The Wanganui Herald. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1908. NEW ZEALAND'S STRENGTH.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXIII, Issue 12581, 30 September 1908, Page 4

The Wanganui Herald. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1908.

NEW ZEALAND'S STRENGTH.

An interesting discussion which took place the other day at Auckland concerning NewZealand's possibilities is recorded by the N.Z. Herald. The question was in which direction lay the greatest possibilities for commercial expansion in the future. One speaker looked upon timber and all the industries associated with it as^ tending to develop the Dominion more than anything else. The dairying industry promised greater things for New Zealand than anything else waa the opinion of an Auckland district dairy farmer in a big way. A third pinned hie faith on the wool trade, with the export of frozen, mutton as a natural' corollary, and a fourth declared that the Taranaki ironsand industry would be the greatest thing in New Zealand's futiire. "Well," put in one of the visitors — a gentleman, who had farmed on a large scale in British Columbia, Canada, South Africa, and Australia— "you may be all right — you are all New Zealanders, and ought to know your own country — but it is strange that not one of you has mentioned the thing that has struck me most about this country. Your stock and pasture lands means good stock, and I believe that eventually this will be one of the great countries in the world — if not the greatest — for the breeding of high-grade stud stock for export." The visitor said he had seen New Zealand stud etock in the Argentine, Africa, Australia, and India, and although they were very fine — whether sheep, cattle, or horses— the fringe of the business had hardly been touched. 'There were in his opinion immense possibilities in it. What struck him particularly when travelling through the best parts of the North Island was the fine appearance of the stock, the condition of which he attributed to the excellent pasture everywhere. He had never seen stock in any British colony quite as good, and he had never seen better pasture feed anywhere. The "Canadian cattle were good, but New Zealand cattle were better, better even than the famous Guelph cattle. The effect was seen in 1 - tho New Zealand butter. It was one of the finest flavoured in the world, comparing favourably with the Danish, but it was not obtained in England as good as it was in the Dominion. For the most part, a mixture was given .at Home which was called New Zealand butter, and he did not find out how different it was from the real article till he came to New Zealand. The speaker proceeded to give some interesting hints, culled from a wide experience, on what had impressed him most about New Zealand stock. One striking point of superiority was that New Zealand-bred cattle and horses did not deteriorate in the slightest— if anything, they improved on the imported animals from which they were originally bred. «• With proper care in mating he thought that in the long run they would prove greatly superior. The Canadian stock looked very fine in summer, but they fell away in -winter, when tkey had to be artificially fed for many months on dry fodder, such as wild hay, timothy, clover, and maize. Referring to New Ze&-, land horses, the speaker held that, notwithstanding the fact that English race*, horses had more care bestowed upon them than New Zealand racehorses, Ihe latter compared very favourably with any they had at Home. And the same could be said of New Zealand draught horses. In the speaker's opinion, this was largely due to the splendid pasture lands with which, the Dominion abounded. "It is the beat grass country I have ever seen," he said; "I don't mean paddocks of timothy and clover, or other specially cultivated grasses for mowing purposes, I ucean grazing paddocks. South African stock, for instance, are not in it with New Zealand stock. Ordinary stock here are fatter than the fattest stock in South Africa. New Zealand* pasture lands will compare with

anv — w itli the best English pastures, for instance. And with the advantage that you haven't such a severe winter here a 6 the Old Land. And I affirm unhesitatingly that the New Zealand-bred stock is as good as the best English stock. I think New Zealand could develop a much better export trade in horses than it hae at the present time. There should be a market for New Zealand horses all over the world, where horses are required. The horses you use in the waggons about the street are equal to any I have ever seen. You can t get better in the Old Country." On this subject the speaker strongly advocated the utmost care in the mating of suitable animals, as he was convinced that the progeny would amply repay the original selection. The good pastures would rear a fine sturdy anima 1 . New Zealand, he said had already established a reputation for breeding stud sheep, and he thought it could breed quite as good stud horses, "It's all in the pasture," was hie commonsense declaration, "and your pasture lands here, as I said before, are equal to any in the world. This is a. magnificent country for sheep, cattle and horses. It is the England of the Southern Hemisphere."