MACHINES TO CLEAR LAND

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23196, 16 November 1938, Page 14

MACHINES TO CLEAR LAND

An experiment in clearing land for farming development, as announced by the Minister of Mines, will be followed with considerable interest. Mr. Webb has particularly in mind land that was formerly timbered and is now heavily covered with stumps and logs. At any time the business of clearing uuch land was slow and costly, and now must be definitely uneconomic, owing to the high cost of labour as well as its scarcity for.work on the land. Mr. Webb proposes to enlist the aid o£ heavy machinery, such as bulldozers and ditchers, anticipating that by these means the land can be brought in at a cheap price. If he succeeds, he will solve for one class of country the problem of arrested development posed by the high costs introduced by Labour's regime. In many parts of New Zealand it is said that for lack of labour development has ceased and that land is even going back. If Mr. Webb can harness the machine to redress the balance, the national gain will be real and permanent. It is to be hoped, therefore, that the sites for his experiment have been well chosen, so that the dividend in land will be worthy of the conception. Much of the West Coast has a poor reputation from the agricultural angle, owing to the existence of a hard and impervious pan near the surface. Apparently Mr. Webb, by causing a soil drainage and aerial survey to be made in advance, lias sought to prevent his experiment being prejudiced by avoiding such inhospitable land. If his machines can economically clear and deliver into productive occupation land at present encumbered by dead timber, Mr. Webb will have rendered a service of value to wider areas than the West Coast.