SMALL MIXED FARMS

Waipa Post, Volume 48, Issue 3483, 23 June 1934, Page 7

SMALL MIXED FARMS

MR W. J. HOLDSWORTH'S ADVOCACY. " OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS." In the course of a few minutes' chat at the public meeting on Thursday evening Mr W. J. Holdsworth, chairman of the Auckland Electric Power Board and prominent in other avenues of city and provincial public life, very interestingly outlined proposals for developing settlement, particularly in North Auckland, and so relieving unemployment. He said settlement was developing everyX where, not only in New Zealand, but in all parts of the world, to deal with the surplus population of the older countries. All lands were affected, and the British dominions especially so. At Home there were problems of State necessitating finding employment for men who had been crowded out of their regular occupations, chiefly industrial, and who, for lack of opportunity to re-establish themselves, were' becoming a serious burden on the State. He told of the evolution of the Ottawa agreement, when Empire representatives were fully informed of the situation, and of the plans:-formulated by the British Government; At Home it was proposed to' give the primary producer a subsidy' to enable him- to make a living, a;hd he forecasted restriction of imports in other directions. It was thuis ,f Jp to" New Zealand to face the sitjuation as speedily as possible, and along sound lines. /For the past seven years he had blen up and down the North Island fairly frequently, and he never missed the opportunity to tell the people, the primary producers, how unwise it to put all their eggs in the one Basket. Dairying was a great industry, but it was very evident that there must come a setback —and the slump in prices overseas, due to various causes, had caused such a state 'of consternation that it would be re- ► membered for many years to come. But he had found that his exhortations were misinterpreted. Mixed farming was understood by hundreds of farmers to mean dairying and sheep-raising or dairying and beef production. They quite overlooked the development of the pork and bacon industry, for one thing. He had been assutred by a reliable observer that New; Zealand could never compete successfully with Argentina as an exporter of beef, for in the republic production of " baby " beef had been developed to a high standard. New Zealand was, however, admittedly supreme in mutton, lambs, and pork, so far as the Empire was concerned. The Danes could still teach New Zealanders a lot about pork. The British buver of pork and bacon wanted a special quality, and if New Zealand was to grasp the opportunity to supply that heed the time to commence was now. It might surprise many people to know that the world consumed four times as much pork as beef and lamb combined. Pork was, therefore, not a side-line, as many people imagined: it was a leading product, and New Zealand's prospects Were limitless. Speaking more directly of North Auckland development, Mr Holdsworth told of an American who had remarked to him that the climate of the North Island was the equivalent of £lO per acre. The north had tremendous possibilities. It had been decried, ignored, and condemned Great areas of comparatively good land were lying • unproductive, and had been so for ages. He had been told that the grapefruit grown there was unexcelled even in California. Thete were old plum-trees in many parts that were the ideal for prunemaking. Thus there was no need to import either of those commodities. Thdre was scope for absorbing all the willing men from the ranks of the unWpldyed 'and putting them to attractive and interesting work developing the north, and thus creating an alaet for the State and a living under pleasant conditions— conditions that Had never been attained by the unEmployed, especially those of the jjities—rearing their families in good, healthy surroundings and under a benign sun. There were plenty ot opportunities in the north. Some ot the richest land in New Zealand was to be found there. Critics would add, " And some of the poorest! Well, that might be. But because some ot the land was unfitted to present-day methods that did not say it was useless. Fertiliser had converted previously barren Wastes in to fertile land, and this could be done in the Northland very cheaply, for fertiliser and lime were already there in abundance; / roads had been improved very greatly, and there were ports for shipping within a few miles of any part of the peninsula. , . , , The speaker told of a- chat he had had with Sir Newton Moore, who had been Premier of Western Australia at the age of 35 years. Sir Newton told him that people in New Zealand, and especially the leaders, lacked vision. They were too apt to take a conservative view, instead of bravely developing enterprise. Mr Holdsworth told of Sir Newton Moore's leadership in West Australia, where he had received thousands of immiof them from north of the Tweed—men who would work hard and surmount obstacles. Sir Newton was a man of vision and initiative, with the courage to back up his opinion. He had done more for his State than an-y previous Premier, and on leaving there had become an MP. at Home, elected (in his absence) by a majority of 20,000 votes ! New Zealahders, the speaker declared, needed leaders like Sir Newton-men of vision who could see further ahead than next sea-son. Mr Holdsworth went on to tell ot Dr Shine, head of the Palestine Settlement scheme, and how that shrewd and experienced gentleman on a recent visit to Auckland, had told of the conversion of barren, sandy wastes of country into orange groves producing millions of cases of fruit for export. If that could be accomplished, under adverse conditions m Palestine, why, he a-sked could it not & paralleled here ? The speaker nexitold of the settlement scheme of the* League of Nations in Macedonia, whVe nW thousands of refugees haf become happy and contented peoPl Mussolini was next referred to as having rejuvenated Italy, lifting the plople of that country out of the mire of hoary decadence on to a plane the e<|ual of any other nation m the iforld. Mussolini had evolved and

put into effect a project to convert 2,000,000 acres of barren land into productivity, and it was to-day thickly populated, and the people were exporting huge quantities of grain and flour. New Zealand thus had plenty of examples. Mr Holdsworth said the Northland would grow almost anything, and if New Zealanders would not use it they could expect immigrants from other races to come and use it. Japan was a thickly-populated country, and its people would thrive in the north. New Zealand had not enough population. Japan had 2500 people per square mile, China had 1230, and New Zealand had only 14 ! Of course, Australia was in an even worse position, for it had only two people per square mile. Realising these facts, why not settle our own lands ? The Northland offered big opportunities. Tung oil trees grew splendidy, and there was an unsatisfied demand for the product. Citrus fruits grown in the north were unequalled anywhere. The soya bean grew remarkably well there; and. soya was a better cattle fodder than ensilage, besides having almost innumerable uses for human consumption. Manchuria actually exported 5,000,000 tons of soya bean annually. Japan, knowing its value, imported £14,000,000 worth annually, and Denmark imported £9,000,000 worth. Soya had many other uses, including hardening steel and as a basis of salad oil. The Chinese, knew the Uses 'of the soya bean 5000 years ago. They customarily made milk and flour from it, and used it freely in countless other ways. Scientists declared the soya bean had all the vitamins necessary for human health and development. The soya grew really well in North Auckland, and had already been used for cattle-cake, fertilise!-, fuel, and foodstuffs. Anything grown in China, said Mr Holdsworth, could be grown in the north, if the people would drop their conservative attitude and give new industries a trial. Many people were all too ready to condemn enterprise in the north, but they had been proved wrong. Their statements had been disproved time and again. The fruit and nut industry was going to pla/y an important part in the development of New Zealand. Mr Pond, the wellknown analyst, had, after exhaustive tests, asserted positively that tungoil trees could be grown advantageously in the Northland, and convincing proof had been given of those contentions. . By careful management the enterprise he was connected with would develop a useful industry for the whole Dominion. The men associated with the corporation were sincere and honest, and they firmly intended to develop the industry. Detractors had eom'mdnted that tihey would just establish the company and then desert it; but he knew the men intimately, and they were not that type. Each one of them was desirous of seeing the Northland come into its own, and they would work hard to see this happy consummation.