THE NORTH ISLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 3566, 18 July 1922, Page 12

THE NORTH ISLAND.

.‘From Our Own Correspondent.) Tiie wet titer conditions of the past week have been quite seasonable, and as the days are perceptibly lengthening warmer days may shortly be expected. In the meantime the feed position is good, and unless there is a severity of weather there should lx* no shortage. Lambs are beginning to make their appearance, and it i* confidently expected that the lambing season will bo a good cue. It is -beeroly hoped so, and that a substantial portion of the. sheep shortage will be made up. 'I he plenitude of feed has treated a good demand ior all classes of sheep; but the demand for cattle i* very poor. As a matter of tael, beef cattle are a dttig < u the market, and farmers are obliged id lake whatever prices are offering The demand for good dairy slock is still keen, arid producers are looking forward to receiving very good prices at the opening of til ■■ new season. SOUTHERN HAWKE’S BAY Several mailers of importance and interest to Hawke’s Bay--particularly the southern part of it v.-ue recently brought under the notice of !)r Reakes. Directorgeneral of Agriculture. One request was that, steps he taken to secure a veterinary surgeon for Dannevirke. and to this Dr Iteakes lias advised the Southern Hawke’s Bav branch of die Farmers’ Union Ihat he would make an effort to get an officer for the district. Dr Reakes was also approached a.- to the necessity of appointing a Government Fields Instructor for the southern part of the province. Full sympathy was given to the. proposal by Dr iteakes, and he notified that the matter would be given consideration when fund* were available, and that lie hoped the date would not be fur distant when there -would be an officer stationed in the district.

FARMERS AND POLITICS. The farmers of the Waikato are out strongly for a country party at next elec-, tion, and one of the strongest advocates of the movement is Captain Col beck. Making a few remarks at a social function held at Cambridge during the past week, he repudiated the possibility of the Country Party splitting the vole. He thought the new party would culminate in the* assembling of the votes, ptirticula rly as they Would be solidified, and’not, as at. previous elections, divided between Reform. Liberal, and Labour. Captain Colbeok stressed the fact that farmers wanted direct representation in the House, because many a time when they got legislation almost to the top of the hill they were pushed down again: He contended that for about the past 22 years the farmers had been camouflaged, and, notwithstanding all protests that they should not go to the poll, he asked farmers to give their assistance to a movement which was strictly for the benefit of the olaes. LAND SALES INCREASING. There is a much better tone in the property market, and broad acres are being sought after more eagerly. A Palmerston North land salesman informed a pressman, and his statement has been endorsed -by others, that there is. a much better demand for dairy farms—both leasehold and freehold properties. They were all genuine inquiries from practical men, who, he said, wanted to get back on to farmers provided they oould do so on a payable basis. Several sales were effected, and, according to one reliable authority, the prices paid per acre represented about one-third more than pre-war values. This represents an appreciable drop on fictitious boom-time prices. BUTTER MARKET FALLING. Advices from Home during the past week Indicate that there is nothing stable in the price of butter, the market having considerably weakened. A drop has already been recorded, and this is not viewed altogether too favourably, because it is generally in the mouth of July that forward contracts for dairy produce for export are entered into. Buyers attended a meeting of directors of a factory in Manawatu last Week, but made ito offers. It is expected that the output of this factory will be exported on consign me nt. FARMING THE FARMER. There ere not a few farmers who aver that in tleir commercial dealings fhgy are “Wed white” by some of those handling their produce, commissions forming a particular itom on the schedule of grievances. Mr I/. T Daniel, of Master ton, Wairarapa, has come right into the open, and he suggests that a Bill • slroukl be put through the House for the limitation of commission. What caused him to discuss the matter was te little return he got at the Wellington wool sales; but awing to the fact that the complaint is a pretty general one, it may pot be out of place to give Mr Daniel’s views in extenso. as published in one of the Wellington papers, Xii« Wairarapa farmer •ays: "In making up cost sheets of wool

sold in Wellington sales this year, I find that tlie brokers’ charges for selling the wool, irrespective of railage to and storage in Wellington, amount to 8.5 per cent. In other words, this startling figure means that for the average hundred bales of Wairarapa wool sent to Wellington the broker for his services claims a total of 85 bales. By | long use we have grown accustomed to payi ing the brokers four cattle and four sheep for every hundred they sell in the yards, but to grab nearly nine bales of a valuable commodity like wool is extortionate and unfair The farmer buys or breeds i the sheep and keeps for 12 months, dipping ; and crutching it, erecting a shed with j costly machinery to shear it, presses and 1 carta the w 00l many miles, pays the railage . to Wellington, and then is staggered to ! find that his agent deducts the value of ; bales from ever 100 before any money j is paid to the farmer. The stock and station agents declaiming loudly that they i were the friends of the farmer, asked for I and obtained special consideration when the | moat pool was formed. During recent I months local farming bodies have asked the j agents to bring down their exorbitant ! charges to a more reasonable level, but j have met with no consideration —only the j usual defence : ‘ Look what we do for it,' I The charges are under different headingsi weighing, tallying, receiving, lotting, etc.— ' but now that the farmers are feeling (he pinch they are apt to be not a little derisive of their so-called friends and their camouflage.” Mr Daniel, in conclusion, suggests that commissions should be limited by Act of Parliament. J « AUCKLAND'S BIG DAIRYING OUTPUT. Auckland has had a great dairy year, and never in the history of the province has there been such a magnificent response by the various herds to the generous treatment Nature has afforded. Statistics have just been published which show that during the dairying year, which closed on June 30, no fewer than 1,115,034 boxes had been received into the Auckland Farmers’ Freezing Company’s grading stores, in comparison with 766,414 the previous year. The increase is 348,620 boxes, or an advance of nearly 50 per cent, in butter production in one year, whilst on the 1919 20 season, when 491,771 boxes were received for grading purposes, the increase was about 125 per cent. The oheese graded in Auckland for the year which ended on June 30 totalled 150,283 orates, compared with 155,805 for the previous year. The latter figures constitute the second highest reoord established for cheese since this branch of the dairying industry was instituted, the greatest total being recorded in 1921, when the number of crates reached 164,891. The production of cheese Iras with one or two exceptions shown a gradual increase each year since 1907, when the total was 7850 orates. In 1909 the output reached a total of 10,283 orates, and the next year this was increased to 14,308, but in 1911 it. fell away to 9579. From this year ou-

