The New Zealand Times. WEDNESDAY, JULY 12, 1911. IRRIGATION AND POPULATION

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7850, 12 July 1911, Page 6

The New Zealand Times. WEDNESDAY, JULY 12, 1911. IRRIGATION AND POPULATION

When Six James CarroU declared, speaking of what ho had seen in his travels in the South, that he believed irrigation would retrieve the fortunes of the Otago Central Railway ho touched a very large subject. This involves more than the railway mentioned or any other railway. It opens up the question,. in fact, of the whole future of the South Island. There are many districts in that island which will get a new lease of life from wellconsidered systems of irrigation. The most obvious of these is the district of Central Otago for reasons mentioned by Sir James—abundance of water and accessibility and quality of the soil. There is one patch of irrigated land in the district—at Ophir—where the fertility of tho country is an object lesson to the whole Dominion. There are others telling the same tale, but none of them are on the same scale as tho Ophir example. The Public Works Department has not neglected this country by any means, for it fa collecting water on a largo scale, and js about to offer it to agriculturists in the neighbourhood on fair terms. Success in this example will give an impetus to irrigation, which in a few years must have the best , results. Much, of course, depends on the local people. First they have to bo induced to take the water, and then they have to be instructed to use it properly. The first should not be difficult. The second will not oomo to anything without tho advantage of experts who have worked under systems of irrigation elsewhere. The Agricultural Department has, wo understand, arranged to add irrigation instructors to the list of its experts.

The thing is worth doing well, because of the very large areas to which irrigation offers the chance of. great development. There is the country round Oamaru and in the vicinity of the Waitoki river, which can bo served ‘•by tho waters of that stream; there is the Canterbury plain, for which there are the rivers of a large system offering easy access and abundance of water. North Canterbury is in something of the same case. Should the waters that now flow wasted into the sea along tho eastern coast-line be applied to the soil by irrigation the Representation Commissioners would be very soon busy registering the effect in tho electoral maps of the Dominion. We can imagine only one other direction in which money could be spent in public utility with equally good effect. Tills would bo in the establishment of a Department of Forestry encouraging and controlling the growth of new forests to replace those which are galloping away at a pace which leaves us the practical certainty of being some day without timber. Irrigation is, of course, more attractive, because the results will be secured earlier, but it is hard' to believe that the ultimate value of irrigation can be anything superior to tho value of a thorough system of afforestation. There is room for both in tho Dominion, and the public credit, is strong enough to provide for both on a fairly adequate scale. Forestry has not been neglected let it be borne in mind. A department was begun by Sir Julius Vogel in tho seventies, after the abolition of provincial government made comprehensive work possible for the general benefit. That department was abolished, and everything done by it for the public benefit brought to nought by tho Conserva-

tive skinflints, who did their best to | ruin the success of the Public Works) policy by cbce&e-pa.ring, and it was not till tho advent of tho Liberal party to power that the work was again! taken up. That work has made considerable strides, and, so far as it has gone, it is duo entirely to the initiative and control of that party. Tho time has come also for the prosecution of irrigation on a good, practical scale. This has been realised, and the Government has, as we have stated, made a beginning in Central Otago. If it should elect to press the irrigation question forward with more vigour just now, it will at all events he a determination to expend public money in tho right direction. At tho same time, wo must confess to a predilection for seeing both these great questions advanced together. Tho lack of experts to teach irrigation is not tho only trouble. The, Government, wo are glad to know, has) taken steps to diminish it by sending for some from California, as was lately announced; and California is a good country to get them from. There is tho difficulty of the water laws. In this matter the Legislature has done good work, for thero is on tho statute book enough law for tho regulation of all possible water systems. We doubt if the controlling power of the State, which ought to ho paramount, is sufficiently safeguarded, and feel that amendment in this respect is required. The details of the law are, it has been pointed out, open to the objection that they favour a clashing of interests, and do not provide a system of sufficient elasticity for working in accordance with tho exigencies of the agricultural system. For example, different crops require different quantities of water, hut tho system of charging is confined to acreage. It is easy to see how bitter may be tho feelings in different parts of an irrigation district. A simple alteration in these respects would make the laws for tho control of irrigation more just, and therefore add much for their, popularity and tho consequent encouragement of irrigation. With these, alterations done in time for the start of the first instalment of the irrigation system of . the future in Central Otago there ought to bo a great development of wealth and population.