PROGRESS OF ARGENTINE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13487, 14 May 1907, Page 6

PROGRESS OF ARGENTINE.

ITS REMARKABLE DEVELOP. MENT. ADVANCING IN ALL DIRECTIONS. [BY TELEGRAPH.— CORRESPONDENT.} S|f Wellington, Monday. Amongst the passenger:! who arrived by the Ruapehu were Mr. J. Haydon and his son, Mr. Ernest St. C. Haydon who have been settled in the Argentine for some time. ■'. Both are well known in Cujterbury, having lived there for a number of years, and both have had excellent opportunities of learning of things 'in the Argentine as they are, and as they are likely to be in the aiture. Latterly they havV been engaged in agricultural and pastoral pursuits in the great South American' Republic,'' and, like many other colonials who 'ss go abroad, fortune has smiled'on them. In an interview with a Post reporter, ' i Mr. Ernest St. C. Haydon stated that ho ■ intended returning to his estancia by the Ruapehu. Speaking of the New 7,ealanders who have settled in the Argentine, he said those ho had come in contact with seemed to be doing very well indeed. EVERYTHING ON THE UP GRADE..- , For the last three or four years everything had been on the up grade, and the signs of prosperity were everywhere to bo seen. The last three'-.Presidents- of the Republic were all men of high ideals, and revolutions were now seemingly at attend, though labour strikes still occurred. ': Agriculture, he stated, had made an extra- " ordinary advance in recent years, pejtieularly in regard to the growth of crops. In 1903, for 'instance, 9,250,000 acres of wheat were sown; in 1904 tho area row to 12 millions and a-quarter, and in 1905 it was 14 millions and a-quarter. In 1904 throe millions and adialf acres of linseed were sown, and in 1905 no less than two mil- -%* lions and a-quarter tons of maize were ex- : ported. Cotton is grown in the extreme north, but, like tobacco, not much was being done with.it yet. Agricultural and pas- ' toral pursuits have, been going ahead at tux astonishing rate, and farmers are evincing an evor increasing tendency to improve ; their flocks. To prove that this was so, ■[[ Mr. Haydon stated that between June 1 and December 1 of last year over 5700 head r f of stud sheep had been imported, and -' cattle,, horses, and pigs for the purpose had been brought into the country in like " proportion. Naturally /this development had resulted in a great improvement of the ; i herds and flocks. _ . , ;'• RAILWAYS. In tho matter of railways, the Argentina could give New T Zealand - points all along the line. At present tho railways were ,-,, owned by 16 different" companies.. The Southern Railway Company had 2481 miles of : line open for traffic, the Western 966, - the Rosario Central 2361, the Pacific 1116, and the Western, to quote the five largest ;i " companies, 464 miles.' All these companies ' were engaged .in building extensions. Only last year the Southern Company had made a proposition to the Government to construct an additional 1100 miles, but the scheme fell through, because the Govern-, ment refused to -make the required conces- * sions. : passenger trains are run at night, and the goods "traffic is conducted during the day. The sleeping cars and the restaurant cars, Mr. Haydon statedv, are of a very comfortable typo, which makes travelling pleasant . and agreeable. . One ~ feature-s which struck him as being very modern and convenient .was .the build of the sheep trucks. - These are double-decked trucks, and are so constructed - that [the », floor of the upper' deck, can be dropped at „,.,- will, and the trucks in a few seconds cull*, be converted into a cattle or horse truck. All the sheep tracks: are loaded from the , end, hot from the Sides, , and as there is ah opening at both ends a long row of ;J trucks can be backed into tho " race" yard, and the sheep drafted through -from one [to .■-. the other without shifting the trucks in any .way.. .The: principal railways are all / : run on a gauge of sft 6in. A CAPITALISTS' COUNTRY. Mr. Haydon spoke in \ glowing terms of the Argentine ;as a country; but his appre- - ciation of its advantages was tempered by a very decisive statement that "the Argentine is a capitalists' country.". He said, "There is very little use a man going there unless ho has at least; £5000. Labour is cheap, living is dear, and taxes v are low." - In a brief reference to the city of Buenos ;fe Ayres, he said it had now a population of v( " over a million, , mostly Italians. Traffic in 'the streets is becoming very congested, and a proposition has been made for constructing an underground electric system of railways, l similar -to those in operation in London.. The language of practically every civilised country in tho globe is heard in ... the Argentine. In most matters the Englishman is generally able to hold his own, but the 'Germans are going ™ largely for vV agriculture. . ' FROZEN MEAT TRADE. At present the country is not producing one-fiftieth .part of ' what it is . capable, if . worked up to the New Zealand standard. The conversation gradually drifted round to the frozen meat trade, and the interviewer asked" Mr. Haydon what he thought of the statement so often made that the . :New Zealand trade in this particular commodity would eventually be swalldwed up, ' or seriously injured, by that of the Argentine. The reply was terse and to the point. 4 " The Argentine," he said, " still goes in for Lincoln sheep, instead of a smaller and more compact carcase, and it is questionable whether-alfalfa can produce th at fine flavour which the natural and ac-;;s climatised grasses of New Zealand do. I have little doubt that the Argentine in a few years will be'able to glut.the markets, so far as quantity is concerned, but she will n»ver hurt New Zealand ias regards ■: quality, and as a natural consequence New Zealand will always be able to hold her own in the matter of price-.;."