THE SOUTH ISLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 2884, 30 June 1909, Page 89

THE SOUTH ISLAND.

NOP.THERN M.P.'S IMPRESSIONS

{Peojt Our Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, June 23. Mr Jennings, .1 member of the Timber Commission, has been giving a local re porter some comments on what he has seen on his travels. Southland he described as a land of branch railways and Calif ornian thistles While the Commission was m Invemwo-ill no fewer than 25 prosecutions against farmed for failure lo cope with Californian thistle were heard, and hnes ranging from £5 to £25 were inflicted m each case. Another point which ira.pres&sd itself on Mr Jennings's mmd was the fact that good farming land, capable of carrying from three to four sheep p&v acre and growing- 70 bushek of oats to the acre could ba obtained from £18 to £20 per acre. This is in marked contest to the hiah prices ruling in the Ntt'th Island. Again, the farmer in the south stays on the land; he endeavours to make 'a home, and is less anxious to speculate Shan thrf agriculturist of Uie north. "When I left the South Island 30 years ago," SAid Mr Jennings, " I knew a large number of farmers in the Taieri ar.d fcaikorai Valluy districts. The fame people, or their descendants, are there to-day. In ihs extensive electorate which I represent (Taumirunui) I have noticed that- frequent change of ownership invariably brings bad lesults. It is not iTood for the individual, and it is noti good ior the Stated The South Island farmer h more advanced than the North. Of course, in the great majority of cases he has nob had the difficulties of the bush to contend with, but he^is a systematic farmer.

In Ota^o ;ind SoutUand tliea-e is an abnndanc? of metal in most of the districts, And splendid roads. That makes a great difference. While the Commission was or. the West Coast time was found to visit some of the mining claims and the petroleum works 'at Kotuku. In occordance with the advice of Dr Bell, new bores are now being put in on the top of a hill. The dredging industiy is now little more than a memory. Dismantled machinery recalls the boom times of a few years back. In the Nelson district Mr Jennings was astounded to find! miles and miles of country" overrun with blackberry. . So far Angora goats are the only eradicators of tfoa nuisance that have' been .found at all satisfactory. The member for Taumarunui has always been a strenuous advocate of these animals as destroyers of noxious weeds, and he -was pleased to find practical endorsement of. the views which he has so frequently expounded, often to the great amusement of his fellow members in the House.