A VISIT TO "ABERGELDIE."

Waikato Independent, Volume VI, Issue 434, 7 November 1907, Page 5

A VISIT TO "ABERGELDIE."

MR. GEO. WATT'S TRIP ABROAD

Knowing that Mr George Watt, of " Abcrgcldic," Cambridge, had lately . visited the Old. Country and returned to New Zealand through Canada, we thought ■he would be able to give an interesting account of.his trip, so our representative waited upon him at his residence a few days since and had a chatty interview with him, and also a look over his wellkept and picturesque farm. It is, 41 years since Mr Watt left his home in Aberdeenshire, and on returning there he -, vvas accompanied by his wife. Messrs ■*• Jas. Anderson and H. Wi Mackereth were also fellow-passengers. They left Cambridge early in May, and journeyed via Sydney, where they joined the P. and 0. steamer Ormuz, and after calling at the various Australian ports, they continued their journey through the Red Sea, and arrived at the Tilbury Docks towards the end of June. The trip was a most enjoyable one, but owing to limited time they were unable to visit Pompeii and other historic places, as they would have liked to have done. After spending a few days in London the friends parted, and Mr and Mrs Watt proceeded on to Edinburgh and Glasgow. At Edinburgh the Royal Scottish Agricultural Show was being held ; and it is only held in that metropolis once in every seven years. Messrs Anderson and Mackereth were also at the Show, and although arrangements had been made to meet at a certain spot at a given time on a day fixed, the friends missed each other owing to the crowd being so great. The Prince of Wales presented the prizes \. to the successful competitors, and everything passed off very .successfully. The shqw lasts for four days, and the third day is the people's day. One day the ground got a little bit sloppy, and no less than 136 tons of straw were laid down to remedy the defect. Speaking of the cattle exhibited, Mr Watt said the Shorthorns \vere not better than some he had

seen in New Zealand; but they were got ' Up for" the occasion, and had had much ■ more attention bestowed upon them than they receive ' in the Dominion. Of Ayrshires—for which Mr Watt has a particular fancy—there was a very tine exhibit, and a Jarge number of them were sold to go to America and Australia. Mr Guthrie, a well-known stock buyer of Sydney, was purchasing for the Colonial market. Mr Watt also met Mr Gillandcrs, of the Momohaki Experimental Farm, at the Show, who was greatly interested in the exhibits. - Of sheep, all the different breeds were represented, with the exception of of Lincolns, and they were a line Jot. Speaking of the horses exhibited, Mr Watt says there were a splendid lot of hunters and hacks, much a-head of those in New Zealand; while some of the ponies were mere handfuls, and would pass quite easily between the outstretched, legs of a man. He was disappointed with the Clydesdales ; they did not come up to his expectations. The type appears to be changing, they are cleaner in the bone and have less hair> on their legs. There'was a great collection of machinery .- at the show* but, strange to say, he only saw one double (furrow plough,' and that seemed to him to be much behind those used in the colonies; and he did not see a disc harrow of any kind; but there were threshing machines, oil engines, and motor contrivances, but on the whole ho did not think the laboursaving appliances were as good as those used in the colonics. Weigh-bridges, he found, used everywhere at Home, and he thought the colonies might well follow the example, for they could be obtained very cheaply. Mr Watt expressed the opinion that the farmers at Home were not working their farms so well as they did 40 years ago ; they seemed to have lost heart. Originally, the tenant farmer in Aberdeenshire had a lease of 19 years, but now the term was six years', and therefore the tenants had ceased to take the interest in. cultivating the land which they formerly did. He visited a number of farms and.he found the work going on in the same old-fashioned way. Many inquiries were made regarding the obtaining of land in the colonies ; and he did his best to explain them to those who sought the information. They did not approve of the leasehold tenure; they could get land cheaply enough at Home by leasing; in fact, it was now nearly 50 per cent, cheaper than it was 41 years ago. All the enquiries were for freehold land. Mr Watt exhibited newspapers to show what land was fetching in New Zealand, and the Home people could hardly believe that it would pay to give such high prices. He quoted 1 one farm that was sold in the Manawatu district that realised Jgso per acre, and that completely astonished everyone. Mr Watt further astonished the people in his native district by telling them how every little town in New Zealand had its newspaper, and how these had helped to push the places along. In Aberdeenshire at one little town, about '25 miles from Aberdeen, everything seemed about just as it was 40 years ago. The younger people, however, seemed anxious to know about other parts of the Empire beyond the seas; and when Mr Watt exhibited newspapers from the 'Auckjand Province they were amazed; and the weekly illustrated papers were a revelation to them. Mr Watt intends to educate the people in his native place as to the capabilities of New Zealand, and he is sending newspapers and other literature, to the libraries there. Mr Watt also visited several other small Agricul-

tural Shows; but he considers they do not have the attractions on the people's day that we do here. Amongst the many historic and romantic places visited by Mr and Mrs Watt daring their sojourn in the Old Country were Bannockburn, Culloden, Loch Lomond, Inverness, Stirling Castle; and as Mrs Watt came from Ayrshire, several days were spent in the Burns Country, and all the old associations connected with Scotland's immortal poet were revived. On leaving Scotland Mr and Mrs Watt journeyed baclrto London, where they spent three or four days sight-seeing, after which they went to Yorkshire, and spent a few days in Leeds with relatives. During their stay in London, and before proceeding to Scotland, Mr and Mrs Watt saw Their Majesties the King and Queen open the Union Jack Club in Waterloostreet.

