MACKENZIE RUNS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13676, 19 August 1908, Page 7

MACKENZIE RUNS.

Heavy losses of stock in liigh country daring severe winters, and a suggested remedy, t'io the Editor of the "Timaru Herald.'') Sir, —Some short while ago in one of your locals appeared a paragraph quoting the opinion of a- land agent, of considerable business standing and experience,; to the effect that the large runs of the backblocks were quite -unsuitable for division into small holdings, and that any man of ' slender means taking upland there would come to unutterable grief. ' The records of the deplorable effects of previous storms, and the anticipated disasters! resulting fronu the recent one, go far to prove the truth of his assertion. But have the men of large means, and the big soulless companies, soine holding several stations, proved so'- great a. success? From a monetary 'point of view, decidely so; for the resulting protits from a good year- cover the losses of a dozen disastrous ones. But if success means efforts to minimise the awful sufferings of slow starvation caused to thousands of hapless . snow-bound .sheep, which, for days and nights huddled together on many a spur and bleak hillside, look.in vain for the food that never comes, then the answer, must be a decided "No." The whole policy of those itation-holders may bs summed "up in one word "economy," and economy ."knows: no mercy. "There is no god but- money and cent, per cent, is his prouV is the creed of these men, and, among -whom, that man who can reduce expenses nearest the vanishing point, is accounted the most successful manager-. It does not matter how many s'heep die through neglect or mismanagement, but keep the •expenses down. It looks so well in the books, and that is the great desideratum. Money spent in anticipation of untoward contingencies would be considered a maxima culpa.' Woe to the' manager—a. proprietor jivould never dream of such a mad thing—who in reekness mood bought hay or caused it: to bs made on a station, for dire would be the pains, and penalties heaped on "his luckless head. If the stution-holders, who will presently howl about their losses, would spend a sum annually in the purchase of hay, and place it in spot* suitable for distribution, the people at large 'would be spared the jeremiad that follows- an unusual fall of snow, and the unfortunate sheep, whose only fault is that they are I owned by men whose god is money, would cesape untold miseries. At one- time, the steadings in the Highlands of ■Scotland used to be periodcally depleted of sheep by heavy snowfalls, and the fear of stoiuis. such as described by Hogg, the Ettriek shepherd, brought their rentals down "very low; in fact some of them were offered for a, jjair of- hose without eliciting an offer from a. single applicant. But these same holdings now bring in a rental of £6OO a. year and upwards, in spite of the fact that the winters now are as severe as they were in those days; and this happy state of affairs has been brought about by the tenants preparing for winter, by either I sending down their slieep to the . low 'country or providing hay, ensilage, etc., on their own ground. Every sheep-man knows that sheep storm-bound will eat anything including the wool off each other. Hay made out

of any grasses cut from along 'the creeks and swamps of the big runs, with plenty ; of salt added to the stacks while in process of construction would be most acceptable, cost little aild save thousands of sheep. A quarter of a, pound of good hay wiil keep a sheep in store condition, provided ib can get rough feed besides. Half that weight would save a. great number from a death of slot? starvation when moved, to the bare patches in the snow area; thus a ton of hay would feed some 16,000 sheep a day. A hundred pounds laid out in hay and ensilage annually would greatly reduce the high mortality that erusiifeS after the fall of these heavy snows. But it will be objected how can the feed be carried to the sheep? Leave that to the shepherds and If they are worthy successors to the Waitaki men of the nine-, ties, they will find a way or perish in the attempt. In proof of my contention of how a little feed will cover, the death-rate in a severe winter, allow' Hie to cite a caee. In the storm of 1903, a certain Waitukl manager sledged and packed out hay to his sheep, and his loises at shearing were only 2000. above the normal average, whereas in 1895, when no feed had been carried to the sheep, the lots was about 55 per cent, of the whole number, which was 40,000 sheep. And do you know the only thanks he got for this was a furious "screed written most probably by some inane vacuity of a secretary, all assurance and shirtfront, , because the manager had employed one man more in 1905 than there had been employed in 1395.

In conclusion, my humble opinion is, in view of the fact that the occupiers of the high country have proed themselves in this, as in the; disastrous winters of pa-it times, quite incapable through meanness and want of foresight in providing for the well-being of their flocks, that the runs should' be not only not cut up into small blocks—for the small holder is even more sordid and improvident than his larger confrere, and a bad winter would result in a band of weeping masculine (?) Niobes clamouring for a reduction of rent—but that they should be taken over and worked by the Government, in conjunction with farms in the low. country, where winter feed could be' provided for part of the hill sheep; while the' majority could be left on the hills, magazines of fodder being provided for contingencies. But this consummation, much as it is to be desired, will-never come to pass, as long .-•i the country "districts remain unrepresented in Parliament, and the personnel of Parliament itself remains unchanged.^— I am etc., _, KUAT COELUM. .