A HARD WINTER

Manawatu Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 2780, 23 October 1923, Page 9

A HARD WINTER

CONDITIONS IN THE SOUTH. IMPRESSIONS OF A TOUR. During a recent tour of portions of the South Island, Mr J. Linklnter, M.P., gained the impression that, generally speaking, the country was showing signs of one of the hardest winters ever experienced there, though the prospects for the future are bright. On his return to Palmerston North, Mr Linklatcr informed a "Times" re. porter that throughout his travels lie was naturally interested in everything connected with the dairying industry. "The Canterbury plains look very well just now," he said, "but the country has passed through one of the hardest winters on record, and most of the stock I saw showed signs of hard times. Being accustomed to Kairanga country, I at once noticed the scarcity of stock .on the different' farms we passed. During the land boom the land down south did not participate in the boom prices, and to my mind the reason is not far to seek. THE MENACE OF FLOODS. "While at Dunedin I had an opportunity of seeing most of the Taieri plains, and through the kindness of the Hon. Downio Stewart in placing his car at our disposal, was shown objects of interest/in that town. The Taieri is certainly a good block of country, but the low-lying portions of it are menaced by the silting up of the river. This river has had to be banked in order to keep the surrounding country from being swamped. Of course, it is also subject to flood, and in this connection there is still signs of that disastrous flood of last year in evidence on several farms. In many of the mining districts of Southland the silting up of rivers is a real menace. During the early days, when mining was at -its height, and since then, to a certain extent, a great amount of spoil and gravel has been washed into the rivers. This is gradually being washed down to the lower