OUR STAPLE INDUSTRIES.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLV, Issue 159, 12 July 1911, Page 2

OUR STAPLE INDUSTRIES.

RURAL NEW ZEALAND UNDER REVIEW. (By R. J. Eames.)

1 " No. 37. OTAGO AND SOUTHLAND

A RUN THROUGH THE' PROVINCES.. :

In tk> last article it was shown that tho wool and frozen meat industries play a most important part, in the continued: prosperity of the) two fe&u+Aornmosit provinces of Now Zealand'; and that it is altogether necessajy to revise old notions concerning Ota go and Southland so far -as climate and productivity pare conoecrned. Twenty years ago the writer, was in Southland, and then saw wido areas oi country which tho settlers then thought to be not worth the trouble of redeeming from the tussock. To-day that l&nd, instead of niggardly furnishing a nibbling for sheep, is yielding profitable crops of oats. This instance of change is typical of w'hat'has gone On throughout all that stretch of country, south of Waitald. A common railway • miap gives a good working idea of the disposition of rao-al activity. Right down the East Coast ? quite close to the seashore, runs tikemain artery which, joins Oamaru, through I>unedin, down to Inyercar-, gill and the Bluff. Striking inland, and in some oases piercing half-wtiy across the island, are railway veins of prime importance—veins . through which run the products of a great hinterland, a liinterland but. little understood, and only half developed, but -which, is bound! in the course of time to produce enormous numbers of sheep and cattle and large quantities oJ grain, of iroot-crops, ■and of f-ruit. At present -Central Otjago is not doing" itself justice: it imperatively needs irrigation. "Without the water it is generally agreed that its' future is problematical, but with it there is an enthusiastic confidence' that this vast inland area will grow fruit of many vKwrieties .exceedingly well, and almost ■tvny kind of crops to perfection. But tr-, return to the main railway-line. Upon entering 'Oayrmmi ■w© find tiie •iieart of a important farming district, and the .abundance of the vpcll-known Oamaru stone has enabled -tfee settlers to give am air of stability —I was almost going to say everlastingness—to, their dwellings- and many of tho iarm. outhouses To the northwest there runs an important valley, the Wairakei. Towards Tolouahi tiie landl is rather stony, but within live miles of Oamaru t:he totara land, priced at £30 and £40 an acre;, can produce up to 60 bushels of wheat, and 80 .and 100 bushels of oats per acre. Some of this land is let at £5 per acre for patches up to 50 acres in extent, for growing potatoes upon; other rentals for this purpose are £2 and thereabouts. Last season at Tokairahi, 25 miles from Oamaru, four crops of lucerne had been cut from one field, and a fifth was about ready'to be cut ■when the writer made his visit. The strong flavors • imparted by turnips and rape to thd milk has encouraged the growth, of lucerne and mangolds, end the latter is rapidly becoming regarded by a thoughtful body of farmers as the feed, par excellence, for tne ■dairy herd. Proceeding southwards one passes through clay land, then through really good sheep country, .and afterwards, about Palmerston and Waikouaiti, through fine cropping land. Thence onward to the capital city of Otago the quality is more patchy, but where the landl slopes downwards to the waters of tho Otago harbor there are many farm sites of unrivalled excellence so far as situations are concerned. It had been a terribly dry season, but of the herds noticed by the wayside none betrayed signs of any unusual suffering. Tiie boy at the tail of one herd at milking time was hailed. "These cattle look well,' 5 was the wayside greeting. "Yep," he replied, and then added■ laconically: "Turnips!" : SOUTH OF DUNEDIN. But for the principal rural gardens o* Otago one must go southwards of Dunedin. , From tho top of Saddle Hill, seven miles from Dunodin, one gets1 a first viow of Otago's most famous and most fertile portion, the Taiori Plain. This is an alluvial flat 18 miles long by 5 miles broad, which, if it grows noxious weeds with unpleasant fertility,--also produces, in tho words of a resident, "grand wh&s.t and oats wholesale." It is a splendid sight, -this. Tlaieri Plain. The view expands itself, and the intersecting roads with their lines of slielten-hedges and plantation clumps make a most attractive panorama. Flat in the centre at the plain «nd is Mosgiel, the busy Woolopolis. In many places the "plain" is really rolling country. Just near1 Mosgiel there is not so much dairying as further south. The VmmeTs, apparently well-to-do, seem more disposed to plough the field mid scatter the good seed on the ground, mid ' although last «c«son it was not ■watered .so abundantly as tho agriculturalist desired, the average .yield vra>; reported as excellent. Land values ran up to £50 -.and acre, and £40 an acre was refused for one 300-acre

farm. Towards the sea the hills are scored: with roads which lead to settiemonts, and many of the hills are put under the plough. Down towards Henley the land values fall lower, the average, perhaps, being £24 an acre. The Taieri Plain runs to Lake Waihola- and' along thie western shore of that piece of water the sloping sea is unusually picturesque. Dairying is here carried on more freely. The succeeding plain of importance is Tofcomairiro, upon' the centre of which Milton is situated!. People who live there, and they ought to be heard, declare with evidont sincerity th;>t Tokomairi.ro is more prolific than the Taiori. In any case, it must be confessed that there «re manifold evidences of prosperity. It may bo &iid of this plain in particular, and of the whole run between Dunedin and Jnvorcargill in general, that along tile wayside there are to bo seen homesteads and outhouses of such,substance as to be unexcelled, taken as a whole, in any p^art of Nw Zealand. Tokommriro is a picturesque valley. T&yib. tills and flats are under cultivation, to 1 which witness is* borne by tho stacks of gi&in. Dairying is neglected. There was a dairy factory once at Milton, but the arduous business of .milking did not commend itself to these contented agriculturist®, .and the factory was closed down. It is a district of the solid and the well-to-do. Wheat and 'oats, with big fields; of turnips, are chiefly grown. To tlie iacne 70 bushels of oats aiid 60 bushels1) o? wheat, aro unhesitatingly quotrxl. (Rhere is not much land on offer for sele, but one farjn of 320 acres, suitable for grazing, was on the market at £22 an i&cre; while a. wheat farm, with an affirmed capacity of 70 bushels |to the acre, was called at £35. Thes-e several placesl do not by any means exhaust the points of interest and productivity. There iare the1 famous downs of the dutba, the desirable country between 'Balclutiba and Gore, and the most excellent stnetch of territory which runs through Mataura and jEdendale and on to Invercargill itself. Northwards from Inveroargill right up through Winton (renowned' as a horse-breeding* territory) and Lumsden there are still lands' to be hud1 'at a figure which compares more thanfavorably with quotations elsewhere; And ,to the west, to Orepuki, and north-west to Otautau there aire big areas the potentialities of which- deserve to be much more widely known. Virtually throughout the vast and important country ovsr which we have skimmed the roadsl are ..eminently satisfactory in summer, whilst long distaDces are well metalled1 and afford •comfortable travelling .all the ye.ir. round. A visitor must have received! v> highly favorable impression 6T ttie:' south even if he "did" the country 4^s lato in the season as June.