THE NORTH ISLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 3339, 13 March 1918, Page 11

THE NORTH ISLAND.

(Feom Oua Own Corbesfondent.) Tihe weather in snme parts of the North Island nas oeen very unsettled, and in the Gisborne, Auckland/ and Wellington aistricts tnere nave been cyclonic disturbances. 'ine rainiaii, however, cannot nurt much now, as practically ail tne over, lire rain, However, delays tnras.ii.ing operations in some districts, but ndtning to complain about. 'JUae main ooject of tne dairy-fanners just now is to keep up tne muii-uow, and turmps are bemg led out. feome farmers are nnuing that lucerne is a spiendid milk maintainer, and tne continuance <ji goda yiuiae and substantial montniy butter-iat cnequos compared with tnose 01 farnie.., whose supplies are falling very are causing tne losers to put on thou- linking caps. lVlr J. M'i<'arland, of Aorangi, miormea me a, day or' two ago When discussing this matter that increased returns were equal to loUlb 01 lat, wnust some of his neignbours' ; yields bad gone down correspondingly. Mr iVPParland his nerd to teed in the lucerne paadocii, tor a snort period after each' milking, and the results are most gratilying, not only in respect to the continuance ot a good suppiy 01 milk, but also as regards the healtniness of his stock, riis herd never had tne Dioom on them as the cows have at present, and he says if all dairymen would only provide a good stand of lucerne on tne farm tney would go a long way to solving some of the problems arising out pf a scarcity of nutritious feed for his stock. Mr MAL'arland is one of those who swears by lucerne. AUCKLAND'S DAIRY PRODUCE. Statistics of shipments of butter and cheese irorn the port of. Auckland during the montn of February show an increase m both commodities as compared with the figure tor tne corresponding period of last year. Tne increase in butter is 10,501 boxes, representing at the present value £4;i,UO4, and in cneese 6515 crates, valued at £41,042. The figures for the eight months of the present season, compared with the corresponding period "of last year, show an increase of j. 6,046 crates of cheese, valued at £108,193, and a.'decrease in butter of 17,680 boxes, representing £70,720. The figures for the month of Pebruary of this year and last year (the latter being in parentheses) are as follow:—Butter boxes, 49,847 (39,346); cheese crates, 12,915 (6600). WHEAT-GROWING. A patriotic note was struck by Mr E. Newman, M.P., when discussing . farmers' affairs on the occasion of the opening of the Morton A. and P. Show. He urged the farmers of Rangitikei to go on growing wheat, though he was quite aware that the price allowed meant a loss rather than a profit. At the same time, wheat was essential, and farmers should regard any loss they might sustain as a gift to the patriotic funds and to the Empire. Mr Newman is to be congratulated upon the attitude ho has taken up. and if the graingrowers of Rangitikei will only view the subject through the same glasses as their respected parliamentary representative, thero will be no slackening off of the wheatgrowing effort in that part of the island. WHEAT QUESTION IN THE WAIRARAPA. I There has been eomo discussion in the Wairarapa over the price of wheat and the retail price of fowl wheats and as a result the Government were communicated with on the matter. The Assistant Wheat Controller has replied to the secretary of the Wairarapa Wheat Committer pointing out that under the regulations the price is fixed by the Government at 4d per Bushel abovo the South Island price, and thia makes Wa?rarapa price equal to 6s fob., the nearest port, which is Wellington. The price Wairarapa growers get is 6a, f.0.b., Wellington, loas the estimated cost of railage, which is, roughly, about 4d per bushel. In the meantime, tho Controller states, there is no restriction on the retail price of fowl wheat; but li the Government knows of any excessive rates being charged they will take over the distribution.

