SOLDIERS ON THE LAND.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16033, 26 January 1920, Page 6

SOLDIERS ON THE LAND.

WHAT NEW ZEALAND IS DOING.

AN AUSTRALIAN’S IMPRESSIONS.

The New South Wales Director of Soldiers’ Settlements, Mr Bryant, who has returned from a visit to New Zealand, discussing the work of repatriation in the Dominion, remarked to "a representative of the Sydney Daily Telegraph, that, so far as he could see, the New Zealand Repatriation Department was following old lines in the settlement of soldiers on the land. The Government had not yet undertaken settlement on the group system, but wdrked along established lines under the old system of land settlement, controlled by the land boards. The men generally were engaging in sheep and dairy farming, which were long established and predominant industries.

Fruit-growing was yet am infant industry, and only those men who had enlisted from fruit-growing districts had shown a desire for orchard lands on their return.. The fruit-growing industry, however, was rapidly developing in the Dominion, and promised to be of great commercial value in both North and South Islands. In the Nelson district, particularly, there were some fine orchards, mostly apples and pears; growers were looking forward to a big export trade as soon as normal shipping conditions obtained. The attention which was shown to wind breaks furnished an object lesson on the value of shelter, and could well be copied to advantage by growers in the Australian States.

ADVANTAGES OF GOOD ROADS

Mr Bryant was particularly impressed with the good roads in the Taranaki district (the principal dairying centre), which enabled haulage to be done quickly, and to afford the maximum of haulage, which is so important these days of high costs of horse feed and petrol. The principal roads throughout the dairying district from Palmerston North to New Plymouth were tarred and oiled at regular intervals, and had proved a great success. Bridges were mostly of concrete, and appeared to stand well heavy and continuous traffic. He was much impressed, too, by the general practice on most farms of conserving pasture grasses, and every holding had several stacks of pasture grass hay. He thought that New South Wales could well afford to pay more attention to pasture grasses. The State Agristologist was doing good work here, but the result of experiments were not taken advantage of to the extent that their importance warranted .

Experiments at King’s Vale with Sudan grass, for instance, had given remarkably good results; experiments with other grasses also went to show that New South Wales could make much more of its opportunities in the way of conserving pasture grasses than it was doing.

SPECIAL FODDER CROPS. Mr Bryant was also impressed with the general practice of growing special fodder crops.. Every sheep-farmer had his turnip and pumpkin field for fattening purposes; every farm had a few cows and a few pigs, and it was a rare thing to see a homestead without a well-stocked vegetable patch. 11l was the universal custom to provide nearly all the wants of the homestead on the farm. In this way, the farmer did not feel the high price of foodstuffs, and he had a greater surplus for export and local market.

It was anticipated that there would be a shortage of pigs in the Dominion, owing to the manufacture of milk foods, which eliminated the by-products of the dairy farm, and so deprived the pig of his chief source of food supply. Prices for land were high and appeared to be still on the up grade. Bankers and other financial institutions had issued a note of warning against loading land with a value greater than its producing power. Generally, however, agricultural conditions were good, and he thought that decentralisation and intensive farming had much to do with this satisfactory condition of things.