employment. the hours of work were longer, and people rose much earlier. Work as a rule started at 6 a.m'., at which hour even the telegraph offices opened. People as a rule worked”from 6 to 8, 9 to 1 and 2.50 to 5. All the shops shut at 6 in the afternoon. Wednesday half-holiday supplied a further instance of the existing civilisation. Until a civil administration was estab-' fished in the colony everything was at a standstill, but thereafter everything had boomed. There were plenty of opportunities now, for enterprising men who were not afraid of a few hardships and who had a little money. They must he prepared to find the food" not quite so plentiful nor so good in quality as that they were used to f n New Zealand, and, above all, it was useless for them to go to South Africa unless they were distinctly abstemious. _ Drink and the climate were a mixture which would soon put a man under the sod. The stock on many of the farms was as out-of-date as the implements. In driving froih Ladybrand to Thabanchu, a forty-mile journey, which occupied eight to ten hours, owing to the execrable road, Mr Heney had counted fully 100 teams at work. These comprised "mules, horses, oxen and donkeys, which were mixed in the most haphazard manner. The stock were very poor, because the fanners had all along neglected (o find out which were the best grasses for their land. He himself was sending over a snipply of cocksfoot for experimental purposes. The general opinion was that there was an excellent market for New Zealand stock and produce, now that tire Argentine was closed. .Attention generally was being very keenly directed to New Zealand. The risk of sending over stock, which were full-grown or in good condition, was that such stock were much more liable to take some of the prevailing diseases. One thing that was necessary" in importing both stock and produce was to see that they were at once despatched • away from the coast on arrival at Durban. It was- no use keeping them on the humid and muggy sea coast. If they were left long there, the stack would sicken and the produce sweat. Quite recently, thousands of cases of potatoes, for which there was a good market, were spoiled in this wav. There was a good demand, at good

prices, for stock. Disease was soxnexvhat prevalent among, the stock, oxving to the fact that there was absolutely no attempt at isolation. All the stock xvere kraaled together hapazard at night, and the farmers were not too particular as to the xvater supply.’ Ex r en xxdxen diseased animals died, no proper precautions xvere taken to prevent the spread of the disease, the carrion being left to Nature’s scavengers. This, of course, helped it to spread. The farmers were, hoxvever, learning wisdom, and xvei*a now beginning to collect and bum the remains of such animals.

The txvo' nations appeared noxv to be getting on in an amicable manner. The men xvere on excellent terms, but some of the xvomen xvere still a little bitter. This xx*as simply due to the fact that a lot of them had been too xx r ell looked after by the British. In a year or txvo, everything xvould probably bo forgotten. Alany of the discharged Tommy Atkinses xvei'e marrying Dutch girls, a method of colonising which promised to materially assist in eradicating racial antipathies.