NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2258, 10 June 1897, Page 5

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

A good deal has been written for and against the appointment by the" GorernThe Poultry ment of a poultry expert to Industry. establish the poultry industry on a sound commercial basis. Hitherto no attempt has been made to breed poultry for the table, nearly every farmer ov f&rmwife being contented with a nondescript mongrel raca of common bam-dcor fowls. For the production of eggs these do well enough. and give a fair return for the expense of feeding them ; but for the table they fall far short of the fowls specially bred and ted for the table in other countries. Those who make fowlbreeding a study are generally poultry fanciers, who breed for show purposes only. Fancy points and not utility are tha desideratum in such cases. But what we want to study its the production of a useful race of laying hens on the one hand and a goed tablo breed on the other. Purebred fowls are not the kind required for the poultry industry, although a purebred stook is required to scsrt; with. It r? ths intention of the Government expert tha'o a sufficiency of purebred fowls shall ba kept at a convenient place in each provincial district to supply the farmers with sittings of eggs and young roosters in order that they may procure a small breeding flock to cross with the common birds, and thus a very good beginning can be made. The intention is to supply wellbred fowls of suitable breeds for each district, and under this arrangement 1 hope to sea the poultry industry «. marked success in the course of time. For laying hens we want the kind that will produce large eggs in quantity, and such fowls we have in the Minorca and the Andftlusi&n and their respective crosses. For the table we require large fowls with an abundance of sweet, tender flesh, and in the Indian gamedorking cross we get what we want. How best to replace the universal mocgrel breed of the average New Zealand farm with the best breeds is the problem to be solved. Without doubt the supply of purebred eggs must be the initial etep. Even if the farmers would make a commencement themselves by procuring purebred roosters as opportunity presented itself, the poultry industry would in good time right itself. We want to make a systematic effort, and in good time the thing will be accomplished. The appointment of an expert by the Government will, I hope, have the effect of moving the farmere in the right direction, if nothing more. Now thai the railway returns are beginning to come to hand, it is evident that The Grain over a considerable area of Yield, Otago and Southland the yield of grain has been a heavy one. Although the unusually dry summer ruined the crops over the inland districts, yet I the wide belt along the coast has produced a more than usually large quantity of grain. With the good prices ruling, the farmers within that area, at any rate, ought to get a good help along the road to prosperity this year. Seeing that the prosperity of the towns is so intimately bound up with th&t of the country, the improving prospects oE the farmer mean improving prosnects all round. The scarcity of feed in

the neighbouring Australian colonies is pretty certain to have a beneficial effect upon our prices, for it is an ill wind that blows nobody good. While sympathising with our less Favoured Australian farmers, we cannot shut our eyes to the fRCt that to a certain extent their loss is our gain. The brightening prospects o£ our farmers has already given an impetus to the farming industry, and next summer a very much larger area will bo devoted to tho growth of oats and wheat. The rains that have now fallen over the drought-stricken districts of Australia will be in time to admit of winter wheat being sown, and as a certain area is always gown iv oats, next season we need hardly look for h market in Australie, unless (summer's drought undoeß the good work of the winter's rains— a contingency not unlikely in that land of protracted droughts. The ohances are, therefore, that oata will be produced in this colony next season in excess of tho requirements. This raises the question, Should we not grow mora wheat ? Over southern Otago and Southland, before the wheat area can be extended, liming will have to be resorted to. Th6reare considerable areas over which oats grow to perfection, yielding up to 100 buahels to the acre ; but before wheat can be grown satisfactorily a f»ir dressing of lime will have to be applied to sharpen up the soil. Tli9 cold southern regions are not «o well adapted for winter wheat, and therefore only early maturing sprint; wheat ought to be grown. The mistake is too oftsn made of sowing tho same kind of wheat either in winter or spring. This is simply folly, as late wheat sown m spring will hardly ripen before the frosts of the succeeding winter overtake us. Over a great part of south Otago and Southland early spring wheat can ba grown successfully if only a fair amount of lime is added to the land. On moderately light land tho effect of wheatgrowing is very exhausting to Exhausting the soil, therefore tho fertility Crops. of fche soil must be kept up. The old days of agriculture are gone for ever as far as this colony is concerned, and » new era has dawned. The virgin fertility of the soil has been practically exhausted, and the recurring growth of the yearly crop must be maintained by artificial means. The soil must be stimulated by the kind of manure required for the special crops grown. The whole question of soil fertility is a most important one to the farmer, and the one who makes it a reasonable^ study is the one most likely to make a. success of his farming operations. Better a small farm kept up to a high state of fertility than a big farm allowed to exhaust itself. In the virgin soil of New Zealand the farmers had an unworked mine to operate upon, but, worn out, the gold put into that mina can be taken out again with the profit added by Nature. Let every farmer make up his mind to grow nothing but bumper crops and the prosperity of the colony is assured ; but so certain as we exhaust the native fertility of the boil and give nothing back to it in return shall we make this fine conntry bankrupt. In the session of 1896 there was passed an act to provide for the periodical valuaTlio tion of all landed properties in Government ®*c co l onv i and * B the proviv. l, ,+i«» sione of thiß aci may not be filiation generally kuowa fco tflrmerß i propose to draw attention to the. Lands. same, for the benefit of all whom it may concern. For the purposes of this act the colony is divided into districts, such as road board district! and ridings of counties and boroughs, and a valuer-general is also appointed to supervise and tabulate the valuations. A valuer is to be appointed for each ' district, and the Government is now inviting tenderß for the valuation of the districts. After : all the valuers have done their work, the valuergeneral will cause a roll to be prepared showing the following particulars in connection with each property : — The name of the occupier and owner, the area of the land, the number and nature of the bu'ldings and their value ; the nature and value of all other improvements, such as fences, pastures, drains, fe^. ; the total capital value of the whole property ; and the unimproved value, which is arrived at by subtracting the value of all improvements from total capital value. The general valuation roll thus compiled shall be signed by the valuer-general and shall continue ia force till a fre3h one is made. This roll shall be the standard roll, and local authorities may adopt it as the roll upon which their local rates are based within the meaning of •' The Rating Act 1894-." i Besides being the basis of nil local ! rates, this Government valuation roll is also to | be used for the purpose of giving advances on | mortgages by the Post Office department, the ! Government Insurance department, the Public Trust Office, and for advances to settlers. Tha land tax is also to be computed upon this valution, so that it will be seen how important it is ' that it should be as fair and equitable as can possibly be obtained. When, too, land is to bo takeu or acquired by the Government under •' The Land for Settlements Act 1894-," the sum offered shall not be less than the valuation appearing upon the general valuation roll At the ! time being. | It appears to be very right and reasonable ] that there should be some such standard roll . for all purposes required for the aclv&nca of , public money upon land, instead of sending out a valuer to report upon each application that is made for an advance from any of the various , Government offices. Of course provision is t, made for objections to be made before an assessment court, at which a magistrate shall be the judge. Any objections to unreasonable valuations — that is. valuations which appear to

