THE CROP YIELD.

Southland Times, Issue 17661, 19 February 1916, Page 5

THE CROP YIELD.

We trust that the people of the north, particularly those of the Auckland proA-ince, Avill take note of the official estimate of the average yields of wheat and oats this season in the A-arious districts of the dominion. The figures were gi\ - en in a Press Association telegram from Wellington on Friday, but they are of so much interest that avc may give them again;— Wheat. Oats, (bushels (bushels District. ficr acre). per acre). Auckland . . . . 25.55 .. 24.05 Taranaki .. .. 20.67 .. 42,61 Hawke’s Bay .. 26.88 .. 46.49 Wellington .. 22.31 .. 27.92 Alarlborough . 22.53 .. 35.50 Nelson 20.05 .. 22.01 Canterbury .. 20.51 .. 24.83 Otago 21.46 .. 34.21 Southland .. .. 38.00 .. 50.00

The magnificent averages shown for Southland arc a testimony to the fertility of the district and the reliability of its climate. Away in the north people think that Southland is Avell Avithin the Antarctic circle, and the facetious Aucklander suggests that it is merely a holiday excursion from Invercargill to the spot where Captain Scott planted his flag. As a matter of fact there is no part of the dominion Avhere the climate year in and year out is more satisfactory from the producer’s point of view than that of Southland. The Aucklander may ponder the figures for his own instruction. As against the average production of wheat for the dominion of 21 bushels the average for Southland is 3S, and while the average production of oats is 33 bushels, the Southland average is no less than fifty. The figures for Auckland ar.e 25 bushels of Avheat, Avhich is very little better than the average, and 25 bushels of oats, which is far beloAV the average. No doubt the Aucklander

will offer some ingenious explanation. He may tell us that if Southland can grow more oats to the acre than Auckland, Auckland can grow more pumpkins to the acre than Southland, and that it is better to grow pumpkins than oats anyway. But Avhatcver explanation may be offered the fact remains, despite the boast (we think it was made by the Auckland Herald) that there are greater opportunities and greater rewards for the enterprising man in the “more virile north,” when Ave come down to the test of productivity as shown in the official figures land in Southland for growing purposes is worth about twice as much as land in the north. Of course, these figures are not new. Southland soil lias not suddenly become prolific, nor is there anything remarkable in the low Auckland yield, but attention cannot be drawn too frequently to the fact that the rather contemptuous terms in which our northern friends not infrequently refer to Southland are merely the expression of an astonishing ignorance, and that by any test this district bares comparison more than favourably with the northern parts of the dominion. This year’s figures are an excellent advertisement for Southland, and their publication at this juncture is opportune, for they cap the glowing descriptions of the province which A-isitors from the north have published far and wide through the press.