PERMANENT PASTURES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1581, 11 March 1882, Page 6

PERMANENT PASTURES.

It is becoming more apparent every year that to hold our own in these days of keen competition as an exporting Colony, animal life will have to be the, basis upon'which our ability to do so mußt.be built. I therefore ■select the above potent, factor for my theme upon this occasion, and in doing so will show the necessity of greater' attention being given in the future than hap been in, the past to this all-important branch of agriculture. In a former essay, written some months 'back, after reading the not alone Instructive but suggestive letter of the American correspondent of the Otago Witness, I was 'lnduced to draw 'public attention to the necessity of giving animal life the' precedence, a* by doing so our exports would be not alone more valuable, but, from being In a condensed forto, more economically carried to market (a v«t saving to the Colony), aa against a grain, export, by stating as follows;— # It is time that, not alone our merchant*, bat every man In the land awoke from the lethargy into whioh we appear to have fallen, and while .taking stock of our surroundings and outlook, determine as to which it is best to go in for— the fostering of wool, a general provision export and wealth, or grab), rabbitskins, and poverty.' I am more than ever impressed with this belief after reading the same valuable correspondent's last letter, in whioh he shows that so far from being stationary, the increase of American breadstuffs for export is becoming enormous (last year the surplus was reported as 500,000 ; this year it has increased to the vast bulk of 800,000 tons), both showing and endorsing the value of what has been repeatedly advanced in the columns of the Witness, as to the necessity of » more judicious utilisation of the extraordinary opportunities we possess, if taken advantage of under a mixed system of farming, of developing a great and valuable export. The soundness of tbe above statement is further endorsed by Information received lately from the Wellington correspondent of the Otego Daily Times, taken from the statistical returns, in whioh .we could see that while the grain and rabbitskin export of the Colony had increased daring the quarter ended 31st December, 1881, as compared with the corresponding quarter of 1880, to the tune of £143,650 ; while wool, our backbone, had diminished about a million. These are stern facts that Bhould make our wise men, if there are any such in the land, pause and ask, Are we taking the right steps to arrive at that goal to whioh we were once so gloriously steering, or are we by our overweening, ambition of late years (in so infantile a country) placing ourselves in the position of those who court Divine displeasure (iv ancient literature we read that the gods first demou ted those whom they meant to destroy), or are We in trying by legislation (local optiou,gaming bills, &c.,)to make the people of this young nation better men and women than their Christian fathers and mothers were before them, taking the right steps to effect so desirable an end, by first protecting her chief industries, and judiciously drawing out her resources, so as to enable them to lie down, in that antidote for crime—the green pastures of permanent prosperity. I fear not, for with the above stern facts, whioh I take to be shadows of the coming events that are bound to follow, it strikes me that the thinking men of the land must soon see that we are' following the trail not of the true scent upon which we started, but rather that of the red herring that has been drawn across it, to follow which much longer 1b bound to lend to gravo rtfatistor, f°r with Amnrican competition to contend with in our boasted (/rain export, our export falling off enormously ami bunny ravaging our pastorallands, all and each of which foioes cuinomed, imiaE naturally cause a heavy depreciation iv the value of both public and private landed property, so much so, as to awake us rather rudely from the lethargic slumber of security into whioh! we appear to have fallen. The chief means of counteracting the effects of the above wiUp 2 am convinced, fa a. more judicious laying

down in the future of the splendid pasture producing lands, of the country, so as to create a greater stock-carrying capacity, from which must be (ijawn our chiof export— high class v wool, with ha many accompaniments, as de-. scribed in v former essay, under the head of • The Farmer of the Future.' In holding a high estimate of the country's ability to develop, under able guidance, a vast and valuable export, I do bo, from observing in my travels through those colonies! the success that invariably attends the farmer who makes animal life his basis, the outcome of which ever appears to be comfort, luxury, and independence, rich land, a comfortable home, move time to devote to garden and orchard, many of whioh are to be seen in our older settlements ; homes that once seen must ever remain a green ' spot on the memory, many of them from the calm beauty of their surroundings, in a grout measure realising the beautiful pic v c portrayed by Moore : — There's a bower of roses- by Bendmeer's stream, And the nightingale sings round it>all the day Ion? ; In the timo of my childhood 'twas like a sweet dream . To sit in the roses and hear the bird's song. ' ' ' That bower and its music I never forget, But oft when alone in the bloom of the' year I think, is the nightingale singing there yet, Are the roses still bright by the calmy Bendmecr. Thus memory draws from delight ere it dies, An essenco that breathes of it many a year, Thus bright to my soul, as 'twas then to my oyos, ■ , f Is that bower on the banks of the calm Benduieor. ' In treating of a subject of such vast importance to thin young country as her exports,, and showing a. means by: which they cannot be not alone increased, but solidified, I have been, 1} think, sufficiently careful not to allow the shadows that oredicfc coining events to hold too undue an influence. In a former essay, ' Our Pastoral Estate,' after reading the same valuable correspondent's advice of nearly half a million tons oi wheat on hand, surplus of previous season's crop, I feltJ ■ > impelled to make the remark, ' evidently held to harden the European markets,' a justification in the holding back of which by American speculators when followed up by this past season's unprecedented crop, giving a further increased surplus of 800,000 tons of grain for export, has been completely upset (it is a case of the biter getting bit). Aa a result, we have advices from London, 'Colonial breadstufiVare weak and easier.' From New York, February 19th, ' The panic on the Stock Exchange, occasioned by the failures in the I ' wheat and ' cotton trade has subsided, 1 &c. These, I assume to be some of the shadows that 'presage ' coming events, to guard against which, and give the upward rather than the 1 downward tendency to the value of landed and ail. other ' property .in this distant colony, by increasing , enormously the annual value of her exports, it will be < necessary for our farmers to make animal life their basis, leaving Amerioa" to supply the cheap loaf. By doing so, she would help to set the Bponge of our prosperity, and if, in trying to arouse our .leaders to a' sense of their duty, and our farmers to the necessity of preparedness to meet" coming events, I borrow the stirring language of a fair, but I fear, not very loyal countrywoman of mine, the. abject will, I trust, plead my excuse as, instead of joining in the eternal growl at the low price of grain, I would remind them— < t God only fights for them who fight; now hush'yout ■'. useless moan

1 . . •■ And set your faces as a flint, an<? swear to hold your ' '

own. ■ - To do.so, it will be necessaryfor them first to ,well pulverise their land ; then in sowing down, nse> proper admixture of the most approved grasses, suoh as will, while increasing its stockcarrying capacity/ create a splendid permanent pasture.

John Dbbw Atkik.' i ■