The Position of Our Farms

Southland Times, Issue 9090, 14 December 1885, Page 4

The Position of Our Farms

Mr Arthur Olayden,in a letter to the Otago Daily Time*, narrates his impressions derived from a tour through the colony. 'HCsays :— On my return to New Zealand a couple, of months ago you did me the honour of recording sundry convictions, which . I brought with me from the Old Home, the' result of a iec-. taring tour there in the early part of this year. As I have been travelling through the colony during' the Jast few weeks; perhaps it nay be worth your while to afford me space to record the impressions derived from the tour. I regret exceedingly to have to say that the very serious agricultural and conunenial depression which was on every one's lips on my ftrfivalfaifd which fK>itf r the magnificent appearance of your cityr 1-was disposed to pooh, pooh ! as a mere, cry of wolf, is too real to ju-tify other than the most serious' consideration. The majority of the" producing classes are unquestionably, like their fellowtoilers at Honie, in a very trying positionThe causes of their difficulties are not far to seek. They have bought or rented their land at a rate proportioned to a price of produce tt least 30 per cent, above current pricesi In many cases a mortgage hangs round the neck of the agriculturist, which, however easy, to bear it might have been yean ago, is to^ day simply fatal. A considerable number are suffering through the common' mistake of farming beyond their means. Men 'who might manage profitably 200 acres are hung np with 1000. The interest on their borrowed capital is literally crushing them to de&th. Two or three ways of- escape for these unfortunate but most valuable'- members of.the community occur to tne> 1 1. THe/ must have Cheaper money, Ifc is positively heartrending to ccc' hardy, indue T trious fellow** f nch *w I have jnst been visit? ing betweenV here and Kingston, tpttenng beneath the load; of from 8. to .10 per cent; With wheat and wool : at present prices ho^ is a man ; to pay £10 per annum for theuse of every hundred pounds needed in his, business 7 It is a refiuement of cruelty to expect it of him. Surety : when 'money is going beg? ging ia England and Scotland, at 3 aud 3^ per cent^and when any amount .caa be had by our Gpveinaient at 4 per ceati,' or even 3f, there shbuia iw som the agricultural, ..and for that the commercial interest also, 'this Tital relief. With money at 5 per cent. I aeea door of hope for tens of thousands ofthe most important and most worthy settlers in our^midßt. 2; There should be a return to the homestead . system of settlement It is pitiable folly ieavlngthiese extensive areas of cultivatable'land—scores of miles^l have been riding through this week— to the "mercy of the rabbits. The one remedy for these myriads Of rodents is of course population. So long as half -a dozen shepherds are the only human occupants of these vast Otsgo and Southland runs/: the law , which is " expressed in; the scientific axiom •Nature abhorsa vacnum' moat operate ito the multiplication of rabbits. The Bupreme want.isthe^mnitipifca'iion of the once-deipisedcockatooß. But before anyone can really recommerid this small- farmer settlement, there must be some sort of guarantee that the men can live by their toil. I feel strongly that the time has arrived when it becomes: our Government to boldly face the problem of successful settlement. Driving hard bargains with ambitious hußbandmen is Simply ' killing the goose that lays the golden eggs,' In other words, it ia ruining the very men who are and ever must be the very Lack hone of the State, '"".."•

. 3. There should be a generous treatment of all those settlers, who have bsen led to enter into onerous and heart-breaking contracts. Oae of my fellow travellers to day was the Official, Aisignee in Bankruptcy, and it was with a eoldßhudderthatl heard him narrate how he had-been screwing the last note out of two bankrupts' estates. I caw in imagination the toil worn settler and hia woebegone family/leaving the results of years of anxious . efforts behind him, and going forth God only knew whither I I ask for no coddling for the sturdy agriculturist, bat I do contend, most strongly that there is no colonist who has so strong a claim on the fostering care of Government as the tiller of the soil. As it now stands — and' it 1b as well to have the plain truth once for all — a large proportion of the 60,000 producers of New Zealand are me|e neweisi of wood 'and drawers of water for half-a-dozen. banks, and as many again joint gfook companies, \ „ ..:, 1 should like to have enlarged on this vital point, but-there aie litaitß to your space. I will but express the conviction that with readjustments and reforms such as I have indicated therVis abundant room for hope as to the future of bur glorious colony. I have little pyriipathy with a spasmodic economy such as disgraced the late Parliamentary session. It is not by such legislation as Captain Bussell's-a stoppage of all important public works^that this colon} has reached its pfeaent proud position. Any fool can put np the shutters and blow the forge out. A young colony can no more afford to Rtaud still, at the old fogies of the Legislature would condemn it to do, than a growiDg boy of 12 years old. As the making of New JSeftland wa» unquestionably Sir Julius Vogel's public works policy of a decade back, so Us marring can only come of a reversal of the same. What but the. railways bus changed the my. lad aor<ft of land through which I havfl to.day ridden from worthless wastes to the fruitful gardens which they now are f I ven'Uffl to Biy that efery pdund spent on stich public works bfts added three to the value of the public estate. What isjfc but want of railway commusicatbn that practically locks Bp the wealth of onr West Coast ? There ia untold mineral ttealtbbnried in tbat remarkable region, and yet fowooth we are asked to admire, as a stioke of statesmanship, the withholding cjt the power to develop it I I reiterate my faith ia New Zealand.; England's capital and skill are waiting to enrich her. the eyes of multitudes over there are turned in this direction. The finger of Providence is pointing the tired battler of the older England to this 'England of the Pacific,' as a more hopeful arena for the display of bis fighticg powers, and it is only for us to second the providential hint. — I am, he., Abthub Clayden, Dnnedin, December 3.