The Chronicle. PUBLISHED DAILY THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, UNKNOWN UNKNOWN FROM MAFFRA.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 15 September 1910, Page 2

The Chronicle. PUBLISHED DAILY THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, UNKNOWN UNKNOWN FROM MAFFRA.

Tili; following special article, compile'l for The Lender—a Melbourne weekly--is reprinted tor public information :— "The perennial topic about reopening the sugar boot factory at ■MafF.rn is over new. For years piist it bus furnished the subject of innumerable reports regarding what tho officials of the Agricultural Department intend to do, but things get no 'forrad-or.' The pio.sent situation lorces the conclusion that not want of knowledge is required, but want of inclination. That the soil aml the climate n.re eminently suitable for the best results in sugar beet growing and beet sugni production has been proved over and over again, alike on the spot and by comparison with rajxM-ts from countries where sugar be-ot has boen demonstrated, as among the most remunerative of all the agricultural industries. Tilic latest action by the Go-veniment has boon to obtain an ox-pert report from America, but this adds nothing to the exhaustive scries of articles by The Lea tier Special Commissioner to America of throe yoar.s ago. In those articles every point submitted in tho rooont official report was anticipated, .and the conclusion thus summarised:—

Is there any prospect of -the industry Jioing established, in Australia ?" There should b? with such a telling o'bjeet lesson as these American examples offer. To take the Maffra factory in Gippslaml as an illustration, that most lamentable example of a white elephant may vet prove to be the nucleus of one'of Victoria's best assets. We have endeavoured to express tJli-e strength of •our impressions regarding the importance of lucerne hay in American agricultu'ic, and'the dosira.liility of following on the sanlM lines in America; but after seeing what _ sugar beet means to tho American farmer, and the equal advantage tn be gained in the same direction by landholders in our own country," we find it difficult to place either feature in the lead. In America, both on the iniigated and unirrigated districts, sugar beet as a regular rotation crop in combination with well worked holdings of manageable size has now attained the position of the leading agricultural industry. The payments to the factories last year amounted to over £3,000,000, and tlhe number of factories is annually increasing. The establishment of such an important industry in Australia fairly justifies a development that would! increase the production of sugar. Compared with_ the Queensland! cane indtustry its influence is superior. The small holdings, the diversified farming, and the distribution of factory payments to a large num-' foeo-i of small landholders, are

features pointing to conditions which are. an improvement from a social, as well as a commercial aspect. The possibilities are so great that they even justify the introduction of a class of immigrant from a sugar beot growing country, and -through the practical experience of suoli nien this crop should soon be a distinctive feature of Victorian agriculture.

As to the practical growing of the beet in Victoria, that has been so amply demonstrated as to justify concluding that it is not want of knowing how that stands in tho way. As long ago as 1899 the Government offered, fifteen prizes, one of £20, one of £10, one of £10, three of £7 10s, four of £5, and. five of £2 10s, as premiums for tbe growing of two acres each of sugar beot, with the result that tho first .prize taker's yield was 20 tons 7 cwt per acre, and sugar value at the factory rates, £18 9s 9d pet acre, down to the lowest, whose yield was 1G tons G cwt, and factory receipts £8 Is Od per acre respectively. In those upturns the sugar producing capacity of the land, and the beet growing knowledge of tlio farmers, wove alike indicated, but growing beet for large Government premiums cannot go on as a. permanent thing, and always when these premiums have been discontinued so also has the beet growing. As an example may be quoted the episode of about tlnw years ago, when the farmers were invited bv

the Government to co-operate in an effort to- reopen the factory, under condtions that the growers would guarantee the cultivation of small areas of from two to ten acres each yearly, for a term of at least five years, sr> as to aggregate not less than 300 acres. Supplies of good seed were offered at cost price, the freight on the railways reduced to a maximum rate of 2s per ton, so as to overcome the heavy item of haulage and widen the area ■within which the beet could be produced. Thus, if the ordinary mileage amounted to 3s per ton, tlie Government ofiwed to pay Is of that sum, and if 4s. 2s, so that the freight to tlie farmer, regardless of distance, would, be kept down to 2s per ton. Equal prices to those ruling in the beet sugar States of America were offered per ton delivered at the factory for all beet wliose sugar contents amount to 12 per cent (the American standard), with each grower entitled to his proportion of the beet pulp, which is one of tlie ninst valuable o.f stockfoods, especially for dairy cattle. The anticipation that these offers would take a place in the. tillage ■rotation system, with the farmers taking (.lioi.f beet pulp back as return loading the same as the skim milk is brought back from the butter factories—was, however, not realised. The total response, aftei many months' canvassing by departmental officers, only amounted to barely 1000 acres.

Dγ Maxwell, ilio latest authority called in. advises a systematic education of Hip farmois upon limv 1o grow tho boot, .so as to ensure a continuous supply up to the required quantity necessary to make tho factory p nv . This 'advice appears to bo tendered in ignorance of the previous failures having no!, lieen due to a want of boot gro\vin«> knowledge. Tho hindrance Las bcon an absence of beet growin« inclination. "Wliilo the soil of the Maffra and surrounding districts is eminently suitable for the highest results in beet sugar production, it is also famous for cattle fattenin?"iron its natural pasture. The profits of caillo fattening are obtained without the trouble of tho land., while those of smrnr "beet growing necessitate thorough tijliW* of tho crop in rotation wiili others on farms smallm- in size than the cattle fattening lar-o estates i Pn>l>ably the sugar beet growers of K.jili.'urnia and Continental Europe with their labour Irainino- n])m areas of ];,,»], mm]( \ ~.C (. < )K. 'use in t!io .siMToiindiiigs of .Alaffni n vast iniprorement upon their present conditions, but the np-bringing of the average Australian has been ol a different character. JJ G has liocome accustomed to accept as a matter r.f course a land whose exceptional richness is indicated by the fact that it is the only country hi the wonid where slock are sent direct from the natural pastures to the meat markets fat. and between ynzinn; and cultivation there is a '»ar that even the dairy fanners nre only now to got oVer 'Hi.lor pressure of the past year's l»sse*. Tbo beet sugar problem seems to lead to similar conclusions to tlioso arrived at by M r Eh vood Jleart in coiineciion with his irrigation operations. If the Australian (lodinos to appreciate the advantages of sugar beet production, then the question presenting itseli ■for consideration is a.s to wliothoit may not bo desiralile to make the beet growing lands available to others.