FARMING.

Otago Witness, Issue 877, 19 September 1868, Page 2

FARMING.

How to make farming pay ia a question well worth the consideration of those who are interested in the progress of the Province, as well as of those who are specially interested in farming. The difficulties in the way of the farmer in these colonies are exceptionally, great. If he is not an employer of labour, his success is affected by want of capital : if, on the other hand, he happens to be a capitalist, Ms success is affected by the high rate of wages. It is not easy to say which of these two classes stands in the most unfortunate position. For although farming, on the whole, may be said to pay best in the hands of those who till their own acres, yet there is no pursuit which stands more in need of cash ; and the farmer who has no cash, or but a trifling amount of it, ia perpetually subject to loss which might be easily avoided. He cannot indulge, for instance, in machinery, but must content himself with old-fashioned appliances. He can do little or nothing in the way of drainage ; he cannot improve his stock by expensive purchases ; he must be satisfied with unsatisfactory fencing, and dwell in a hut instead of enjoying himself in a cottage. If ho envies his neighbour who, possessed of capital, carries on his farming in style, he may soothe his sense of disappointment by reflecting that his neighbour's profits- -or what ought to be his profits— are all paid away in the shape of wages. Now if the practical result of this state of things is, that farming does not yield the returns it ought to yield, it is a misfortune for all of ua. The agricultural settlement of the country ia a, matter of the first importance, and one which demands the ajtentiorj 0 £ th© Qo«

venunent as, Moll asj^-individualfl. It is worth while to ptftwafet* » hether something might n&thbe don*e j>jr the public or by the offie&ca.ent to promote the Buccess ofj&i|p^lture^?«£^ as our Government 'manifests a'^fpare' to encourage private enterprise,-' it iB worth while to explain, a,, system which has been adopted by ; the Governments of other countries. In 1846, when the drainage of agricultural lands was a question which occupied muoh public attention in England, Sir Bobbrt Peel, successfully introduced an Act into the House of Commons for the Bettlement of that difficulty. The A.ct was entitled The Public Money Drainage Act. Its principle was, that property should be burdened for its own improvement It provided that owners of settled estates might charge them, for a certain number of years, with the cost of durable improvements, although the owriers creating the charge might not live to see the" borrowed money repaid. Any mortgage that might exist on land thus charged was postponed to such charges, on the ground that the security of the mortgage was rendered more valuable by the charge ; inasmuch as no loan under the Act could be procured unless it was shown that the return from the improvements would exceed in annual value the rent charge by which the cost would be repaid. The Act realised all the anticipations of its illustrious framer. Its operation was s-> successful that not only has public money to the amount of £4,000,000 been advanced to landholders in accordance with its terms, but the principle itself has been extended far beyond the limits originally set. Public Companies have been established on the same basis, with the same objects, and with the same success. Capital to the amount of £8,000,000 has thus been laid out in promoting agricultural interests, and at the present time, in England and Wales aloue, £300,000 is annually expended in this shape. These Companies were of course established under special Acts of Parliament, and exhibit some variety in their details. Among their titles, which afford some indication of their purposes, we find the following : The Land Improvement Company The General Land Drainage and Improvement Company, The Land Loan and Enfranchisement Company. Some of these Companies undertook a great variety of improvements : one of those we have mentioned, in addition to draining and irrigating, erects farm-houses, labourers' cottages, and the usual farmbuildings ; it is also empowered to make railways, aqueduc's, and embankments for agricultural purposes. It may also purchase a limited quantity of land for improvement and subsequent sale. The chief question in connection with the management of these institutions is this— whether the terms on which money is to be lent should be long or short. Both have their advantages and their disadvantages. One Company lends money in perpetuity, another at fifty years, a third at shorter terms of varying length. Under one Act, a landowner may charge his estate with the money borrowed, without bein* under any compulsion to repay the principal. Under ano her the heavier out*/ connected with such works as (draining, clearing, and fencing is to be repaid & terms of fifty years .while the lighter outlay involved m building barns aid cottages is to be repaid at terms of thirty-one years. When the terra for repayment is short, the imtahneata aw of course proportionately higher, and this is the great objection on the part of borrowers to such terms. The principle itself having thus met with the approbation of the Imperial Legislature, and its practical working having been stamped with success, there can be no argument against any proposal to introduce similar legislation gto New Zealand. We do not suppose that any opposition would be raised to such a proposal, were it made in either branch of our Legislature This is especially a country in which the labours of the agriculturist require some such assistance as that we allude to A man who undertakes to farm m places where farming has never been seen before, must encounter diftculties at the outset of no ordinary kind Inmost oases, by the time he has c eared his land SU his cottage, aU his available, cash has disappeared, and he then re- , Sains at the mercy of circumstances This | £ a very different position from that of , Se farmer in the old world, who estab- , tohes himself on carefully cultivated land, , ScanteU to a faction what his ex- ! Senses and his receipts will probably be. ?heS i* »° ™ed to dwell upon the recommendations of thescheme we have propounded. It speaks for itself. It may le Served, however, that, while we are making many efforts to secure agrwulSal settlement, there is nothing winch would give a more powerful stimulus than the establishment of a public company for the purpose of furthering agricultural