FARM NEWS.

Manawatu Times, Volume LXIV, Issue 282, 6 December 1907, Page 3

FARM NEWS.

Interviewed as to the progress of the Piako Swamp draiuage works, irir Jospeh Wurd stated that there are oO ineii liuw employed iu cutting channels aud drains. Two specially coustmoted Priestman dredgers have beeu cabled for to England to cut a channel 15 miles long from the mouth of the Piako to the Waihakaruru, and the works will be energetically pushed on under the supervision of Mr Brakill, who is in charge of the works. "When this work is completed I hope and believe," said Sir Joseph, "that the swamp will be turned into some of the best laud available in the province." The farm hands who come to New Zealand from the Old Country, said a witness before the Conciliation Board, are worth only from 8s to 10s per week to the colonial farmer. Many of them had never seen a double plough or a binder, and they had to unlearn a good many things before they could be taught anythnig. The Home labourers were of considerably more use to the farmer than the colonial hand—the colonials could not be compared to them. Their work had made their muscles and sinews iu far better trim, and after getting experience in colonial methods they were splendid workers.

By the middle of September (says the Westminster Gazette) England will be dotted over with stacks of corn, and almost all of them, when thatched, will be crowned with a whisp of straw tied on to a stick or a pitchfork, and looking at a distance about as much like a bird as a scarecrow looks like a man. This almost universal and apparently meaningless custom is a relic of the Pagan times before the Roman conquest, when the tillers of the soil killed a human victim to propitiate the spirit of the corn, and buried him, or part of him, in the stack. Our wisps of straw represent the effigy which in later days was substituted for the victim. Traces of this superstition are found all over the world, and in almost every century ; survivals of the dim ages when man looked upon the gifts of Nature as a boon to be bought with a price of blood.

One result of the Land Bill is that tenants will have the right to elect one member to each Land Board. This new right will be exercised as the two years', appointments of present Land Board members expire, the Governor still retaining his right of appointment of three members of each Board. Six candidates have been nominated for a vacant position on the Marlborough Land Board, and there are four rivals for the honour of a seat on the Nelson Board. The Auckland and Hawke's Bay Boards also have vacancies at present, so that the Grown tenants in a large area of the Dominion t are enjoying an early opportunity' to exercise their right.

In an endeavour to gange' the relative financial returns of sheepfarming to-day and in the past, Mr Thorn, representing the workers, asked a witness before the Conciliation Board in Christchurch how much he got for sheep seven years ago. Without being able to answer exactly, the witness said he did not get more than 10s, and Mr Thorn triumphantly asked how much he got last year, expecting a considerab'e increase. • • What sort of sheep do you mean?" asked the witness. "Why the sore of sheep you generally sexl, ,, Mr Thorn supplemented. There was some laughter, and the witness said: "Do you mean crossbreds or merinos?" "Merinos" said the questioner. "Oh, don't try him with merinos, Mr Thorn," said Mr Ackland. "We got only 2s 6d for them last year." "Well, then, crossbreds." " Didn't sell any crossbreds," said the witness, "but we got 4s for the others," and Mr Thorn turned to the price of wool.