FACTS FOR FARMERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9083, 18 June 1888, Page 6

FACTS FOR FARMERS.

CHILI AND THE ARGENTINA AN INTERVIEW NEW ZEALAND'S MANY ADVANTAGES. "SUMMER ISLES OF EDEN." REST AND BE THANKFUL. The exodus of population from New Zealand, which threatened some time ago to assume formidable proportions, has latterly been to a great extent stopped by adverse reports received from Victoria and other Australian colonies, and a rest-and-be-thankful spirit has manifested itself among our population. The true position of affairs in Australia is now pretty well-known, but a few facts about South America (compared with New Zealand) as a country for settlers will not be without influence in making people more satisfied with our sunny and fertile land. These facts have been supplied to us by Mr. McLaughlin, of Papatoetoe, who has recently spent about a year in travelling over South America, whither he had gone with the express object of taking up land and settling permanently.

WHY he WENT. " What was your object in going to South America, Mr. McLaughlin?' asked a reporter. " I always had a wish to live in South America, as most of my relatives live there. I was born there too, and my father spent 60 years of his life in South America, having gone out to Buenos Ayres in 1814, and ridden across to Chili about ISI6, so you see lam not a stranger there. Well, after living in Now Zealand for 25 years, I made up my mind to visit the place of my birth. Before I went I tried to realise my property here, having an idea of settling in South America. I went and stayed there for ten months."

"I suppose in that time you formed a pretty good estimate of the country's capabilities " Yos, I lost no opportunity of judging the state of affairs for myself. I saw and heard as much as I could, and having relatives and friends in Chili, Peru, and the Argentine I had plenty of opportunities." our advantages. " What were your conclusions then ?" " Well, all I saw and heard convinced me that New Zealand is a far better place for an Englishman, and there's more money to be made in it, and its easier kept when made. You never know when a civil war may break out, or a war with a neighbouring republic. Chili, Bolivia, and Peru have not recovered from the last war, and a war between Chili and the Argentine must come sooner or later, as they dispute Patagonia between them. All these countries court war, and go in when they have a chance. They love it, but the foreigners don't, as

they generally have to pay for the fun. When 1 hear people growl at the New Zealand Government, 1 think they should just go to South America. They would at least got an idea of what corruption means." " Is there much bribery there?" " Oh, it is something fearful. A man has only to become a Governor or Judge and he is rich, and all his relatives and friends, too. Most of their loans are spent on armies and navies. Chili alone can put 100,000 men in the field, well armed and equipped, and better soldiers are not to be had. When on the march a flight of locusts are fools to them. All is fish that drops into their net, and they don't care a rap who it belongs to." -j FARMING. " What were your impressions about farming ?" *' Well, in Chili the only land that would pay to take up is in the South, whereby the help of railways the Government are driving the Patagonianß back, and are selling the land to settlers. The price is about £2 to £2 10s an acre, in its natural state. It is undulating, and mostly covered with a sort of wild oat. It will grow fair wheat for two or at most three year*, the average crop being about 10 to 15 bushels an English acre." "That's very little." " Oh, none of them can grow wheat like us." How about labour ?' " It's very cheap, and it's very bad. The natives are very indolent, poor, and badly fed. They are born thieves, and every few men require a major-domo to watch them. He is the biggext thief of the lot usually. The Indians also come and work, but they can't be depended on, as they work in tribes, and leave suddenly without notice." " Spanish is the language spoken, is it not?"

" Yes, Spanish is spoken all over the Continent, and to get about you must know Spanish." WHEAT. " Have many English settled there!" " Yes, there are a good many foreigners settled in South Chili, but they don't seem to make much out of it. The best farm I saw belonged to Messrs. Mackay Bros., at Angoll, most practical and energetic men. They had 1500 acres of wheat, and 100 Indians ploughing, each with two pairs of bullocks, working day about, as the feed is not good enough for a bullock to work every day. The ploughs are the small American pattern. Now, although the Indians only get about 7d a day and their food—chiefly beans, —I find that it costs them more to grow a bushel of wheat than it did me in New Zealand, where I could do the same work in the same time—their season for planting being longer than ours—with 12 double-furrow ploughs, 12 men, and 36 horses, against 100 men and 400 bullocks. What they could not understand was that we paid 5s a pay for labour, and yet send wheat to England to compete against them. They told me that it was impossible. Mr. Mackay has been trying to introduce harvesters and headers, but it is an uphill job, as the people are so slow to take up anything new."

