MR BATHGATS AND NEW ZEALAND FARMING.

Otago Witness, Issue 1476, 28 February 1880, Page 6

MR BATHGATS AND NEW ZEALAND FARMING.

The following portions oE a letter from Mr John Reid, of Elderalie, which appeared in Tuesday's Daily Times, will no doubt be read with general interest by our country friends. Mr Reid commences by staticg tbat his attention had been called to a paragraph which appeared in the Witness of the 14th, questioning the truth of certain statements made by Mr Bathgate which appeared in "Chambers' Journal" some time since. He then says :-— The statements referred to are not only not overdrawn, but are considerably under the mark, i accapfc tho responsibility of proving their correctness, as they were furnished by me to Mr Bath gate. He instances a farmer who bought a farm for Lls per acre, and cleared that sum out of hia lasb year's crop. Tho farmer referred to is Mr Thomas Rainforth, of Teaneraki, whose land adjoins my own, and consequently I had «idi[jlo opportunity of seeing and knowing of the result referred to.

The land was cultivated in a proper manner — a thing which is too seldom the case. The crop sown was barley with grass and clover seed. The yield was 70 bu-ihels of first-quality grain, besides a quantity of second quality, and the price obtained for the crop in Oamaru was fivo shillings and eightpence per bushel, which brought the gross yield to over twenty pounds sterling per acre. Tho whole expense uouuecled with the crop was under four pounds staling per noro, thus leaving a net return of sixteen pounds sterling, instead of fifteen as stated. In addition to this, the pasture obtained from an outlay of a few shillings per acre for seed is as luxuriant as could be desire-], and adds considerably to what Mr Raioforth gains by the crop. Mr Thomson of^Columella, also an adjoining proprietor, threshed out a crop of barley at the same time, which yielded over eighty bushels firat-rate grain, and which gave a correspondingly large result, in his case nearly doubling the amouot paid for the land on which it grew. In both cas.'B those results were obtained by having first-rate land and giving the crop proper cultivation, the proprietors also > being fortunate in getting a gocd price for their produce.

I could point out numerous instances where net returns of five to fifteen pounds sterling per acre have been made from good land here, but shall content myself in the present instance with merely vindicating the statements referred to in your article of the 10th insfc. You also doubt the correctness of the statement that a farmer may make twelve hundred pounds sterling per annum from a farm of 500 acres : <his statement, I maintain, is also under the mfnk.

Mr Bithgate supplies particulars as to how thia result may be obtained during an average of seasons. Those figures are very moderately statad, lam aware of much better averagbrosuits baling been obtained from similar areas during the past seven years. As you are doubtless aware, many men embark in farming pursuits who neither have land of thair own, capital, nor agricultural experience. Such men have not only to pay the very highest rate* of interest, but they are also charged heavy commissions for advances of money. Such interest and commission, although perhaps not too much when the risk to the lender is considered, are a heavy burden to the borrower, and if combined with an utter want of agricultural knowledge and experience, failure is almost a certainty. Such are not the men to whom Mr Bathgate refers, but; to those whoße 500-acre farms are their own and free of debt, and who have a capital of not less than three pounds sterling pet acre to stock the land and work with. He assumes that the land is of good quality and near to a market or porb of shipment, as bis estimate of its cost will chow— viz., Ll4 sterling per acre. His figures, whiob are baßed upon very moderate yields and prices, show a net return of eleven hundred and forty-five^ pounds sterling (L 1145) from the working of the fire hundred acres, after deducting all properly chargeable working expenses, rates, taxes, &c. For the remainder I will copy his statement, viz.:— " The sum of L 1145 being left au the balance after paying expenses, is chargeable with rent, or interest of the capital , expended in purchasing the land* Estimating the coßt of the land at Ll4 an acre, this at 7| per cent, gives a charge of 21s per acre, or L 525 on the farm. Deducting this from the net profit, a balance is left of L 620 for the tenant's inconio, being 40 per cent, interest on Mb capital (L 1500) invested in stocking the farm."