OUR CANTERBURY AGRICULTURAL BUDGET.

Otago Witness, Issue 3613, 12 June 1923, Page 15

OUR CANTERBURY AGRICULTURAL BUDGET.

(Fbom Oub Own Corbesfondent.) WINTRY WEATHER CONDITIONS. In the past week in Canterbury wintry weather conditions have ruled, and there have been a number c-f sharp frosts. On W r ednesdav morning there were nine degrees in Christchurch and ten degrees the following morning, with even lower temperatures in the districts (hat are more exposed. There has been little rain to speak of in the past three weeks, but the days in the past week have been cold. Farmers are able to work fairly heavy land with freedom. The Canterbury Progress League recently made att investigation into the losses to the various local authorities in North Canterbury occasioned by the flood. Although the Amuri and Cheviot estimates were not included, and these countries suffered very heavy losses, the damage to roads arid bridges is estimated at £25,000. The lasses in the two counties named would easily double the estimate. THE YEAR REVIEWED. Mr W. W. Mulholland. president of the North Canterbury Provincial Executive of the Farmers’ Union, gave an interesting resume of the past season in his presidential address to the annual conference. Mr Mulholland said that the past year had been a notable one for farmers in many respects. Speaking generally Nature had been kind, and so far as North Canterbury was concerned, good yields of grain and other crops, and a good growth of feed had been the rule. However, a spell of dry weather during autumn cheeked the growth of grass, and gave the turnip aphis favourable conditions to play havoc with later rape and the main turnip crop on the plains. It was many years since such an extensive failure of the turnips crop took place. He would suggest that the growing of a few acres of mangels or of swede turnips should be made a general practice. The growing of a proportion of kale, instead of placing total dependence on rape, was also to be recommended. The London market for lamb had remained remarkably steady at a little under Is a lb until recently, when a downward tendency manifested itself. The local market had, during the latter part of the season, fluctuated in a most disconcerting fashion between 8d and lOd a lb overall, with a tendency to settle round 9d. The Home market seemed at present to have an enormous power of absorbing our lamb at very satisfactory prices. However, it wott'd probably have been advantageous had the Meat Board restricted the shipments somewhat more than they did during March and April. GROWING OF CEREALS.

From the point cf view of the cereal growers, North Canterbury had also had a fairly good season, though a rather patchy one with wheat, due mostly to fungoid diseases. Oats had yielded very well indeed. During the season the agricultural committee had made an attempt to gather information as to yields of both wheat and oats. Whether the method adopted was reliable would not be known finally until the threshing returns were complete, towards the end of the year. There was nothing more needful for farmers than reliable marketing information. Wireless broadcasting was rapidly becoming a common place, and it might perhaps be pressed into

service. At ail events, the union should not lose sight of its possibilities. Mr Mulhoiiand touched on the wheat marketing scheme, which had been devised, but had been rejected by the Minister of Agriculture. r Jiie union representatives had men met the millers, and the present scheme had been devised and an agreement signed by the individual millers and representatives of .he union. The average price the farmer would receive on trucks under the agreement would approximate 5g a bushel. Thus he would sell sufficient wheat to mill 20001 b of flour and 8001 b of offeils for £l2. The miller received for 2000 lb of flour net f.o.b. £l4 14s fid. The baker baked about 660 loaves from 2Ooib, for which he received £33. It was not the cost of wheat or flour that was responsible for the present price of bread, but the very high cost of distribution. Unfortunately. there was evidence of a largo fa. Ming-off of sowings this year, estimated at about 50 per cent. It wa» very bad policy for the farmers to upset the balance of operations on their farms by changing backwards and forwards. He hoped that a good breadth might yet be sown. THE BRIGHTEST SPOT. Wool had been the brightest of all tho bright spots in the farmers' years. Steadily rising values had culminated in the December and January sales, at which the great bulk of our local wool had been sold. These high values were not only for the choice wools, but ordinary wools fully participated, and the crossbreds found themselies in a much more favourable position. If present prospects were realised the immense amount of wool which B.A.W.R.A. took in hand would probably be out of the way before the new season’s wool came on the market. After referring to the serious shoitige of cotton, the speake • expressed the opinion that unless a financial catastrophe enveloped the world, the immediate future seemed assured. The dairy industry had also had a fairly good season, though, there had been a sharp decline in prices on the London market during the past two months, due apparently to heavy supplies coming on the market from all over the world. The figures relating to the imports of butter. into the I nited Kingdom indicated that there was as was proposed under the Dairy Produce room for some control of shipments, such Control Bill. The export of butter from August 1 to April 30, 1923, was 1,015,794. cwt. compared with 740,349ewt for the same period a year ago. Cheese seemed to have about, held its own, so that there had been a considerable gain in dairy production. GOOD STOCK MARKETS. Au excellent sale was held at the Addington yards this week, there being a spirited demand for fat lambs at lOd a lb, and for some lines, more than this figure was paid. Beef met with a rather better demand, although it started off badly, but all good class cattle made, slightly improved prices. Every week sees a big entry of cows that are only suitable for the potting' trade, but as there is little prospect of an outlet for this class of beef, they remain a drug in the market- and, to some extent, have a depressing effect on the sale of the good cattle. In the store sheep section* there vvas a good sale for Canterbury sheep, hut the inferior classes from Central Otago did not meet with a ready sale. Some exceptionally good mutton was forward and the South Canterbury lines were in several cases outstanding. The beet draft of wethers was solo on account of Mr W G J liotnpson (Waihao Downs), three sold at 52s ; seven at 44s fid ; 20 at 40s fid and 24 at ofis 6d. Air M. Morrm (Highbank) sold some exceptionally good ewes, 44 selling at from 33s to 41s 6d, the latter price bein- for a pen of seven. °