A WARNING.

Otago Witness, Issue 3769, 8 June 1926, Page 12

A WARNING.

“Panshangaiy’ in a recent Australasian, comments in an interesting manner upon the disabilities under which Tasmania is at present labouring. He sounds a warning, which, if not too late, may well be heeded by those having to do with the agricultural and pastoral lands of New Zealand. Our virgin lands have been depleted of valuable fertility elements, which have not been replaced to the degree necessary in order to ensure yields of primary products on a parity with those of bygone days. In a word, the robbing processes has continued over too long a period. Mining in Tasmania has dwindled to very small proportions compared with earlier days owing in a measure to the increased charges incurred in, winning the minerals from Mother Earth. Primary production has fallen away. There are fewer sheep and beef cattle than there were a couple of decades ago. Dairying has improved, but agricultural production 1 generally has diminished, both in quantity and in the area devoted to crops. There is only one conclusion to be drawn, says “Panshangar,” and that is, that pastures have deteriorated. The soil has been consistently robbed without any attempt worth mentioning being made to replace necessary plant requirements. Rabbits have been partly responsible, overstocking has contributed largely to the trouble, and lack of systematic deferred grazing has hastened the orocess of pasture depletion. Pastoralists are only now beginning to realise the necessity for topdressing with artificial fertilisers, but it must be some years before the better classes of grasses and clovers recover their old-time vigour.. Probably the worst Tasmania has to contend against is its great proportion of mountainous country, so poor in quality that it is not of any practical value from a rural standpoint. When it is remembered that only about one-third of the State is put to any use, and that this area is distributed in three or four different directions, transport problems may be readily understood, in endeavouring to assist producers many roads have been put down, and it is rarely that those in districts recently settled pay interest on capital expenditure. Many should never have been built, (lood roads have to a large extent been responsible for one of the State’s greatest losses. The annual railway deficit is quite out of proportion to sendees rendered. and each year it grows larger as ,% result of motor competition. The advantageous position of the motor-owner in being able to pick up and deliver from door to door is even greater in a small State than a large one, and the hilly nature of Tasmania senes as a further handicap to rail carriage. Thus, for some years past, the carriage of goods has been diverted from railway to roads. Because of the increased wear and tear of road surfaces caused through motor traffic, the State is confronted with another problem, which is rapidly assuming serious proportions. Despite heavier municipal taxation, the highways, once admittedly the best in the Commonwealth, have deteriorated to a truly alarming degree, and a far better system of maintenance must be employed. As every motor vehicle represents increased revenue to the Federal coffer, Tasmania is entitled to some assistance on this score alone, and it has been shown that it has suffered under Federation in other ways. But while the present rather chaotic state of its finances is due in a measure to losses under the Commonwealth regime, mismanagement of internal affairs and poor methods of primary production uire contributing factors. Large sums have been spent on works which can never become reproductive but must nevertheless continue to be maintained. Although Tasmania has proved its capacity to produce wool equal to the best in the world, the present clips are conspicuous by a prepondWance of inferior crossbred varieties. There has been a decrease per acre in the yield of nearly all

classes of cereal and root crops, and this is narticularly striking in the potato industry. Now that the parlous state of Tasmanian affairs, due partly to conditions over which it has no control, and partly to bad management, has been brought home so convincingly, no doubt the turning point has been reached. A wish is expressed that the rest of the States in the Commonwealth, and we may also add New Zealand to the list, willprofit by the experience of the island to the extent of putting their own houses in order.