THE MOUTOA ESTATE

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1610, 7 January 1903, Page 51

THE MOUTOA ESTATE

DAIRYING AND FLAX INDUSTRIES

(By Tom R. Porter)

‘The above estate is situate about seven miles troiii Foxton and. five miles from Shannon. It comprises about nine thousand acres oi land. Of this about four or five thousand acre-s are in flax, and the remainder in grass. From my own observation, I thinic tins land the finest grass bearing country in the whole of the ManawaUi district. In fact I doubt very much if there is any land ni the colonv to equal it for dairying purposes. Pf-obab'ly this is owing to the silt left by the flood waters that overflow at intervals across the banks of the river. A month after the water has cleared on the grass springs up. I presume it is the aim of the present Government to benefit the majority of the working population of New Zealand by putting them on the land —not on any kind of land, but on land where they can in a week commence to earn money and keep themselves. I thereiore suggest that the Assets Board, the sole controllers of the above estate, should cut up this property into sections, and have it worked on the co-operative system. The Foxton district can boast of bringing to the colony from £60,900 up to £7-0,009 yearly for flax- There are six flax mills in Foxton, giving employment to between two hundred and three hundred men, who are receiving wages averaging from 7s up to 14s a day. Now, supposing a person took up some land in this particular place and were to start cutting flax of his own, and to start strippingflax by hand. At tlie present price of fibre (=*23o 10s a ton) a pound of good fibre would be worth about sd. The hand stripped fibre is 20 per cent, better than the machine stripped. The machine requires scutching, but the other does not require this process, and a ton of the latter would average from <£3s to <£36. I have- seen Maoris up in the Bay of Plenty strip 40ib with an ordinary pipi shell for plaiting tether lines for tlieir horses and leg ropes. If the Maoris sold his 401 b of flax at 5d per lb lie would have earned 16s 8d for his day’s labour. If a European was to strip by hand he would find "some better instrument than a shell. A novice ought to be able to strip 201 b per day, thus earning 8s 4d. Could not a married man with a family live on that? I think he could. If the family were all grown up children, they could assist sometimes and add a few more -pounds of fibre to that stripped by the bread-winner. By this means the industry would employ more' labour. The owners of the- six fiaxmills in Foxton alone are be earning <£3oo per month each, after paying' all expenses.' If these owners can earn this amount nil one mo-nth, half of it would employ hundreds of families. What I have suggested ought to be done as soon as possible. Certainly the floods are a little detrimental to the working of this property at times, but the submersion is not for very long duration, and could easily be overcome by cutting a drain 14ft. wide by 10ft deep, commencing at Poutu pah, a Maori, settlement just above the Foxton and Shannon ferry; digging it in a straight line south-east and .bringing it out into the river again just above Werakino bridge, a distance of about five and a half miles. The river will naturally make a new bed for itself in time, whereas at present the watercourse describes almost a complete circle, and the body of water coming down from the mountains in great volume remains stationary almost at Poutu pah, and consequently overflows. The cost of draining would not be more than £50,000. Under the co-operative system such as I have suggested intending settlers could do a little "dairying, as there is a factory for making butter about two. miles out of Foxton. The flax could be worked in coni unction -with dairying, and I believe if this were carried out by tlie aid of the present Government prosperity and happiness would reign supreme in the district.