EN AVANT OTAGO.

Otago Witness, Issue 3332, 23 January 1918, Page 10

EN AVANT OTAGO.

It is astonishing what a number of pessimists we seem to have among us, judging from the lugubrious wails one hears on Otago's behalf. Most of our optimists appear to have gone to a warmer climenorthwards. It is alleged that Otago is in a rut. Why is it? The fact that the North Island is to-day making progress in perhaps rather marked contrast to some of the southern provinces seems to get on the nerves of those cryptic souls. It the man in the street is asked the reason why he says that there is more country being thrown open for selection in the North Island; that there are greater shipping facilities, and that the fact of Parliament sitting in Wellington makes for effective results; that Otago boomed and showed the way in the early days, and has now "bust." Surely such reasons will not suffice the sons of the pioneer settlers. There may be more land in the North Island which is available under the present conditions of high prices _ for all our primary products; land which »pays well enough when grassed, and is capable of putting out dairy products—meat and wool —in season and out of season, thanks largely to favourable climatic conditions; land which, year after year, when grassed can very weil achieve great results owing to the present world shortage of foodstuffs. It must be remembered that there is not the same need of cultivating, nor the same necessity for growing winter feed as with us 'in our colder climate, the topdressing of North Island land with suitable manures answering well enough in maintaining soil-fertility, and hence the output per acre. There is not the same area devoted to cereal-growing, entailing as it does more or less skilled labour —all factors "which make our farmers think twice ere breaking up pasture, unless compelled to by reason of the necessities of the rotation, etc. It will not always be so, however. At present the northerners are having a good "spin." Good luck to them. We have no need to be envious, as we are doing passing well ourselves, and have but to turn to and win the last lap. At the moment we are admittedly shorthanded, and production in the south, as we have indicated, necessitates small arable holdings and adequate labour in order to work the land and obtain maximum results. Central Otago will yet prove a gold mine. It will have been' noted that a Dunedin deputation interviewed the Prime Minister during the week in connection with land tenures, etc.. in Otago. The Bight Hon. W. F. Massey was favourably impressed with the deputation's allegations, and rightly attributed the lessened carrying capacity of much of the Central Otago's pastoral lands to (1) rabbits, (2) burning of tussock at the wrong time of the year, and (3) inadequate protection of tenants' improvements. The Prime Minister, who is also Minister of Lands, was pleased to state that every time he went through Central Otago the better he liked it, and that his present visit, had convinced him that it was better country than was generallv thought to be. It is not better country than' Otagans know it to be,- however, if there is water in reason. The reason why this region is so much warmer than the rest of Otago. and requires water from near-at-hand rivers, is on account of its geographical position. It is almost in the centre of the widest part of the South Island. The sea is about 100 miles distant east and west of it. and then 400 miles north and south. It is surrounded by high ranges of mountains, which catch the coastal rainfall, and also cut off the colder sea breezes that sweep the ulains near the coastal towns. It is only 600 ft above sealevel, being a sort of sunken plain, which a.sres ago was a large fresh-water lake. With the exception of some native scrub and trees planted since it was settled, it is practically treeless. The soil is rich in potash and phosphoric acid, but, as a rule, is deficient in lime and humus. Water is the one thing required to make this land a veritable Garden of Eden—water, and the last rabbit in the museum. Thirty or 35 vears ago, when practically there were no rabbits in the Central, there would be in numbers, somewhere in the neighbourhood of the same stock as to-day, chiefly, of course, merino sheep; but today we have but half the area growing feed, and yet doing well, and a similar number of stock as in the early days—at least, that is the opinion of practical men who know the Central to-day and as far back as 1879. The mountain-tops may provide as much feed as ever, thanks to a friendly thistle much in evidence at certain seasons of the vear; but of the lowIyine countrv only half can be deemed to be clothed with the vegetation of pioneering times. Settlement on pioneering lines has invariably wrought havoc In new countries, and the Central did not escape their mining tactics. Otago to-day may be, perhaps, moA'ing forward slowly in comparison with some of the North Island provinces, where grass grows throughout the year, but there is little doubt but that she will forge ahead of them all providing settlement conditions are similar to'

those elsewhere, together with the provision of water and the speeding-up of the time when we can farewell Brer Rabbit from the Central area.