the owner or occupier to be unreasonable or unfair — can bo heard and, if necessary, altered at tho sittings of the various assessment courts. Tho valuer-general is now inviting tenders for the valuation of all the various districts in the colony, tho tender to be in a lump sum for each district. From what I can ascertain this j;»b is being applied for by all ports and conditions of men, and I am very much afraid th&t if the lowest tender is accepted it may result in some very queer valuations being sent in. For all I know the valuer-general may make all necessary inquiries and satisfy himself as to the fitneos and ability of the applicant bsfore accepting a tender. It is to be hoped so, at any rate. Otago farmers may remember the statement o£ a certain gentleman who, a few years ago, pronounced himself competent to value correctly 3ny kind of Knd, from a " deep swamp to * high hilltop," and there are lots of the game kind about who will put in for this valuation and probibiy make « hash of it if given the job. Men who have no knowledge of farming will not hesitate to put themselves forward in tho most confident manner to value land of all descriptions, and also the improvements thereon. I do not suppose the valuer-general will be so foolish us to aobept tenders according to the political colour of the tenderer. I think it it a bad plan to have the valuation! done by tender ; the local bodies could assist the vainer-general in arriving at » fair price for valuing each district, and than offers could be invited from suitable men to do the work at the price fixed. It scenes to me there will be room for collusion between ths valuers and unscrupulous owners of land who want a high value put on their land for the purpose of getting a good loan from some one or other of the various Government lending offices. A high valuation will involve paying an increase of county rates, land tax, fee. ; but I have known instances in which that was overlooked in' the attempt to get a big advance in the shape of a loan. Competent valuers in the past have been in tha habit of arriving at a value according to their own idea, and then confer with the owner and nee what his figure is, and thus arrive at *n amicable arrangement and save a lot of work in the assessment court. I have no doubt, however, that the various district valuers will have private instructions from headquarters .as to whether the old valuations a?e to be raised o* lowered. It is quite certain that as the advances to settlers are to bo based upon the valuations shortly to be made, great care will be necessary in checking any desire to get in an unduly high value. It is an extremely difficult matter for anybody but the farmer to say what the land is worth, and yet I have no doubt there will ba some valuers appointed who will undertake to set down the exact value in the most off-hand way, though possessing only very slight qualifl« cations for such difficult and important work. I have said that it is probable valuers will be instructed to r&iße values all Values for round for the purpose of increasLocal Hates, ing the revenue for the land tax, but then there will be the danger of ultimate loss to the treasury through loans to settlers being given on an unduly high vulne. So far as the Farmer ia concerned I do noft think it matters much how high the values ara put for local rating purposes. A certain annual sum ie required by local bodies to carry on the necessary works, and if the values are low a high rate must be struck, and vice versa. For land tax, however,' the lower tha value the better, only in this respect also it will mean that a certain sum must be raised for the Treasury, and if necessary" the tax will be increased to counteract the result of a general low valuation. One thing is very important in regard to valuations with respect to local rating, and that is that all the land should be about on the same level as to valuation, so that heavy rates will not press more upon one than upon others. If the present value is anything like a fair one, and it is' proposed to raise it, the valuers should do so by a certain ' percentage all round, and that is about all they will do, I suspect. It seems impoasible for tha Legislature to let land alone, for though in 189* a rating act was passed containing 87 clauses for the control of local rating, this new Government Land Valuation Act appears to over-ride the other, and so the humbug goes on chopping and changing, backwards and forwards, up and down. The local bodie3 may adopt the new Government valuation, but they will have to pay a fee for the privilege, and I fancy it is thought that a considerable revenue will ba raised in this way. Agktcola.