THE LEVIN STATE FARM.

Patea Mail, Volume XII, Issue 53, 31 May 1899, Page 3

THE LEVIN STATE FARM.

A Victorian Criticism. The special correspondent of the Melbourne Argus, who accompanied the Hon. Messrs Pest and Trenwith to New Zealand, writes thus of the New Zealand State Farm :

“ The State Farm consists of 800 acres of rich land, about two miles from the Levin railway station. It was valued at £4 per acre in its unimproved condition of bush and scrub, and at £l2 10s per acre now. During the four years it has been occupied, 522 acres have been felled anti sown in grass, and 30 acres planted as an orchard. A committee of Parliament reported that the working of the farm had not been encouraging. Charging interest on the money advanced by the Government brought out a loss of £4.100, which was, however, compensated for to a considerable extent by a rise in the value of land which had taken place throughout the whole district. The orchard looks by no means promising, but as a dairy farm the land might prove a success. The committee stated in its report that “ the evidence collected shows that State farms, whether in the form of co-operative settlement or under State management, have not been a success, because, (1) State management of a farm has always a tendency to be expensive, and there is too much tendency to make them a dumping ground for incapable men seeking employment, and ( 2) the labourers have been too many and of inferior quality.” There is a small, well-constructed dairy on the farm. The principles on which the farm is worked appear primarily to be to give employment for those who, from old age or bodily incapacity, are unlikely to obtain regular employment elsewhere ; and next, to give intending settlers some knowledge of farming operations. Some of those who have been on the farm have since taken up land for themselves, but, except in the dairying department, the instruction cannot be of much value. The land is such that it requires intense culture, if any, but there are not men enough on the place to keep one quarter of the cultivated portion properly weeded. Its defect as an object lesson to visitors appears to be that under the present circumstances of the colony it is really not required. There are only 18 persons on it, and it is not possible to judge what it might be if worked anything like up to its capacity. It would, appear almost as if the residents were there for the sake of the farm, rather than the farm for the sake of the residents. There are a number of ofiicials connected with it, and they would naturally be reluctant to confess that the farm is not required, but it seems clear that the few persons who arc there could be much more economically provided for in other ways. The radical difference between the State farm and the Leongatha labour colony is that here a family is taken on to the farm and provided with a house, for which a rental of 3s a week is charged, whilst at Leongatha men alone are taken. The manager of the farm fixes the the rate of pay which each man receives according to the capacity of the worker, and this ranges from 4s to Gs Gd per day. If there were a large number of persons requiring the aid of the State farm, and passing through it to land of their own or to other situations, it might be a very valuable institution, but at present the machinery seems to be altogether too big for the purpose it has to servo. The commission did not require to come to New Zealahd to loam that surplus labour might be employed to advantage in clearing good and lighttimbered land. It would have been of advantage to learn how a farm could be worked by the State with reasonable economy and efficiency, whilst preserving the independence of the inefficient workers who must form its staff. This the Levin State farm cannot tench. It is in the main a Government benevolent institution too huge for its purpose.”