When Mr Watt first arrived in London he arranged to return through Canada, and booked passages for himself and wife accordingly. They found great difficulty in obtaining berths on any of the Atlantic liners, it being estimated that at that time there were 50,000 Americans in London who wished to return. However, by a slice of good luck, they ob-' taihed passages on the Allan liner " Virginian," on which there were 1800 passengers. They were several weeks crossing Canada, in order that they might have a good look at the country ; and the steamer on which they journeyed on the St.. Lawrence river was the last one to pass under the cantilever bridge at Quebec, just before it collapsed. The Government officials in Canada Mr Watt found very obliging. They are ready to give every information as to the country, its lands, sights, etc., and Mr and Mrs Watt availed themselves df the opportunity to visit all places of interest, including the Niagara Falls, the heights of Quebec, etc. They saw vast areas of land under crops of cereals, but they were not at all heavy, and in some places the settlers were cutting them green, being afraid frosts would come and destroy them. Mr Watt considers Canada a grand country, but it is terribly handicapped by the long and heavy winter it experiences. Land is obtainable on easy terms, and many young settlers go there because, they can get ready money for their crops. Mr Watt was told that the best cropping country was near Winnipeg, a district which is coming to.the front rapidly. Some of the Canadian lands are only suitable for cropping, and consequently they have to be fallowed every third year. Stock cannot be run upon those lands owing to the difficulty in obtaining water, especially in the winter. On journeying over the country by the Canadian Pacific Co.'s railway, several large irrigation farms were passed, which arc the property of the Company, and Mr Watt was tojd that during some of the winters as much' as from GO to 40 per cent, of the live stock were lost. At Montreal, great difficulty was experienced in getting accommodation, and they had to pay as much as 10 cents for a bottle of water to drink. At Toronto, Mr Watt visited an agricultural show, where there was a splendid display of grain and produce. There were large entries of stock, but the quality in some cases, especially as regards the ■ horses, was not up to the New Zealand standard. Eventually Mr and . Mrs Watt arrived at Vancouver, just at the time when the Jap-American riots were on, and feeling was running very high. A lot of Hindoos were trying to get into the country, but many of them were barred. Mr and Mrs Watt left Vancouver for Brisbane by the s.s. Aorangi, calling at Honolulu and Suva en route. Amongst those travelling on the vessel were the British and Australian rifle teams, who had been competing at the Canadian meetiug and were on their way to the Federal rifle meeting at Sydney. Arriving at Brisbane, Mr and' Mrs Watt journeyed overland to Sydney, where they boarded the Waikare for Auckland, and duly arrived home a few days later. Both Mr and Mrs Watt have greatly benefited by their tour, and Mr Watt thinks that if those who are dissatisfied with New Zealand or its political questions, would take a journey round the world, they would return much more satisfied with their lot. Mr Watt speaks in terms of praise of the manner in which the British railways are managed; the trains run up to time and they have a fine system of checking passengers luggage. But in Canada, although the railway cars are very luxurious, the trains are often several hours late. On mentioning the fact that the trains in England were run to time, the Canadians' retort was that they had no land to run over in England. Of course Mr Watt found the " tipping" system in vogue throughout his journey, but it was especially bad in Canada. In his opinion there are better and cheaper hotels in Auckland that anywhere he travelled.

THE FARM, CHEESE FACTORY AND MILKING MACHINES. After partaking of Mr Watt's hospitality, our representative inspected the farm and the cheese factory, and witnessed the Lawrencc-ltcnnedy Gillies milking machine at work. The farm, comprises 200 acres, divided into 8 paddocks, and will carry 100 head of stock all the year round. This is the- third season that Mr Watt has had the milking machine. He now uses three, and finds they give every satisfaction. An expensive item with them is the rubber shield. He believes the machines he is using are more up-to-date than those he saw at Home, and he says they do not

injure the cows in any way. At the time our representative visited the farm, the milking machines were being used upon a number of heifers, who did not object in the slightest manner. That they do good work is demonstrated by the fact that in the space of 14 hours the herd of 70 cows can be milked. Mr Watt believes in being thoroughly up-to-date, and has a little tramway from the cowshed to the cheese factory, for the conveyance of the milk to the latter. Mr Watt's fine herd includes a large number of pedigree and grade Ayrshires, some of which have taken prizes in the champion classes at the Waikato shows.

Mr Watt is largely interested in pigs, and is one of the proprietors of the Waikato Bacon Factory at Frankton. He keeps a good number at his farm, at the time of our visit there being 100 store animals there.

. Close to Mr Watt's residence, is the cheese factory, the property of Messrs Watt Bros', sons of the owner of <' Abergeldie," in charge of Mr Gilbert Watt. It is thoroughly up-to-date in every way, and the machinery is driven by a 6 h.p. Tangye steam engine. The cheese made at this factory is so wellknown that we need not expatiate upon its good qualities, for it will be remembered that in 1905 it topped the Home market. Twenty tons can be stored in the building at one time, and there is always a big enquiry for it. At the time of our visit 9 tons were stored, and from H to 2 tons are being sent away weekly. Last season the whole of the output (60 tons) was sold locally and in Auckland, and some of it found its way to the Indian market and the Islands in the Southern Sea. There is a great demand for it also oh v the goldfields. The milk is principally supplied by Mr Watt's herds, he having another farm where over- 100 cows arc milked.