UR BACKBONE INDUSTRY.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 1, 26 September 1907, Page 10

UR BACKBONE INDUSTRY.

vIIAT THE FARMERS ARE EARNING. REMARKABLE PROGRESS. Farming lias always been New Zeajnd's dominant industry. We tickle .ur soils with a hoe, or a plough, or, i limy he, a steam cultivator, and .hey yield us a harvest that is sccond inly to that of Britain herself. The -•imputation of our wools is world wide. Jtir fat lambs and mutton and beef jii the European markets—what is .here in frozen meat to equal it 'i Our mitter is now "on top," ourchcese .mlustry is booming, and when wo sow the. seed that enables our bakers to .nake the stair of life we get a yield per aero that only the rich, mellow foils of Britain can equal. A Land of Small Farmers. Ours is a land of small farmers. Our very biggest men own sheep, but at our ?0,000 sheep owners more than naif own less 'than SOU sheep each. J'here are only 230 men owning over 10,000 sheep; and the real sheep magnates—owners of over 20,000 sheep jncli—make a small party of 87. So ■re are doing our great things by small jontributions. Our orchardists are proverbially small, but they are growing; and our dairying industry is in i.lie hands of .quite a multitude of 20jjw men. - This even distribution of iitfirests lias always been characteristic of this land of our. It was the jase when we were first called a colony; and it is the case to-day, when we become a dominion.' It is commonly admitted to bo a cause of mr national strongth and unbroken prosperity, of our freedom from class .;trifo, of our feeling of mutual good vill which enables ono man in an industry to hold out a friendly hand ';o his neighbour. inscsascd a Hundredfold. Fifty _ years ago we had 121,G48 .'.ores of land cultivated or surface sown: now tho area is only a few acres ;'iort of 15 million acres —over a .'lundrec'ifold increase. Increasos in other directions will bo scon at a glance in the following table:— A Tablt) of increases. Twenty-five years ago our farmers exported five-sixths of. Now Zealand's total oxports. Now they export over ;iix-sovont!rs. "KTiS Knlf-Cer.tiiry Snsrecsss. I:, tho following diagrams tlio difforyiico between tho. largo and small figures represents tho growth of the particular industry since tho year i 357: —

esoo.ooo Yvliy arc sheep our loading "crop"? our.not be said that sheep are a >.'o!>aole "crop." Our total exports : wool, milt,tan, and lamb, huge as ley are in tho .aggregate, only nro>".i i. to Os M per head of stock por I'.nuui. At three shcr-p to the. aero :ore is an export return of less than per nerd, with expenses to ho delisted. Sheep then, per acre, are not valuable crop, though in the Lilgrcita t.hoy are important. No doubt pit is a fascination about, shf-ep-vniine;. Tim poctr have mused over to sucli an extent that \vo n!vay.i ••oeiate tho basilicas v:ith en;;:' and :.nro and lots of money. It i<- nio.i . ir.'ara cf sittin;: on a hill .top < :ul iLobiii/i the wool ri:;f! mutton ; ; ;rov :.'ioul any o.wfcjcu on your ov.n rt —iho:ifr!> it in not to bo supposed r a moment that any one of our . nicis would aiiisiit that taw.' wrr« • thoughts that led him into tho !~:- .-try. No nno v.'i!! pud,."'.; the •«;> men the in-eat ;:;eed fortune that' • past few yean; have invui,to M!. read to the tuii!rn, so jar • it is visible, ir. strewn wick roses.