AN ABSENTEE LANDLORD. Agitation has been renewed in the Wairarapa for the acquistion of the A. J. Balfour Estate, which almost borders the borough of Mastcrton, and covers a wide sweep between KLonini and Mangarama. The defunct Progressive Association took an active part in the matter of compulsory acquisition-, and got the Prime Minister (Mr Mussey) moving to the extent of serving notice on tho owners of compulsory acquisition by the State. The late Hon. Mr Stevens, partner with the attorney for the Hon. A. J. Balfour, refused to accept service of the notice, and the last heard was that the notice was on its way to the great statesman. That is probably three or more years'ago. In the interval the property has been inspected by the Land Board members, and they appear to have declared against it for cutting up for soldiers. Some of the land could be converted into dairy farms, but the bulk was suitable only for sheep-farming. An opposite opinion is held by some practical farmers of the district. It is hoped that the whole question will be gone into by the new Minister of Lands. RESTRICTING PRICES, j There is a feeling in many circles that J proper steps have been taken by the Go- | vernment to restrict the prices at which I certain products shall"'be sold by the producers. In no case, however, -with the exception of Jbutter, has- a restriction oeen placed upon retail prices. It is pointed out that an exactly similar . state of affairs existed in the Old Country until quite recently. The profit made by tho agent handling New Zealand meat was restricted to 10 per cent.; but there was no limit to the profit of the'retailer; hence New Zealand lamb that was purchased for 7d and 8d per lb was being retailed at as high as 2s per lb. There is no suggestion that tho .retailers of this Dominion are making extortionate charges—in fact, the spirit of competition prevents any such thing occurring. At the same time it seems a little strange that while a maximum price is fixed for tho producer, no restriction is placed upon the merchant or a retailer, except, as already indicated, in the price of butter. LAND TAXATION. At a meeting of the Palmerston North Branch of the Farmers' Union on Saturday last a discussion took place on the alleged inequity of raising revenue by means of the land tax. It was pointed out that while the valuations were very high in 'the Manawatu district, in Hawke's Bay they were absurdly low; hence the settlere of Hawke's Bay escape thousands of pounds in taxation every year. In those districts where land is frequently changing hands, the valuations are systematically increased. It is alleged that in Hawke's Bay, where large estates are held for a lifetime, the owners bring ' all sorts of pressure to bear to keep the valuations at a low level. Whether that is so or not remains to be proved. At the same time those_ who support the graduated system of taxation as .being the most equitable have something here in the shape of a peg to hang their arguments upon. v ORGANISATION OF FARMERS. The organisation of farmers in the north is being, prosecuted with vigour, and there is every reason to believe that, when all the _ forces becopie properly organised and equipped, farmers' interests will be well preserved. Mr Tancred Cooper, organiser for the Auckland province, who has iust returned to Auckland from the north, states that the proposal to organise was taken up enthusiastically by the farmers, and although the movement was only commenced towards the end of the second week in January 17 branches of Farmers' Union had already been formed, with a membership of over 350. The new district embraces the - counties of Whangarei and Bay _ of Islands, the southern portion of Hokianga and the northern portion of Otamatea. Mr Cooper speaks enthusiastically of the way in which the sub-pro-vincial scheme is being received in the north, where the response of the farmers is better than in some of the districts where the union has been in vogue for s-omo years. The scheme has appealed to the generally, as under its operations the individual has the opportunity of voting on any question ..before it becomes a policy. New branches: Te Awamu'tu. with headquarters at Te Awamutu; Waikato, Hamilton; Poverty Bay, Gisborne; <md Ifring Country, Te Ktlitf. . Two other centres—Thames Valley, with headquarters at Morrinsville; and Franklin, with headquarters at PuKekohe—have also been sanctioned, and have been placed on a working basis without the aid of outside organisa- ■ •tion RIPE ROT IN FRUIT. The ripe rot in fruit has caused a very serious loss to growers of stone kinds, and I growers are nonplussed at the apathy of tbos'3 in power that they have never tried to explain to growers and others the cause of this appalling disease, and, if poseiblo, provide a remedy. The disease is said to be one of fungoid type, and the grower of a few trees in the town or country cbs- j tric't gardens, although disgusted by see- I ing their fruit fall to the ground, give tho diseased fruit no further consideration. But this carelessness is serious. The spores ! develop at an alarming rate in the decaying fruit leaving both earth and air surcharged with germs of disease, to repeat iteclf day after day whilst any fruit hangs

