BACK FROM AUSTRALIA.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1565, 8 October 1912, Page 4

BACK FROM AUSTRALIA.

"NEW- ZEALAND IS THE PLACE , FOR ME." (By Teleriann.-SDeclal Correspondont.l' Auckland, October 7. "New Zealand is tho place for me," said a young farmer to a reporter on. the Sydney boat last evening. "I have tried tho Commonwealth, and have found it; wanting in those qualities which ard said to make Australian farming a parn. disc. I left tho Wnikato district fourteen months ago to go (o a place abotit 100 miles from Melbourne. There I took up sheep-farming, in tho belief that it was a good speculation, but I lost over .£2OO in , the experiment, and 1 am convinced that farming on a small scale in Australia is a hopeless thing. Tho drought, too, makes things uncertain, bo I am back in Maori- ■ land. There is a good thing to be made here for the small dairy-farmer, and Hint is what I am going to try in the future." ho concluded, as ho stepped ashore with his wifo and sturdy little children, types of the farming race of which New Zealand is in need. "Yes, I have been bitteh, too," declared Mr. J. Melrose, for many years in business in l'nliuerston North. "I have bad a try at tho wonderful Gippsland ns they call it. It is certainly wonderful in,] the way of absorbing money, but not won-' derful in its retyns. Land is valued alt .£lO per acre, but in reality it. is not worth 30s. per acre. Again, tho Gov* eminent does not help tho farmers in the way of low'freights on tho railways. It cannot bo said that I failed for lack of experience, for I have been in touch with \ farming nil my life, and it is no untruth to say that there are hundreds of people starring in Gippsland to-day. Australia, no doubt, is a, wonderful country, and I believe that the man with thousands can bo assured of fair return, but a country • which makes no provision for the Small farmer cannot have permanence in agricultural affairs. Australians are foolishly ' squandering thousands in city development to the detriment of farming interests. I have.paid for my experience, \ and I am now convinced that there nv* thousands of small farmers' in New Zealand who don't know they are well off."