VINEYARDS. " The vineyards are the best paying things in Chili. The best are in the Aconcagua Valley. They are all irrigated, and give enormous returns; but it requires a big capital, as unless the wine is kept seven years, it does not bring the top price. One or two-year-old wine does not pay. They are managed by experts from France and Spain. A good-sized vineyard would be 300 or 400 acres. The best are owned by the old native families, and all the best sites are planted, and not to be bought for money, as an immense proportion of the land is waste. In the South there has been a good deal of land planted. Mr. Mackay has 300 acres, but the wine is not nearly so good, and the returns are not large. It is very common stuff, and is cheaper than beer is here." CLIMATE. " What is the climate like ?" "In Central Chili it is very good anß healthy, but the north is a barren desert. In the South they get about 30 inches of rain ; but, as it nearly all falls! within three months of the year, it is either a feast or a famine. As Chili covers a latitude of from about 15 degrees south to about 50degs there is great room for variations in climate." STOCK IN CHILI. " There is a good deal done in cattle, but sheep do not do well, and are neglected. One thing I noticed was the number of goats, and I don't think you can have a worse sign of a country from a farmer's point of view. If a man has grass for a cow he will not keep a goat; but go where you will all over South America, the Argentine included, you see goats everywhere."

MONEY AND TAXES. " What sort of currency have they ?" "It's all paper. When I was there in 1862 it was all gold and silver. Now you never see the colour, as it has all been sent home to pay for the war. The paper dollar, issued at about 40 pence, is now worth from 20d to 21d. In Peru it is worse. Tho paper dollar that was issued before the war at 36d is now not worth more than 2Jd, and as it was lately made legal to pay all debts, mortgages, etc., made on a gold and silver basis in paper, you can understand how hard it is to keep your savings, At the same time all Customs dues, taxes, etc., must be paid in gold value, that is 48d to the dollar. Now, the duty in Chili on clothes to 33 per cent, payable in gold, but at an exchange of 20d it really means 66 per cent. Where is the New Zealand tariff now lam nob up enough in Argentine money, but there they have now a good coinage; but I suppose, as in Chili, when there is a war, which there is sura to be, it will be exchanged for paper and packed to England to buy a navy."

THE OLD STORY. «' The Argentine debt is about 40 millions, and I think now quoted in London at about 86, but about six Dars ago it was quoted at as low ae £43 Ids. That is what is called the ' Hard dollar loan,' as it was spent in replacing the paper currency by coin. But there is certain to be a great crisis there before long, as a great deal of land has been taken up by large companies, and let out at more than its fair value, on what they call ' easy terms.'" " That is our trouble too." " Yes, it's just the same thing; but they are in a far worse pickle than we are, in fact there is no comparison between the two countries." WHEAT IN THE ARGENTINE. " Wheat is grown largely in the Argentine, is it not V' " Oh, yes chiefly by small settlers, the majority of them Italians. They rent the land for the crops at from lis to 12s an acre." "How do their wheat crops compare with ours!" " Well, I will just give you a few statistics. In Santa Fe, which is the best wheat department, the average return per acre was as follows from Government returns :— 1876,8 bushels; 1877, 7 ; 1878,6; 1879, 10; 1880, 7 ; 1881, 7 ; 1882, 9. In Chili it was about 10 bushelsduring thosame period. I think the New Zealand return in 1884 was about 25£ bushels all round, but this year in the Auckland district it must have been near 40 bushels. What would our settlers say to an average of 8 or 10 bushels ? I don't know any country in the world that has such a high average. I believe Russia comes near this, and in Canada they have large yields, but then look at the climate. Then in New Zealand we grow good grass after several crops, .and I oan point out a farm near Auckland that, to my knowledge, for the last twenty-five years, and I believe longer, has been growing three crops of corn every five years, beside two of hay, sometimes grass seed, and giving a return of from 40 to 50 bushels to the acre, never less, and by all appearances is likely to do the same for the next one hundred years. I have been told that in Howick there is a man who has two acres, on which for thirty years he has grown wheat or oats every year, And obtained large crops without manure. Now all the wheat land I have seen in South America seemed quite exhausted after the third crop; after that it grows nothing, and is left idle for years. I can point out a paddock in Papatoetoe that grew nine crops in succession, and I think without manure. It was then laid down in grass, and fattened cattle the first year. These are all facts. I don't know any other country that will do that. And what is more, fattened the cattle all the year round, not being undor snow in winter, or burnt to nothing in summer. I don't only mean Auckland, for quoting from a Canterbury paper I got when there three years ago l find that 1 Mr. David Stockwell has a paddock that in eight years grew the following crops : — Ist, turnips ; '2nd, wheat, 40 bushels ; 3rd oats, 93 bushels ; 4th, oats, GO bushels ; sth, razed and grass seed ; 6th, wheat, 50 bushels ; 7th, wheat, 45 bushels ; Bth, oats, lib' bushels. The paddock is on the Pareora estate.'"

