THE PUMICE LANDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20392, 22 October 1929, Page 14

THE PUMICE LANDS.

Sir,—lt is, of course, quite impossible adequately to answer in the space of 3 newspaper letter ajj the questions raised by Mr. J. H. Hayes. I take Mr. Galvin's own evidence that ho is not a farmer but a surveyor's assistant. To assess the value of evidence it is necessary to hear it or observe the demeanour of the witness. To say nothing of misstatements of plain facts, Mr. Michael Joseph Galvin's attack on Mr. Parsons and myself was quite unnecessary and outside the scope of the inquiry, and conveyed the impression that ho was either prejudiced or else inspired. It is remarkable that the evidence of many of the prominent witnesses was strangely at variance with that given by the same departments on previous occasions. I pre-' sumo that the Rotorua-Taupo railway can be opposed only by misrepresentation or ignorance, because it has never yet been opposed by other means. I might instance the Prime Minister's speech at Rotorua as a particularly glaring example. This railway and this district have been attacked with a venom and bitter prejudice that would bo unbelievable had it not actually occurred. What other railway has boon asked to run the gauntlet of half the inquiries held about the Roto-rua-Taupo railway ? And it has come out of all of these with conspicuous success. I havo never attempted to deny that the taxpayer has a very direct interest in this —and in all other railways—and may mention that I and the other landowners of the district offered to pay a rate on our lands to assist, construction, provided the railway was promptly built. The balance of the cost could very easily bo assessed on the vast quantity of timber to bo carried over it, leaving the capital cost at nothing. As regards "bush sickness," in no district that I know is 100 per cent, of livestock reared. In every mob and flock there are some wasters. A very considerable proportion of new country in Now Zealand will not rear young animals, e.g., Hawke's Bay in tlie early days. If an animal here fails to thrive, tiio farmer, instead of seeking the cause in poor feed, insufficient shelter or any cause that reflects blame 011 himself, whispers "the sickness." As regards my own experience : I have had considerable losses in lambs duo (as the officers of the fields division of the Department of Agriculture toll 1110) to the presence of two minute worms. I have reared many continuous generations of healthy cattle. As the pastures improve so does the slock. Given tho same treatment as the Waikato, I am convinced that two-thirds of the pumice area will give equal results. Anyhow, I extend to critics the same invitation that I gave to the Parliamentary Committeecome and see. All who have made an honest investigation havo admittod: "Wo came, wo saw, we were conquered." But it is no use dashing through the country in a fast motor-chr. I deny that this Government or any other Government (except Mr. Coates'), or Mr. Galvin's department, or any other department, has dono one solitary tap toward tho development of this, the largest area of cultivable and habitable land in Now Zealand as yet unsettled. I do not deny that there are difficulties, but they can and will bo overcome, but not by pessimism and the coldwater methods and inertia of Government departments. Was the Waikato, may I ask, brought to its present stale of productivity without some broken fortunes and some broken hearts? « E. Earls -.Vailb.