WHEAT GROWING.

Hokitika Guardian, 5 December 1921, Page 1

WHEAT GROWING.

SPECIAL TO tit* AUDI AN. WELLINGTON, l)ec 3. During llic discussion on the wheat duty in '"the House, Dr Neuman stated that the first wheal raised in New Zealand was grown at Wadeslown. within a mile or so of the spot oil which tile Wellington Bust Ullice now slamls. lie had r,a ailed that excellent erops had been Inn vested in the Manawatu and Rangitikei districts and on the Ota;i Blains. We are inclined to think the member for Wellington East was astray in bis history when he gave Wadeslown credit for having raised the first wheat gmwn in the Dominion. There are authentic records ot wheat having been grown at Kaitnia in the tar north of Auckland in tlm early missionary days, loior before Wellington was attracting white settlers. But wlmat growing in tlm Manawatu and Rangitikei distri-ts si ill is not entirely unknown, and the Department of Agriculture has demonstrated again and again that there ate largo areas in the North Tslnnd in which tlm cereal could be successfully e-lt l vat ed. This year there is a considerably larger acreage in tile north under wheat than ever has been the ese before. The subsidies no doubt have had ’a good deal to do with this development, but the discouraging nut--1 ml; for wool and meat Ins Tint- boon n negligible factor in turning the attention of an increased number of fnrivie' : from pa.-toral to arable pursuits.