"When I showed this cutting to friends in South America they simply said ' impospossible 1' and so it would be with them." . HOOK AND HORN IN THE ARGENTINE. " How about stock in the Argentine " Cattle and sheep do well there. They have 56,000,000 sheep, about 18,000,000 of which are owned by Irish and Scotch, about 8,000,000 by other nations, and the rest by the Argentines. The price of a ranch is from £2 to £3 per English acre. They say it carries one sheep to the acre, but I don't think it. There are lands that carry eight sheep, but in Gisborne, New Zealand, 1 have seen ten. In both cases, these are only limited river fiats, and valued accordingly. The country is in natural grass and thistles, but when grazed close the native grass dies and is replaced by shorter kinds ; which, however, do not feed so well, and the land is never like the new ground again. Every 2000 sheep require a shepherd to watch them, or they are liable to be stolen, —and if you leave him by himself too long he and his flock are very liable to disappear. His wages are about £20- a-year and food. The Argentines, however, generally prefer giving him a quarter of the flock. Fencing is very largely used, but still you must look out for thieves. Your best man will rob you, and look you straight in the face. One young Englishman told me the only way he could keep a good horse was by shaving his tail. The natives like long tail?.'' "But is there no remedy if you are robbed ?"

" No, none; it's useless trying to recover your property; for, if you did catch the thief, it would take more law than it is worth to convict him, and the chances are that, if convicted, there would be no room for him in the prisons, and ho would bo set free. THE QUALITY OF THE SHEEP. " What is the value of the sheep ? They are a scrubby lot, are they not?" "By Government estimates they are worth 5s fid each ; but that is more than their real value. They average about 2ilbs of wool, but on the foreigners' ranches they are much improved by imported stock, and far South I saw very fine half-bred sheep, us good as I have seen in New Zealand. One thing that keeps up the price just now is that there is a big demand to stock new runs but, when all the country is stocked, there will be a fall in value?. At Buenos Ayres there is a freezing plant capable of treating 500 sheep a day. Foreign mutton is shipped to Liverpool and London and sold as New Zealand mutton. You never see any other kind of frozen mutton in London but ours. That is a curious fact, is it not ?"

" Very. What drawbacks have they to contend with ?"

" Well, footrotis prevalent for one thing. The rainfall is from 25 to 31 inches, and better distributed than in Chili, but they are subject to great droughts, and also to very severe storms, which cause great loss. They are also subject to great plagues of locusts, and whole crops are often eaten up as well as the grass." "You have told us about sheep; how about cattle and horses

" Cattle are inferior and cheap. They also kill a large quantity of mares, the tongues of which all go to England as the best ' ox.' The flesh of the mares is dried, and preferred to beef by the Argentines." "Horseflesh?" "Oh yes, it is very good." In 1882 in Buenos Ayres they killed 184,000 cattle, 104,000 mares, and 245,000 sheep. Horses are cheap and small, but good, and are worth about £2. Cattle are, us I said, cheap. A good beef, say six cwfc. dead, would fetch £2 to £2 10s. In Chili they are worth more, as in Chili there is a very large mining population. A great many cattle

are driven over the Andes from the Argentine, and the North of Chili also has a large mining population and grows nothing, being a complete desert. In fact the great wealth of Chili is in its mines and nitre fields. If we had them we should be welloff." DISTANCE FROM MARKETS. " One great advantage that the Argentine Republic hold out is, that they aro nearer the home markets than the colonies— is just as far off as we are— when you consider that they have only one portBuenos Ay res—and the long distance they have to rail their produce, I believe that, on the whole, they are worse off than we are, for after all when once produce is on board ship a few thousand miles is nob as much as a few hundreds by rail. In New Zealand we are nowhere far from ports." " What are the railways like? are they well managed ?" ■ Ah,'that's a point I would like to give you a few facts about. They make the best of their railways. They, are very well managed, and there is no such thing, even with the cheap labour and horses, as a carter running goods cheaper than the railway, a thing you often see here. A great deal of the Papatoetoe wheat was this year brought in to Auckland by carters at a cheaper rate than the railway ; and in one instance a carter took the wheat that was actually on the railway-truck, and carted it to Auckland for less money than the railway charges. How can railways pay so ? The Argentine railways pay well. The Great Western, from Rosario to Mendosa, 418 miles, cost £6850 a-mile, and pays a ' dividend of 9 per cent. The - Central Argentine, 246 miles, pays 11 percent. ; the Great Southern, 640 miles, 8£ per cent. ; the Great Northern, 341 miles, 6 per cent." •' Why, we would all bo millionaires if our railways paid like that." ." Well, we wouldn't be in our present pickle, that's certain. And it's not cheap

labour in these cases that produce big dividends, as they are worked by Englishmen at high wages. Natives are not to be trusted with machinery. The fact is, they court traffic, and get it. Our railway management do all they can to keep you from using the railways." " What is the freight on these lines ?" " On the Rosario Mendoza line the freight of one ton is 18 dollars, that is, a trifle over ljd a mile. That's very different to Auckland, where for a distance of 10 miles the freight on a ton of wheat in four-bushel bags costs 5s Cd ; if more than four-bushel bags, you are charged about 6s 8d delivered in town. Say, Is ad for delivery, leaves ss, or 6d a mile per ton. One word on the cost of living. It is dearer in any part of South America than here. Servants are cheap, but they are worthless." " Then the conclusion you have come to is that New Zealand is the best country?" "Oh yes, give me New Zealand before any part of South America, bad times and all."