THE CIVIC LEAGUE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20979, 16 September 1931, Page 3

THE CIVIC LEAGUE.

LIFE ON THE LAND. SMALL HOLDING SCHEMES. The joys of life on the land were painted iri warm colours by Mr. Hopehaines in the course of a lecture upon "Small Holdings," given last evening under the auspices of the Civic League. Tho president, Mrs. Kenneth Gordon, in introducing the speaker, said that the subject for years had been one of the planks in the league's platform. To-day it was being more and more realised that in it lay one of the saving measures of the country.

Mr. Hopehaines spoko of the success that had attended small holdings in Cambridge (England), where he himself had owned one for at least ten years. The holdings in this district varied from 5 to 10 or 300 acres in size, and were worked in many instances by men back from the war. The district was particularly suited for orchard and garden growing, and in the first year in many cases a small return was secured, and in the second a small profit. It was most important that the scientific side of farming should be studied, and in this particular district there was a horticultural adviser and a school of agriculture. The adviser would givo advice on the soils and what could be grown best from them, also how to treat them. One man might specialise in poultry growing; others would combine a number of industries on the one holding, such as tho growing of fruit, vegetables, salad plants, flowers, poultry, pigs, and keeping bees. New Zealand, the speaker considered, was more suitable for the small holder, because not so much capital was required as in England. The great canning industry which had sprung up so suddenly in Britain within tlie past few years and which last year had turned out 50 millions of tins of canned fruit and vegetables, was described by Mr. Hopehaines. Ho did not see why such an industry might not be made a success in New Zealand if the people and the Government co-operated. The possibilities that lay in a scheme of co-opera-tive small holdings were outlined by the speaker in detail. A vote of thanks was passed at the close of the lecture.