ward the figures rose steadily until 1916, when they reached a total of 68,243 crates. In 1917, however, there was a large increase, the number of crates graded being 106,761. This was increased to 111,007 in 1918, and to 136,208 in 1919, and the peak was reached in 1920 with 164,891 crates. The 1921 figures were 9086 below this total, but this is accounted for by the number of factories which swung from oheese to butter. THE DESTRUCTIVE HARE. A marked increase in the number of hares is noted in the Taranaki district, and their destructiveness is proving a source of annoyance to some farmers. A dairyman on the Mangawhero road, near Reveilea, states that he had a large number of mangolds out to dry for his cows, and many of them were eaten by the bares. In nearly every crop one sees evidences of them. FRIESIANS IN AUSTRALIA. Just recently four Friesian heifers were sent across from New Zealand to supplement the herd of Messrs Flack and Sewell, of Berwick. The heifers were by sons of the famous Burkeyje Slyvia Posch, which produced 5051 b, 6101 b, 6791 b; 7321 b, and 9831 b fat during the first five years she was under test. The heifers which have arrived safely at their destination are in oalf to sons of Westmere Princess Pietertye, which produced 9391 b fat as a four-year-old. The fourth heifer is in calf to a double grandson of May Echo Sylvia, imported from America by Messrs H. North and Son, Otago. These heifers have been specially selected to mate with the junior herd sire at Burbank, he being also a son of Burkeyje Sylvia Posch. PIG RAISING IN POVERTY BAY. Many farmers in Poverty Bay believe that they are not making the most of their by-products, and that by going in for a more systematic, method of pig raising they may be able to help along the buoyancy of finance. One way they considered that conditions might be improved was to form a -co-operative bacon company. This was successfully floated, and then it occurred to the directors that instead of having two factories in the district—one being owned by Mr Lyanar,—it would be advisable to hare only one tinder co-operative control. Mr Lysnar was approached, and a satisfactory arrangement for the purchase of the factory wag made. In the canvass for shares, a meeting of farmers was held at Warenga-a-Hika, and it. proved a very vigorous one. It was stated that Mr Lysnar had been making £4O a week out of the concern; but several farmers present at the meeting were sceptical. Knowing Mr Lysnar as they did they were sure that he was not the man to give up £4O a week. There were several present at the meeting who were there to create opposition, but eventually the proposal went through, and a fair number of shares were taken up. It is confidently expected that the Cooperative Bacon Factory in Gisborne will be a great success, and a strong inducement to the farmers to go in more for pig raising.

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORfiI NEWS Mr John Carton, of tlie famous firm of Cartons, Ltd., Warrington, died at Upper Cohvy'n Bay, N. Wales, in May test. Mr Garton was one of the foremost men in the world of scientific agriculture, and it can hardly be doubted that his long-con-tinued illness was largely due to his wholehearted devotion to the science of plantbreeding. By his painstaking and exhaustive methods of cross- fertilisation be produced many new varieties of grain and roots, and no man of our generation conferred greater benefits oil agriculture. Success is attending the experiment of the Victorian Forestry Commission of turning the alluvial areas after dredging in the Oven Valley into pine forests (says the Australasian). The chairman of the commission (Mr Owen Jones) has returned to Melbourne after a visit to the Bright district, and reports that pines planted three years ago are now 10ft to 15ft in height, and four-year-okl trees are nearly 20ft in height. The wood is used extensively for the manufacture of packing cases, and has been proved the best for butter boxes. Climatic conditions in the area between Bright and Omeo are declared to be idea! for the growth of nines, and the commission intends to plant an extra 100 acres this year. Owners of property were anxious to give the land free when the experiment was begun, but they are now asking from 20s to 30s an acre. An interesting feature of the work is that the growth of pines is in a measure combating the spread of the noxious weed, St. John’s Wort. The weed is said to be smothered by the needles falling from the pines. The gate receipts at the Auckland Winter Show for three days amounted to £4222. A dairyman speaking to the agricultural reporter of the Southland News, put the position of the man on the land in quite a novel way. “Unfortunately,” he said, “the cow has only four teats. One of them T have to milk for the shipping ring, one for the crowd that collects the other charges on the cheese from the time it leaves our factory till it is sold in London, one to pay for the cost of manufacture, and the remaining teat provides me and my family with a bkre existence.” There are still 5009 bales of Imperial Government wool to be shipped Home from Napier. Rabbit trapping on Mount Pisa has been suspended in favour of a big poisoning scheme just begun by the Government, who resumed the run. A resident of Sumner says the catches of crayfish this season are better than an.n recorded for over 30 years. They are also about a month earlier than usual.