WAIRARAPA AGRICULTURAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2509, 16 April 1902, Page 16

WAIRARAPA AGRICULTURAL NEWS.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) THK DAIRYING INDI'hTKV. A meeting in connection with the proposal to establish a dairy f.ietuiy at AlfieJton was held recently, when Mr Cuddie, daiiy commissioner, was present, and gave his Mews on the matter. As a result of it canvass made in the room 165 cows were promised, and the committee decided to make a further thorough canvas of the district, interviewed on the matter, Mr Cuddle expressed as Ins opinion that the dibtrict was suitable for dairying, and although the land is only of fair quality, there is plenty of it. It would be advisable to manufacture butter because this cUstrii t is an exten>i\e one. and as the industry progresses skimming stations can be erected in ' outlying districts, thereby increasing the supply to the central factory and reducing the cost of production. In the case of cheese-making it was necessary to receive _ all the milk under one roof. The ultimate ' result of the establishment of a butter factory would probably be the erection <jf skimming stations in the various valleys leading to Alfredtou. It was advisable to start an independent factory if it could be managed, as it would be the most sati.-fac- j tory. A considerable area of land 111 Alfredton was being utilised for pastoral purposes at the present time, and it would be necessary to have a portion of that cut up in the interests of dairy farming before the industry could be taken up successfully. - The whole crux of the question was securing suitable tenants if the land were cut up, but Mr Cuddie pointed cut that there are a number of people throughout tho colony who are anxious to go in for dairying, and are unable to secure land in the old-estab-lished centres. I have previously referred to an effort amongst dairy factories in the North Island to regulate the price of produce by combining, and 1 have also supplied the details of tho proposal, which has been cordiallyreceived by local factovie- A meeting of delegates representing the several Wairarapa factories was recently held, when the proposal was considered and adopted with slight amendment-. These were that unteid of tho price being fixed at the clo-ei of the Home shipping season, the beginning of the season, December or October, be the time for fixing; the committee be appointed i-i July; the voting for committee members ba on the basis of each factory' 1 - output for the previous season, 50 tons of cheese to bo reckoned equal to 25 tons of butter ; the committee meet a-, frequently as de-arable, not necessarily once a month; the contrv butions to the general fund be at the same rate as the contributions to the National , Dairy Association ; factories selling under the fixed minimum price forfeit a sum, the amount to be fixed later. At the present time the Featherston Cheese Factory i-, daily u-ing 1300 gallons of milk, from" which 17 8011) ohpe«e-,. with four vats in u-e, are being manufactured. Hie quantity of milk put through m the , lioijjht of the season it 2400 gallons per day, prnd'-emg one ton of cheese, which is lnanufacluied for the Home market. THE WEATHER. It would appear that at lea-t the prayeio of the farmer-, have been taken (ogiusancc of, for lately the district ha-, been favoured with several eopiou- lainfall-. which have , clone an immensity of good to pastures generally. It ha-, tin fortunately, come rather late to have any appteciable effect on turnip crops, the majority of which have been practically ruined through the üb'-encf of rain. It i^ apprehended by some that th • scarcity of turnips for fattening puiposeu will "militate against a good demand being experienced for store sheep In most ; instances pastures have been improved won- j derfully, and it is a most welcome change from the existing state of things a week or two back. In mo,t localities the pasture^ , are luxuriantly green, ami in the Carterton district the milk supply i-> reported to be ' above the average for this time of the year, j .SH\LL BIltD xriH\X(E. I The matter of the '-mall bird nuisance va- i introduced at the la?t meeting of tho Ma- ' terton branch of tho Xew Zealand Farmei-' Union, when Mr .1. B. M'Kenzie considered that it wa= time some action was taken with .. view to suppressing it. Probably it wa, bt-t, :i<* it would have the most effective le--ult. to set aside a particular day for all faimei-, to poi-on. it being absolutely l.e-cc--ary tn adopt sv-tcmatic poisoning. A committee wa-, appointed to consider and rcpoit, at a subsequent mooting, on the bc»t measure-, to adopt for the suppression ot the rapidly increasing pc-t Mr John Kayn<i, who ha- resided "ii the Taratahi for the pa-t 41 years lelated ins experience* The s-panow had been a most useful bud t) him. as it ate up tho caterpillai-. which had more thaa once thieaicned the complcto dp-tmctio iof In' strain eiop 1 -. The 1 preen lmuet did a good deal of. damage- that

was never credited to it, but instead attributed to the sparrow. He wished he had far more sparrows lin his district, and strongly opposed their destruction. SETTLEMENT OF NATIVE LAXDS. Refe-renee was made by the Premier at the Maori gathering at Papawai last week to the Native land question, which, he f-li'ted, had been satisfactorily settled by recent legislation accepted by the Maoris. Under it, six Maori Councils were to be established.- Already some were actively at work, and in the districts including Wanganui, Kangitikci, and Manawatu 232,000 acres have been handed over to the councils by the Natives, besides 32.000 acres in tho "Hawke's Bay and Wairarapa, and 450,000 acres on the Ea^t Coast. So soon ns the necessary meetings were called an additional 250,000 will be ready to be handed over, and with the inclusion of two more councils the Piemier anticipated that within 12 months there will be 2,000,000 acres of land in the hands of the council to bo dealt with and thrown open for close settlement. It was now tho duty of the (ioveriiment to see that the lands are at once surveyed and improved with road 0 , so that they can be immediately put on the market, and settlement proceeded with. Ir is al c o satisfactory to find that a block of Native land, which is, recognised to be well adapted for dairying purposes, 111 the Hamua (Eketahuna) district, is to be placed in the hands of the Native Council to be dealt with. It is probable the land will be cut up into dairy farms, which will c'oi:bt-lo-s materially assist in the at'vivioenicnt of the district, in the country around which the dairying industry 13 beginning t: a nice steady progress