OSTRICH FARMING IN NEW ZEALAND.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1795, 8 January 1884, Page 2

OSTRICH FARMING I N NEW ZEAL AND.

<> Phk following article appears in the l'lirai u Herald. We wonder where the u id plains of which our contemporary svviteb aie to be found : — A proposal of Sir Geoigo Giov'-j th.it was considered one of the most \iaiouaiy he e\er made — which, with all due le^pect to him, is saying a good deal — was, in reality one of the mo>t piactical. When the ex-Go-veinor of the Cape Colony uiged the Go\einment of New Zealand to offer substantial encoiuagement to the acclimatisation ot O'jtnclies, eveiybody laughed ab the odd ness of the idea ; and when the Government acceded to the request, it was uimeisally undeistood to be a mere good natiued concession to the veteran's harmless eccentricity. The veteran, however, knew well enough what he was about. As a fact, there is nothing to pie\ent ostuches being introduced into this colony, and bied with gi cat success uul piofiL Fovmany years it was 1 upposed that the ostiich could not be 'lomcsticated without its plumage deleiioratmg, and the wild buds weie invaiiably hunted down and killed for the tcatheis. But it is now pro\ ed by ample experience, not only that the ostrich nay be domesticated without injury to the plumage, but that the tame birds may be plucked like geese, twice a year, without either they or their feathers being any the woisefor the process. It is alio found that the ostrich thrives in any genal climate, where it has plenty of run on dry ground ; and that a very little artificial attention in the way of •Oielter and feedng, compensates the advantages of its mtuial liabitat. Oidinary sheep country makes excellent o&tiiuii conntiy, with a Jiflerence that ostriches will pick a living on land where sheep would starve. The md pl.iins of the interior of the North Island, which aie almost worthless for anything else, aie peifectly well suited tor o&tuch fanning. The truth is the plan of encouragement suggested by Sir (Jeoige Grey, is only a timid step in a ditectiou in which bold strides have been tiken elsewhere. In South Australia, a singulaily piactically governed colony, an Act has been passed for encouraging ostrich farming on a large scale. It provides that any person or Company can take up 5000 acres of land withiu proclaimed hundreds on twenty-one years' lease by paying 2s 6d an acie, and paying nothing more till the end of the term, when 17s (vl an acre is to be put down, and the fee simple is then gi anted if the conditions of the lease have been observed. During the first two years the lessees have to fence the land, and at the end of the third year will be compelled to have eight ostriches for every thousand acres. From that to the tenth year they will not be bound to have any more ; but from ten to fourteen they will be compelled to have twenty ostriches for every thousand acres, and from fourteen to twenty-one fifty ostriches for every thousand acres. The Bill provides for the alienation of 100,000 acres for this purpose. This measure, we may say, ia not a mere prospective expeiiment. It appears that a Mr Malcolm has already formed a flock of 250 ostriches on land leased from the Crown, and this Act, with a bioad-miudedness rare in coloiiia! / Legislatures, grants him his 5000 acres in fee simple, as a public reward for jhis enterprise in establishing the industrj^. Some idea of the importance of ostrich farming may be gathered from the statement that each bud, from two years old, yields on an average, feathers to the value of £lo a year ; while, with anything like proper arrangements, the cost of maintenance is very moderate The first outlay— about £100 a bird— is where the money goes. But imagine what a howl there would be in New Zealand, if it were proposed to grant 5000 acre blocks to capitalists for ostrich farming.

FmuooDLE, fresh from Boulogne, met Browu the other day, and told him of the many illustrious persons he had fallen in with there. Amongst others he mentioned Freckles, the art-critic. "And was he quite himself ?" quoth Brown. " Quite," was the reply, he borrowed a sovereign." Minister : " Well, John, I've nae doot, fme your long experience, ye coocl occupy the poopit for an afternune yersel', should an emergency occur ?" Beadle : Hoots, ay, sir — there's nae difficulty in that j but; then where in the hael parish wad ye get onybody qualified, to act aa bcad^ f •