LAND-CLEARING DISPLAY

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 157, 29 March 1939, Page 11

LAND-CLEARING DISPLAY

Giant Machines In Action TALL TREES LEVELLED Impressive Demonstration Near Westport Dominion Special Service. WESTPORT, March 28. Described by Cabinet Ministers present as an epoch-making event and one that will have a revolutionary effect on farming in New Zealand, the big land-clearing demonstration was opened today near Westport. It was attended by 3500 people, including 700 visitors from all parts of the Dominion.

The Government was represented by the Minister of Public Works, Mr. Semple, the Minister of Labour, Mr. Webb, the Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Lee Martin, Messrs. Roberts, O'Brien, Skinner and Lowry, M.P.’s. Others present were officers of various Government departments and representatives of local bodies and farmers’ unions, for whom the demonstration had particular interest.

The occasion was undoubtedly the most important in the history of the district. The early prosperity of the district depended on its gold and coal production, but in recent years there had been a mild boom in dairy farming. The development of Pakihi land, areas regarded for years as unproductive, has played an important part in the increased activity in Buller farming, and, as hundreds of acres of this flat land is being turned into rich pastures, selected men will be put on to small farms.

The Government has been considering for some time an extensive landclearing scheme near Westport to embrace a large area of light bush country. also some swampy land, and the demonstration today was designed to prove to the Government and others interested the advantages of using modern machinery.

After preliminary tests had been made, a block of bush laud on Mr. F. Scott’s property, Orowaiti, was chosen as the scene of the demonstration today. The demonstration was a success in every way and a tribute to the organization of the promoters, Gough, Gough and Hamer, who claimed that the machinery used was the finest collection of its type ever assembled at any one place in the Southern Hemisphere. Veteran farmers who had spent years of hard work developing their properties under uneconomic conditions were impressed and almost overawed at the wonderful legacy which was being handed down to the farmers of the present day, as were the visitors, who, in many cases, made extensive inquiries about the machines. Tall Trees Levelled. Undoubtedly the most spectacular and effective unit of the collection of machines was the tree-dozer, which literally crashed its way through the bush, levelling tall trees with the greatest of ease. The angle-dozer is also a giant of destruction, which was demonstrated on bush clearing and drainmaking. The material flattened out by these machines was collected by a bull-dozer, which staeged logs and stumps ready for burning. A solid test on thick stumps was made ‘by the Diesel dram winch, which, like the machines mentioned above, is carried on a 112 h.p. caterpillar tractor. This winch has a direct-line pull of 32,0001 b. at lOS feet a minute. Two disc ploughs, one weighing 10,0001 b., and used for ploughing under heavy vegetation, and a ditching machine for making surface drains 26 inches deep, 48 inches wide at the top and 12 at the bottom, caused considerable interest, manipulated as they were with the greatest of ease. Mole drains as large as eight inches in diameter and four feet deep were cut by a special machine and a specially-designed geared stumppuller was subjected to some severe tests. It is capable of pulling 100,0601 b. at eight feet a minute.

A heavy-duty rooter, which takes out buried timber and reaches down 42 inches on an earth borer which made holes up to 24 inches in diameter and 10 feet deep in solid earth and numerous other light machines were seen in action and were also very impressive. The cost of running any particular vehicle did not exceed fl a day. The demonstration opened with a spectacular parade of machines, followed by the Ministerial party and the general public, to the dais, where the opening ceremony was held. A Dream Come True. “If this demonstration is important to the Buller district, it is 10 times more important to the future of the Dominion, and gives expression to a dream which I have cherished for years,” said Mr. Webb, ( in replying to the official welcome extended by the mayor of Westport, Mr. J. Kilkenny, lie said that the West Coast was a pocket, edition of the great farming areas in the Dominion, and today the Buller was giving a lead to the’ rest of the country in farm development. Methods such as those seen in demonstration would put New Zealand 50 years ahead in dairy production. He visualized the great benefits to other centres by the use of machinery which would keep those farmers quiet who “growled” at the cost of employing other people’s sons and daughters while their own wont into good jobs in cities.

In conclusion, the Minister said Gough. Gough and Hamer were exhibiting the best machinery ever collected at any one time in any country. Mr. Semple said the demonstration was the result of the crystallized inventive genius of the human race, stretching down through centuries. "Any given thought which comes from the mind of a human being should lie used for the benefit of the human races as a whole, not for a few. just as this machinery is being used for the benefit of the Dominion.” said the Minister.

He paid a tribute to the firm, which, he said, had spent £3OOO on the demonstration, and had taken the risk of getting an order for machines. He referred to the use of modern methods on oilier jobs and said there would be a special demonstration on the new aerodrome in Auckland on Saturday.