THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1934. IRRIGATION IN OTAGO

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22197, 26 February 1934, Page 8

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1934. IRRIGATION IN OTAGO

The review of Government irrigation work in Central Otago which was provided'in a paper prepared by Mr Wood, of the Public Works Department, and read at the annual meeting of the Society of Civil Engineers in Dunedin, should serve a distinctly useful purpose. There have been disputes of -tt fairly lively nature between the Government and settlers in irrigated districts in Central Otago. Some of the settlers, who have represented themselves as being oppressed by the charges made by the Govei'nment for the supply of water to their properties, have received a good deal of public sympathy. In the times of extraordinary difficulty through which their industry has been passing, it would be hard to withhold sympathy from them. But while the holders of irrigated land may have had causes of complaint, the case presented by Mr Wood exhibits another side of the picture —that which portrays the benefits which irrigation has conferred on the settlers. It shows that they are enjoying the advantages of irrigation at a cost which they obviously could not have met individually, and a cost below that which the Government has incurred in respect of capital outlay. The question remains whether the advantages of irrigation are incommensurate with the charges levied on the settlers for the supply of water. On this point the figures provided by Mr Wood are not lacking in impressiveness. Sheep farmers, he points out, and is probably admitted, have by the irrigation of flat land on their holdings been able to increase the size of their flocks 'by more than half. The number of sheep runs which may thus benefit is, however, .limited by the configuration of the country, and the doubt has been expressed whether sheep-raising is, as a general rule, a class of fanning which is economically suited to irrigated land. More intensive farming, it is suggested, offers the better possibilities. In normal times, Mr Wood holds, dairying on irrigated land should allow a gross return per annum of at least £6 to £7 per acre, compared with .something under £3 per acre to the wool-grower. Times have, of course, been so far from normal that neither the orchardist nor the dairy farmer has been able to show a fair return for his labours and outlay, and the necessity for payment of water rates has been felt as a hardship, probably since it amounts to a tax which farmers on naturally irrigated land escape. The complaints of the farmers on irrigated land may be understood,, though on the facts it is difficult to consider that they are generally justified. The Government irrigation schemes were put into operation with the enthusiastic support of the settlers and have had the anticipated effect of materially increasing production. That this increased production has not lately spelt increased prosperity for the farming community is unfortunate, but the cause of this has been beyond the control of the Government. And since the producers concerned are not asked to pay more than a fraction of the cost of the irrigation, their protests concerning a temporally hardship have not very greatly impressed the taxpayer, who has to make up the difference.