IRBIGATION IN OTAGO.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18224, 18 October 1922, Page 11

IRBIGATION IN OTAGO.

PRODUCTION INCREASED.

VALUABLE ASSETS CREATED

RECOUPING EXPENDITURE.

iBX TKLKOBAPH. —SPECIAL REPORTER.] WELLINGTON, Tuesday. Irrigation provision, like hydro-elec-tricity supply, is a matter upon which educational effort is necessarv, even to the extent, in the general public interest, of undertakings which, tor tho time being, do not _ completely pay their way, says the Minister for Public Woi-ks in his Statement. Irrigation works are very similar to development roads in that they enable settlement to take place and production to he effected, which would be impossible without the water- supply which they provide. It is, of course, desirable that in addition to paying their way they should also provide interest and sinking fund, but in this resnect the call for repayment of interest should not be so strong as in the case of hydro-electric undertakings. If electric power is requined and is not produced by hydraulic agency it can be nroduced in some other w?y. and the industrv for which tho power is required can still go on ; but in the case of irrigation works, if the water is not supplied, nothing can take its place, and land which might carry from three to five sheen to the a.cre rmist remain tussocky waste, carrying less than one-tenth part of the stock: and crops which can be grown most luxuriantly with water cannot be raised at all.

For every acre irrigated the State as a whole gains in minv wavs. Although the total number of sheep in the dry counties surrounding the irrigated area in Otago decreased between 1914 and 1922, the numbers carried by the irrigated area actually doubled, the increase being progressive and keening pacp with the increasing sale of water. The increase jn irrigation receipts ever sinre irrigation water was first made available has been sustained, and this year there has been a substantial surnlus of receipts ovef working expenses and maintenance costs. But more has yet to bo earned—and it can be en->-"pd—to recoup the State for its expenditure. Tn a later passage, the Minister states that the increase in the carrving capacity of the land actually irrigated is estimated as increasing from between onesixteenth and one-quarter of a sheep per acre up to figures ranging between two anrl ten sheep to the acre. The average enhancement in land values estimated by a number of owners is £6 7s 6d per acre, after making due allowance for the cost of the water supply. This amount is mrch less than the enhancement estimated by Government officers. Taking, however, the farmers' values, and capitalising the water rents >ceivable, we find that in tho case of the Ida VnPnv scheme we have an asset worth £226,325 from an expenditure of £160,000. If extremely conservative valnes adduced by the department's officers from actual crop and flock returns be taken, the national as?et is really £981.146 from the expenditure -of £160.000. If all the schemes now under construction, or alreadv constructed, be pooled, and the same basis of argument be used, on the farmers' estimate we will have a Dominion asset of £498,310 from an expenditure of £370.000. or. on the department's figures, £619,846 from the same expenditure. All the above values are adduced from sheepfarming operations almost entirely, but the real future of a considerable amount of the irrigated land lies in the development of dairying, and when the change is brought about —and it can be only brought about by irrigation and subdivision —then the results will be such as could only be believed by person* who have actually seen the country both before and after irrigation.