SETTLEMENT PROBLEM

Taranaki Daily News, 15 July 1933, Page 22 (Supplement)

SETTLEMENT PROBLEM

DAIRY CATTLE IMPROVEMENT PEDIGREE BREEDERS’ FAILURE. HERD-TESTING SETS THE PACE. (By C. E. Cuming.) The opinion of Mr.. Earle Vaille In regard to the subdivision of the thousand acres he has generously given for closer settlement, that fifty-acre sections are too large, is an opinion that can be heartily endorsed. Good light country needs consolidation, and the desired consolidation will not be rapidly brought about except by the use of small fields, and the employment of the rotational grazing system, so that the fields can be heavily stocked in rotation. Apart from the great value of the small area, say twenty to twentyfive acres in extent, in bringing about soil consolidation and rapid establishment of good pastures, it means all the difference between land being properly looked after or indifferently managed. To establish a fifty acre farm a man must employ labour. To develop a twenty to twenty-five acre holding one man can do it himself. « # * * Farmer Versus Specialist. Again, in managing the comparatively small farms of twenty to twenty-five acres a man has some opportunity to develop natural side-lines, such as pigs and poultry, • and to have a proper garden. In other words, he can provide for a generous farmily larder and reduce the cost of living to a minimum. In establishing unemployed men on the land it should not be the objective to encourage them to be specialists on butter-fat production but to develop a type of farming that will enable them to produce, within reason, the needs of their family, and to market only the surplus commodities they cannot consume.

Small Farms the Objective. The small intensively managed farm should be the objective of all land settlement schemes, to bring about not only an improved type of farming but to develop a type of farmer who will look to his farm as a place where he can first of all have the opportunity of providing for the sustenance of himself and his family # # * * The Standard of Backing.

The Wairarapa Association wanted an exception made in regard to the backing of a qualified bull. Where the dam had failed to produce the butter-fat required it was considered that if the two graind dams had put up satisfactory records the bull should be qualified, it being argued that the dam of the bull may have just failed to qualify owing to a poor season. It was pointed out by Mr. Hume, the supervisor, that the I'ederation was agreeable to make an exception where the dam had failed to qualify owing to having received an injury, but not where disease or anything else was the cause.

A Good Argument. The general opinion of delegates was that the argument in regard to having two well-backed grand-dams was sound (enough, but that exceptions were danjgerous Where would they end? That it was better to breed from animals with many records behind them than from an animal having only one record to boast of was the opinion of the chairman, an opinion quite in agreement with the axiom of old British breeders before the days of testing—that it was better to breed from the poor member of a good family than the outstanding member of a poor family. A HOME INDUSTRY ! WOOLLEN GARMENTS MADE. revisal of hand weaving. An interesting experiment in home industry, with far-reaching possibilities, has recently been set on foot in the Mackenzie Country of South Canterbury. The home weaving of raw wool has been introduced there under the auspices of Toe H by Mr. R. R. Beauchamp, whose enthusiasm for the project has aroused widespread interest. The idea of. the scheme is to enable unemployed boys and girls, as well as adults, to make use for themselves of the raw wool which is so cheap and plentiful in New Zealand, and turn it into garments. The whole process had to be learned from the beginning, and Mr. Beauchamp has now given instruction in weaving and spinning to many people in South Canterbury. In the Mackenzie Country there are now to be seen many excellent examples of woollen garments and of woven tweeds made by people who have applied themselves to this interesting home industry. So far the main effects are made by the use of the natural black and white wools, but Mr. Beauchamp is at present experimenting with vegetable dyes obtained from . New Zealand lichens and other plants, with a view to introducing a range of colours. In the first process the natural wool is combed out by hand carders, and it is then spun into yam on the oldfashioned hand wheel, which can- be made at the cost of a few shillings. For knitting purposes the spun wool is then washed and made into hanks. A grey effect, either light or dark, is obtained by adding black sheep’s wool to tne white wool in the carding process. In the knitting of pullovers neat designs can be worked in with black sheeps wool. The garments and socks made in this manner are particularly warm. For tweeds, which make ideal suits and coats for winter wear, a hand loom is required. The hand-spun yarn, still in its greasy state, is woven on the hand loom. When the length of cloth is completed it is washed and “waulked, the latter process shrinking and consolidating the fibres and making a splendid hard-wearing and wind-proor tweed. With comparatively little instruction anyone who has the raw wool can make the tweed, and the making of scarves of various designs can be" undertaken. That the practical spinning and knitting of woollen garments can be suc “ cessfully introduced into country and even into city schools is clearly shown by the work of the pupils of a small school at Tasman Downs, in the Tasman Valley. All the boys and girls there spin and knit; and some really llne pullovers and other garments have been made by them. The children have done everything from the spinning of their own wool to the finished article. iey bring their own wool to school, and with their home-made spinning wheels, made by Mr. J. Hayman, of Tasman Downs, they have regular instruction. All through the Mackenzie Country can now be seen examples of finished woo - len garments all the work of which has been done in the wearers’ own homes.