Patea & Waverley Press WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 1936 FLOCK HOUSE

Patea Mail, 4 March 1936, Page 2

Patea & Waverley Press WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 1936 FLOCK HOUSE

THE animal report, the fifteenth, by the way, of the trustees of the New Zealand Sheepowners ’ Acknowledgment of Debt to British •Seamen Fund makes very interesting reading, and should prove most gratifying to those sheepowners who at a time of prosperity were privileged to contribute to a fund which .has been productive of so much good. ’ Since the commencement of' the operation of the fund in 1921, the following assistance has been given to British seamen and their dependants: Cash grants to beneficiaries in New Zealand and overseas, £61,847 8s 9d; loans to beneficiaries, outstanding, £1695 3s 2d; immigration, training, after-care and settlement of boy and girl dependants,' 3s 6d. Excellent work has been done in placing the sons of seamen who gave their lives in the Great War on land after having had a thorough training at Flock House. A settlement was founded for them called Panetapu settlement, and after the property had been subdivided and boundaries fenced, a ballot was conducted for the individual farms and the settlers were able to go into occupation and take up their residence on their own sections in September last. Cottages, cowsheds, and yards have been erected, equipped, and electrified, and each farm stocked with sheep and cattle. “There is much to be done by the young farmers,” the report states, “but each one is now Avorking for himself, and Avith the Avork, thrift, intelligence and grit Avhieh from their previous records may be confidently expected of them, the Panetapu settlement should in a feAv years be a prosperous community. It is interesting to note that in addition to those Avho have been settled on, the land, every other boy, on leaving Flock House at the end of his period of initial farm training, has been found a satisfactory permanent position on a farm or station at a fair Avage, and Avith good living conditions and AAdth opportunities for further advancement. The farming operations of the Flock House station resulted in a net profit of £4207 4s 5d being realised, Avhieh must be considered highly satisfactory Avhen the expcncliturc on top-dressing, fertilisers, and the drop in the price -of primary produce arc taken into consideration. . The principal sales during the year, and the net average prices realised at the station, Averc 1.12 fat bullocks £9 16s Bd, 3270 fat lambs 19/4.64, 221 bales avoo! 6.76 d per pound, 25,2751bs butter-fat 10.20 d per pound. In pursuance of a policy of improving the Flock House property, approximately 70,000 trees Avere planted on the sand dunes during the Avinter months and 20,000 trees in extension and ’ renewal of shelter belts on the

run. In 1924 this block, approximately 31 mill's long, and one mile (loop on the coast frontage of the station, was almost a wilderness of sand, interspersed with sparse vegetation, marram grass and other natural sand herbage, carrying a few hundred head of cattle, the whole block being a menace to the adjoining pasture land. The report goes on to say: “By rigorously excluding all stock, allowing natural regeneration to take place, and by a steady policy of marram planting and tree planting, a transformation has taken place. We have now approximately 800 acres in forest trees from the age of two to 12 years, the older trees having made excellent growth, and many hundreds of acres additional are sufficiently stabilised for tree planting operations. Apart from the satisfactory financial results Avhich may confidently be expected in due course from the work and expenditure, the sand menace has been removed and a wide forest belt protects the Flock House pasture lands from 1 the prevailing destructive west winds. ’ ’ The report very rightly expresses the earnest wish that the practical example of the trustees of treatment and planting of coastal sand dunes may be copied and extended to the whole long line of at present waste lands on the West Coast. As it is now nearly 18 years since the Great War ended, it is obvious tlu.it the object for which the fund was started, namely, the training of the sons of seamen who gave their lives in the war, has been achieved and something will have to be done with regard to the future of the establishment. This, the report states, is receiving close and earnest consideration by the trustees. The last overseas boys left Flock House in 1932, and although for three years the same work and under the same conditions (though with insufficient numbers) has been carried on with local boys with good results, this is not the work for' which Flock House was established. It is hoped at some not far distant date to be able to make such arrangements that the Flock House training establishment can revert to its original or a similar purpose, and that seamen’s sons who arc wards of the fund can be trained there for a farming career, and later assisted to acquire their own homes as farmers in New Zealand. In the meantime those who have contributed to the fund have every reason to be satisfied with the result of their efforts. They will no doubt reecho the words of the poet Bourn dil Ion;

What have I given. Bold sailor on the sea, In earth or heaven, That thou should’st die for me? What can I give, 0 soldier leal and bravo, Long as I live, To pay the life you gave?