KING COUNTRY LANDS

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 125, 24 February 1928, Page 10

KING COUNTRY LANDS

CAN BE BROUGHT BACK VALUE OF TOP-DRESSING RESUMPTION OF ABANDONED AREAS An inspection of land conditions in the Waitomo and Kawhia Counties has been completed by the Minister of 'Agriculture (Hon. O. J. Hawken), who, in an interview with a Dominion representative yesterday, pointed to the use of top-dressing fertilisers as the means of bringing the land back to a proper state for farming. The Minister said that the cost of much of the land he saw, together with the cost of breaking it in, represented a figure in excess of what the land was worth. Consequently a ceriain amount of capital must be written off. A good deal had already been written off, but the process of deflation was still proceeding and must proceed until the land reached. that price at which the farmer could work it. Of course, improvements in prices for stock, particularly for sheep and store cattle, had been a great help to the settlers, and they were undoubtedly feeling in a much more cheerful mood than they had been for some time. Prices for store cattle of recent years had left no margin of profit to the farmer, but with improved prices there should be a reasonable profit in handling them.” “There is no doubt, in the country I visited,” added the Minister, “that it is absolutely necessary to keep a large proportion of cattle among the live stock. It is very noticeable that in a great deal of the country second growth and rubbish have increased owing to the absence of a sufficient quantity of cattle.” Abandoned Lands Being Resumed. "I think there is only one possible /way of bringing that country back into a proper state at which it can be farmed,” the Minister continued. “That is by the use of top-dressing fertilisers. There is no doubt that the country throughout responds to the use of fertilisers; and the difficulty of the settler has been that he has not had a sufficient margin to expend on this very necessary work. Quite a quantity of the land has deteriorated in quality, but it can be brought back if sufficient money is available to the settlers to use in their farming operations. “A great deal of the land that has been abandoned will be farmed again, but, of course, it will need capital and men who understand the work.” “It may not be taken up immediately,” concluded the Minister, “but I understand that some of it is being taken up, on different terms, of course.”