A DECLINING INDUSTRY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 16, 19 January 1914, Page 4

A DECLINING INDUSTRY.

Grain-growing is evidently a dcclin

ing industry in Southland, says tin Southland News. In 1909 the mim her of sacks carried over the railway: was 344 short of 1,000,000— a recon for the province—but annually sinci then the returns have revealed a de 1 crease, last season’s figures beiiu 391,851, which is less than half of tin I previous year’s total of 820,3>3. i lm condition of affairs is nut attribut ! able to the quality ol the land, whicl : is as rich and fertile as in any othei : part of the Dominion, hut to the in creased attention given to sheep breeding and dairying, the latter o.i which, in view of the remunerutiv. returns, is rapidly developing into one of the most extensive and important of Southland’s industries. Hundreds of acres that in years past were sown down in crops are now being utilised for pasturing dairy cows ■md sheep, and the luxurious growth of grass that is everywhere in evidence at the present time all over the province is proof of the productivity of the soil. On the other hand, grain-growing requires a good deal of labour, and farmers have experienced a good deal of trouble dur-

in”; the past two or three years on account of the acute scarcity that has characterised the labor market. This, together with exceptionally unfavorable weather during the last two sensuns, has also been a contributing cause to the decrease in the gram traffic, but there is no gainsaying the fact that the profit reaped by dairy fanners and sheep breeders has turned the attenion of those who previously went in extensively for graingrowing to more profitable avenues /it the fanning industry. Tito area under crop this year is still less than was tlie ease last season, and it is therefore only reasonable to assume, in view of the fact that the yield is expected to be under the average, f]»: 1 1 the returns at the end of the coming season will show a further decrease.