I on the trees, whether green or matured, \ thus providing a veritable plague foi j coming years. Mr R. Wright, of Auckland, •is -now pleading that the Government ! should take action to stop the disease, whioh | is a menace to the fruit industry of New j Zealand. AUCKLAND'S WOOL CLIP. Considering that there was -an increase of 686,392 sheep in tho North Island last year over the previous 12 months, it was only to be expected that the amount of wool to be dealt with in the island this year would be considerably greater than the amount handled last season. Auckland.has already partially confirmed that view,' for the wool in store showed an, increase of 3682 bales, as compared with the corresponding period of the previous season. A more definite idea of what the increase will bo is obtained from last Saturday's total—--30.064 bales of greasy wool, as well as thousands of bales of scoured and slipe wool, the wool in store being a record quantity for Auckland. The big supply of | early fleece is attributed to the fine weather during shearing operations. \ MILDNESS OF THE SEASON. ' References have frequently been made in. these columns to the mildness of the season, and there is no doubt that sinco the begirming of the season has been remarkably good so far as it has affected the dairy industry. We have had hot days, and just when rain was badly needed it came and freshened up, pastures again, so that, as a contrast to other years, we have had green countryside in the height of summer. Pastures have kept wonderfully green, and as showing the mildness of the season since January 1, a factory manager in .the Stratford district states that, from the beginning of January, his daily make of cheese has been in . adyance of the best of other years. As a rule tho cheese output commences 1 to fall rapidly at this time; but the contrary is the case. He never remembers such an unusual season so far as the dairy industry is concerned.

COW-TESTING IN TARANAKI. The Bell Block 'and Mangorei Cow-test-ing Association's returns are now available, the former tests being: to February 6. and the latter to February 16. The results of Bell Block were to the following effect:—

WANT OF INCREASED PRODUCTION. In making an appeal to the farmers of Rangitikei in particular and farmers in general to increase production more than ever, Mr E. .Newman, M.P., criticised the Government 'for its apparent apathy and failure to realise the full position. Mr Newman spoke on the occasion of the opening of Marton Show, and he first of all dealt with the necessity of the Government j straining every effort to impress upon the Peace Council the great necessity that existed for New Zealand to retain possession of the phosphate islands of the Pacific. Cheap fertilisers would go far towards increasing the Dominion's production of foodstuffs. Mr Newman then touched upon another very important matter —namely, the proposed hydro-electric scheme. He first of all emphasised the fact that he was a strong supporter of the National Government; but he took exception to the views of the Minister of Public Works regarding the use of water power. The position was, he said, that farmers must have cheap fertilisers and cheap power, and yet the Government will not allow private enterprise to utilise water power under any conditions. A number of. New Zealand peopho offered to start a company to make nitrates from the air by utilising Bowen Falls; in Milford Sound, and would undertake to find the capital required outside New Zealand and give the Government the right of resumption of works on fair terms. But the Government would neither make use of that source of wealth, nor allow the company to do so, a policy which he designated as akin to a dog in the manger. The proposed hydro-electric scheme along the west coast was most essentia], and Mr Newman said he felt sure that if, after the next loan is floated, the Government applied for a Public Works loan for water works alone they would easily get all that is required.

Milk lbs. Test. Pat lbg Best herd . . .. .. 706 5.2 37.19 Worst herd .. .. 564 4.6 26.15 B'ost cow .. .. .. 1110 5.5 61.05 Worst oow .. .. 860 3.2 11.52 Average association cow .. .. 608 4.9 * 29.98 Mango re i figures were: — N Milk lbs. -•ffest. Fat lbs Beet herd ., 747 3.9 29.83 Worst herd .. .. 430 4.0 17.40 Best cow .. .. .. 1005 4.1 41.20 Worst oow .. .. 285 4.3 12.25 Average association •' cow .. .. 601 4.1 24.91