JOTTINGS FROM THE COUNTRY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1861, 22 July 1887, Page 15

JOTTINGS FROM THE COUNTRY.

(Br Our Travelling Repobter.)

A FESTIVE CUSS.

A Festive Cuss— A Barefooted Journey— The

Effect of the Railway on Tapanui-Agri-cultural Capabilities of the District - Necessity for Using lime— Prohibitive Railway Kates— Bunny Breaking TJp the Big Estates— EabbitsMns by the TonGold.

The return journey from Roxburgh was made by the mam traffic road on the western side of the river, in the teeth of a howling storm of drifting rain and sleet. The heavy up-country traffic had cut up the soft' roads very badly, till there was no choice left but to plunge boldly through fche mud, indifferent to the knowledge that both horse and rider were bespattered almost out of recognition. While so progressing I was surprised at overtaking a poor mortal paddling through the mud with bare feet, carrying a bundle on his back. Involuntarily I reined up, and my hand went to my pocket, as no one could pass a fellow being in such a plight on such a day without evincing gome feeling of sympathy; but the half quizzical, half amused look on the traveller's face as be turned his head to see who was approaching, changed my resolve. I did not feel quite sure of my ground, and were he in sad plight there were houses all along the road he was travelling, and surely someone would give him the food and shelter that he appeared to stand in need of. The severity of the storm induced me to halt for the night at Rae's Junction. I, of course, mentioned that I had passed that day the first bare-footed white man ever seen by me on the roads, and in the midst of winter at that. Imagine my surprise next morning on learning that "my friend" had trudged through the mud unshod all the way to the hotel at the junction, which he reached late at night. I saw him in the morning, still bare-footed ; but after breakfast there was a transformation scene ; and it required a second look to convince me that the man in a neat black suit and belltopper and he of the bare feet were one and the same. Yet such proved to be the case. It transpired that he was en route to the Beaumont to act as " best man " at the marriage of a mate, and the only reason he could give for tramping all those miles with bare feet was that he wanted to keep his boots clean for next day ; but in my own mind there lurked a slight suspicion of what in digger parlance is called a "lark." He saw the couple duly married, paid his coach fare like another man, and returned up country an a gentleman. That couple should feel highly honoured when they learn that the groomsman travelled so far bootless to be present at their wedding.

Tapanui.

A struggling little town, not without beauty, with a setting of bush around it and the Blue I Mountains for a background, greets the traveller on reaching Tapanui. At one time it was quite a saw-milling centre, and in those days when the magnificent forest was full of the stately timber trees, the town was busy. The Tapanui branch line has given an outlet to Dunedin, and at the same time an inlet for Southland timber. Like many other inland towns, the i railway has ruined Tapanui; but as the town stands at the edge of one of the finest areas of farm land in the South Island, in time to come the railway may be a great boon to the now quiet town. Lying between the Blue Mountains on the one hand and the Hokonuis on the other, and stretching away towards the Umbrellas on the north, is a wide expanse of agricultural land of first-class quality. This extensive area consists of rolling downs — a few years ago covered almost entirely with silver tussock and snowgrass but now dotted over with numerous thriving farmsteads. The whole area is admirably adapted to the cultivation of oats and green crop* ; but (with the exception of the Orookston district) wheat is not found to do very well. Good crops of first-class wheat are raised in Crookstbn, where the bottom is warmer and the land well drained. There is a sourness in the soil elsewhere over the area when first brought under cultivation which is inimical to grain crops. It is found necessary, therefore, to break up the virgin soil and allow it to lie fallow through a summer's heat and a winter's frost. After that a crop of turnips paves the way for oats, when three good cropsj or even more, may be taken off without impoverising the land. Of course there are exceptions to this rule, but that is the general experience. Lime is what is wanted to sharpen up the land over most of the area mentioned, and with the addition of a little lime, wheat should grow well over almost the whole area. Here is a chance for the Government if they are in earnest, to encourage local industry by carrying cheap lime to the farmers. If the railways could be used more for opening up the country and encouraging settlement, and less for raising revenue, they would be the means of doing much to relieve the depression as far as the farming interest is concerned. It would pay the railway authorities indirectly, if not directly, to carry farmers' lime and grain at rates little over what would' cover- working expenses. In districts like these, between Tapanui and Gore, high railway rates make the difference between growing grain at a profit and growing it at a loss, which latter is too often the case at present rates. Over this extensive area of excellent agricultural land the squatter holds a considerable lien. The runs of. ■ Captain lflackeHzie, and Messrs Shennan, Logan, Macjntyre, and M'Kellar cover the pipk of it. Here is a show for Mr Ballance and his land acquisition scheme, as some of the holders of extensive freehold would jump at the chance to sell out to the Government at 10 per cent., upon the property tax valuation. But what Mr Ballance may fail to do the much maligned rabbit is fast accomplishing. Already most of the Merino Downs estate has been sold privately, at prices somewhere about £2 per acre. Other estates have been offered, but in most cases the reserve price was too high. If matters are allowed to run their course, however, in good time bunny will work out the small farmers' salvation and his own extinction by throwing open the agricultural land for cultivation, as the farmers could quite easily keep the rabbits under if the runholders did likewise.

Along the whole route— from Milton to Lawrence, to the Beaumont, to Roxburgh, and back to Tapanui — rabbits innumerable are seen o^pinf about. In spite of wholesale slaughter with guns and dogs, and traps and poison, and all *c devices invented, the übiquitous rabbit cocks up ite tail and hops away with" supreme contempt for the arts of manJ Almost everywhere in'the back -Gauntry rabbits are more numerous this "winter than ever, they have been, and. farmers are asking whether it pays to Keep up an army •of rabbit inspectors with sucti a result. It is -an ill wind, &c, and bunny, though a plague to ' Jie runholder, affords employment to a number

of men, and in no small degree helps to augment the earnings of the farmer. One farmer informed me that he had taken 1000 rabbits off a 200-acre farm in three weeks' time — not a bad result at all, and at the present favourable rates, the rabbit harvest is welcomed by many of the farmers. In many cases a smart man with a good supply of traps can earn from £4 to £5 a week at rabbiting JBo that bunny is not altogether the plague that runholders consider him. To give some idea of the extensive slaughter carried on, I may mention that one day I passed two waggons, each carrying five tons of rabbitskinß, en route to Lawrence from the Kawarau. As an offset to the grass consumed and the lessened carrying capacity of the run, the price of the rabbitskins will count fot something. When the rabbit is considered luxury in older countries, it seems almost a sin to scatter the carcasses broadcast over the couiitry. Were the runholders to try canning rabbits in addition to saving the skins, bunuy might be made to give some return for his feed. A large establishment on the factory scale would not likely be successful, as the carcasses would have to be collected over too scattered an area; but I believe the runholders individually could make a pretty good thing out of it.

Gold in the Pomalmka.

Gold in payable quantities has been found in the vicinity of the Pomahaka river at various points along its course. At its head waters miners are steadily at work, and some of them are doing well. Dredging on the river was tried, near Captain Mackenzie's place, but although gold was found the venture did not pay. Gold is known to exist on several paits of the captain's estate, and experienced men are convinced that payable ground might be found both here and on Mr Logan's estate if prospecting were allowed; but the runholders, fearing resumption of title over auriferous land, prohibit prospecting. Therefore, before the existence of payable gold can be put to the test, an Act of Parliament will have to be passed allowing miners to prospect on private lands under certain conditions. The Tapanui people had some hope of striking a deep lead of golden gravel by means of a shaft ; but before the shaft was bottomed it collapsed, and the theory of a deep lead at the foot of the Blue Mountains still remains unproved.