NEW ZEALAND AND NATAL.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 209, 28 May 1908, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND AND NATAL.

-V V.S.-v.'-" w \ : AGRICULTURAL CONDITIONS ■ " CONTRASTED. ' •Our Hastings correspondent writes: In a short conversation . with . Cunning-' ham > and Johnson, just arrived from NatUk' those, gentlemen. expressed their impressions of tins country.' •;'V ■■ ■ ' ' What "struck ■ them' most,they said, . was the ■absence• of . those rigid .class distinctionsobtaining iiv Natal.' .Here a maa iiiay labour in the'.streets''without suffering-in .his: self; respect; but if . a- white , 'man: did; tliat in Natal would bo and ostracisod. in in ew l Zealand they ■' said ; lifo 'was freer 1 arid "-a man's : social'-positiori was 'not decided by the. cut of his clothes. In Natal the land ■ is' nothing like as good as here, and any farm' under.'a thousand acres' would be no' good.• Insteadj of the land, supporting thrcb sheep to | the acre, as in New , Zealand, W generally took three acres to keep a sheep l<\irmers could ;not;.p l ough in, the" winter l as; they did here, and these ..operations Lad to' ' bo;: carried' out'in ; the' S pn ng]or ; , v jj ell , • rain came.'. Labour, }n" Natal. was Very cheap the services' of cooliesl and Kaffirs, being obtainable j for' a , of; . 6d. !to Ts/ a day, , but this condition of affairs was more than counter-balanced by the .pests the far-, iner Jiad to contend .against., instance I v the east coast fever; carried by the tick kills 90 .per Cent, of the and in one year locusts .cleared off tho crops whilst the .horse i sicjuiess.would, strike a horse, perfectly sound in" the'morning and . before ; night the animal would be dead. The grub pest attacks maize,: i the. staple crop., of the: country, and pipes it off. The rinderpest, which was. another curseto the.-country, had .now . been successfully dealt.with'.'. Natal:; Was.also subject .to terrific thunderstorms. .'. It surprised- Messrs.; Cunningham -and Johnson to. see the manndr in which hills aro ploughed in Hawke's Bay.' " V/hy " said Mr. Johnson, "if w the hills in Natal were j ploughed a heavy rain would strip-tho soil in .'an. hour. .' Tho conditions proved that a couiltry 'can .bo ruii without cheap labour, despite, the . .contention', in, .South': Africa to the contrary, and notwithstanding the SouthAfrican pests tboy, thought that .that country would be, far'better without cheap labour. Tho Indian'- coolie was tho' ruin of South ' Africa. ~ - . - . . ' ■ 1 . The discontent amongst the Zulus'-.was certainly a menace to the Government, but the Zulu had become i demoralised, and large bcdies'of 'thepi couldibe kept in control by. a small number of whites. - Besides this, thoy had now no such leaders as Cetewayo, who : trouble; in the ■ late Zulu war. In conclusion, thoy said , that the. best sbeop,/arm .in Natal could be bought for . £3 per: acre, which'was a great difference from the £20 to £70 an; acre paid in this country. \ ' ■'.