THE BAI VALLEY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4774, 14 October 1893, Page 1

THE BAI VALLEY.

During the last eight or tenyeare, oonfiictiog Btatementaand suggestions regard* ing the Bai Valley land have been constantly thrust before the public in a way that mast make it impossible for any one who has not by residence acquired a knowledge of the district, to arrive at a fair conclusion. Aa the time ia near at hand when something must be done with thialand, a brie! description of the locality showing why suoh opposite views are taken may be interesting and useful. The Eai, which is one of the inland tribu« tariea o£ the Peiorus Valley, contains in round numbers about 20,000 acres of land, including the lower hill Bltfpea five or six hundred feet above sea-level. From an agricultural point of view, none of this land ia first-class, and much of it is only fourth or fifth rate. Excepting a small area, artificially cleared, thejwhole basin of the Bai to the summits of the surrounding mountains is forest clad, a marked contrast to the country on the eastern side of Marlborough, where grass-covered fiats are environed by grass-covered hills, with here and there a Email patch of bush high up in the damper gullies. Owing to the distribution of tho rainfall the forest country is particularly adapted for grazing purposes during the warm season when the open lands frequently suffer from drought. - On this account land throughout the Peloruß district) generally is now in much requisition, and many are anxious to have the Eai Valley thrown open for settlement, arguing that it is more important to have the land speedily cleared and grassed than to preserve the timber until it can be utilised. Judging by other well-timbered portions of the forest country that have been cleared by sawmills, the quantity of convertible timber in the Bai is about 200,000,000 superficial feet. The export of sawn timber from the Peiorus Valley ia at present 3,600,000 ft per annum. At this rate the clearing of the Bai would take over half a century; hence, it is contended that the land brought into grass would, during the same period, produce a much larger amount of wealth. The value of the sawn timber at the place of shipment —.£ll,OO0 — ia definitely known. What the Bai land would produce it in grass can, like the quantity of timber,, only be arrived at by comparison with other places. Although the Peiorus has a good summer climate for grase, the winter is not favourable, the rainfall being excessive and the temperature low."* From sheep-farming, to which the advocates of speedy settlement generally look forward, the gross annual return of the Bai land would not exceed twelve shillings per acre with the present prices of wool and meat. The total yield of the 20,000 aorea would thus be -£12,000 per annum, against the £11,000 which the timber industry is bringing in. This supposes the whole area of the Kai to be immediately converted into grazing farms, a conversion that would cost at the very leaßt £70,000 to -fell and burn the timber, to sow and fence the ground, and erect habitations. By disposing of the land in blocks or five hundred acren or upwards it would probably be taken up by capitalists capable of effecting the change without delay. By allowing it to pass into the hands of small proprietors having to earn their living while they cleared

j their holdings, a repetition of what has taken place among the deferred payment eettlers in the Peloras Sound ib all that, could be expected* half the fifty years would scarcely complete the work of conversion. Returning to the timber industry t to supply the 3,600,000 ft annually shipped from the Felorus 860 acres of forest land are required. Thus, every four or five yean, from 1500 to 2000 acres are handed over by the brahman to the farmer Already, in the Pelonu Valley, land that i five yean ago was furnishing loga ia keeping sheep, And in leas than two : jeara another block of about 900 acre? in extent will be cleared of marketable timber. It can thus be seen that though it would take fifty years to out the timber of the Eai, supposing the trade to remain absolutely ua--1 altered, the whole of the land Would nob be looked up all the time, tlie farmer would follow the bushman, and to the .£II,OOO the trade ii now bringing in the £12,000 looked forward to would be gradually added. The diatriot would thus be kept in a progressive or, as Adam Smith has Btyled It, " the happy *• state. Besides gradually making way for the farmer, the removal of the large timber from the land by the sawmiiler materially diminishes the coat of converting it into pasture. This it found in the condition of the land after the fallen timber has been burned off more than in the cost of felling. It may be safely affirmed that heavy bush land, from which the trunks of the larger trees had been previously taken, could by an expenditure of £2 per acre be brought into a better state than if M had been expended on it in Its original condition. To those acquainted with the Peldrus district, it is well known that the Belling of land on the deferred payment Byatem could not have sucoeeded as it has done in the Sound without the work afforded by sawmills, the production of railway sleepers, and the felling of bush for persons possessing capital. By conserving and utilising the Eai Valley timber, a repetition «S irlaat Han been ddne in file Sound is possible; persons dependent on labour might take up the land and make; homes' upon it. Between this aftd the; opening of the land, so a* to indues capitalists to invest, there is no advisable course. Without the work the timber would afford the Rai is no poor man's land. Already a few breaks have been/ made in the forest 5 a few mOrs and all may as well be handed over to the fire, for only a large continuous area of timber can be worked profitably where costly mean's of transport have to be provided. 0.8.