CREDIT OF JAPAN.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12657, 10 January 1912, Page 7

CREDIT OF JAPAN.

GRAVE WARNING BY THE FINANCE MINISTER. * TOKIO, November 28. Parliamentary conferences with reference to the Budget were ended on Friday with a remarkably candid speech by Mr Yamnmoto, the Finance Minister, and ex-governor of the Bank of Japan, on the condition of the country's finances. The Minister warned his colleagues of the danger of persistence m naval and military expansion beyond the ability of the nation, and the abandonment of all unproductive expenditure was decided on. The speech has made the most profound impression, and the Press pays tribute to Mr Yamamoto, an untried statesman, for boldly presenting the facts m disregard of powerful influences.

I According to tho Sydney Morning Herald, Mr George Henry Greene, who , died recently, and Mr Farrer, who did such valuable work m wheat-breeding, loom largest ol" all men m tlie history |of wheat-growing m that Slate. Mr I 1 Greene' found laniUa a forest, and made it a granary, otarlnig life as a pastoralist, fie afterwards concentrated his atten- . tion on wheat, and his operations were eventually conducted on a big scale. Twenty tnousaud of his 30,000 acres were , cultivated ; 700 horses were required to 'do tlie work ; 600 hands were employed ; ' nine steam chaff-cutting machines have been at wo.-k at one time, and twentythree teams have been regularly employed carting chaff to the station. His toresight was shown by the fact that he was j one of the first two men to net their holdings against rabbits. When he 'netted the whoie of his estate and warned I his neighbors that the rabbits were coming, tliey laughed at him, and accused 'him of trying to stare them off their : land so that he could get it cheaply. Before long the faugh was with him; today there aro no rabbits m landra. But 1 what Mr Greene was most noted for was his system of share-farming. He found all tho land ready for the pl-nigh, all the seed, and two-thirds of the fertiliser. The farmer provided the labor. The • crop was shared equally between the ' two. But, as an incentive to scientific farming, lie gave the farmer everything over 20 bushels to the acre. To show how this works out, last j ? ear share farm- . ers netted 5250 bushels over the 20 bushels, which was worth to them £1028 above their half-and-half share. 'Two I farmers m 1903, off 650 acres, took wheat worth £1604. Mr Greene took £703, ! but they took £950, the bonus for over | 20 bushels yielding them an extra £247. In the same year another share farmer, off 600 acres, took £1520. The station's share was £716, and the farmer's £803. In addition to getting fii'st-class land ready for the plough, the farmers have all their wheat sold free of commission, and get their machinery repaired and horses shod at the station at cost. So many men haA'e become landoAvners and independent through the medium of the landra share system, that whenever a block is available there are hosts of applicants. Mr Green was a pioneer m this movement, which may one day assume big proportions.