DEVELOPMENT OF THE PLAINS

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4537, 9 March 1923, Page 8

DEVELOPMENT OF THE PLAINS

INDUSTRIAL POSSIBILITIES.

FLAX-GROWING. Few people recognise the immense possibilities in the flax industry on the Hauraki Plains. The cry has always been for more land for settlement, and the fact has not been recognised, except by a few, that where the land is suitable (as it is on the Plains) it is by far a better proposition to utilise it for flax growing than for cultivation or grazing. A comparison is convincing. One acre of drained swamp will produce 30, 40, or 50 tons of. flax every three year. This will yield five tons of fibre and one ton of tow. At the present time the market is about as low as it is possible to be, and fibre sells at £27 per ton and tow at £l3. The flax oir an .acre would therefore produce £l4B every three years. Assuming that the land is carrying a 3001 b butter-fat cow to the acre, it would be necessary to sell the butterfat at over 3s per lb to pt ovide the same amount. No argument can be put forward for opening up suitable flax land for farming purposes. Three hundred acres of natural growth of flax, cutting 30 tons to the acre every three years, would keep one mill, employing 20 men, going continuously. As farm land it would probably be worked by three men. The present royalty of 5s a ton is about as low as ever has been, or ever will be, paid. During the boom it was 30s a ton, and in the near future it may be 15s, but calculating on a basis of 10s the Government, as the owners, would receive £l5 per acre every three year, or, £s' a year. If the land were intended for farming it would, after being roadeu and drained by the Government,, oe sold as O.R.P. at about £l7 per acre. Therefore the Government would only receive interest amounting to 17s per acre per annum. A New Zealander, who introduced flax to St. Helena about 14 years ago, died recently, and his one-fifth share' in the company was worth £62,000. It appears that familiarity breeds contempt, for in New Zealan<l no effort on the part of the Government has been'made to foster the industry, and obstacles have been put in the way. Certainly about £27,000 has been spent iii the Wairarapa to solve the yellow-leaf problem, but in the opinion of a prominent miller who has made an exhaustive study of the question this is not, as is supposed, :> disease, but a physical weakness. For the past twenty to thirty years from 30 to 50 tons of flax, or at least ten tons of vegetable matter, have been removed from every acre of land and the ground has become exhausted. There are at present five flaxmlils operatiiig on the Plains, but if the Government would assist by granting a suitable tenure, in a few years there would probably be 40’ mills operating. Each mill would cost at least £2500, and would porbably employ twenty men, who would each earn anything from 13s to 30s a day. The wages of these 800 men would be spent in the country, and t|ie State would be benefited, economically, by the exports, for each mill would probably export £7500 worth of hemp per annum. On the Plains there is land, approximately 10,000 acres in area, in flax, that cannot profitably be used for farming for the next 15 years, as' it cannot be -drained ti,ll the Waitaka-rnru-Maukoro canal and the Piako River improvement works are completed. This land will probably be sold for settlement at £lO per acre, yet it is worth £2O a year to millers for the right to cut flax. Certain drainage and rpading is required to be done by'the holder of the lease, and by the cultivation, cutting, and carting of flax the ground is consolidated. Flax, being a leguminous plant, deposits nitrogen in the soil, and it has been found that whpn the flax is cut the ground is often covered with clover. It has been found that flax does best on land where the water level is, during the spring and summer months, about 18 inches below tye surface, and now it is the practice to construct drains so that depth. Flax, will not grow in stagnant water, j Eleven years ago there was not enough flax on the Plains to run a mill for six weeks, owing to that reason. Although it is customary to cuit the flax every three or perhaps foul'

years, the Plains are so much richer than most places that in all probability it will in future be cut every two years. Such a heavy leaf may not be obtained, bat the outer leaves,, which are shed at this age, will not be lost. It is being tried this year at Kaihere, ' and the experiment, is being very ’ closely watched by millers. That all areas producing flax should be let as flax leases until they are ready to be opened up for settlement is apparent, but it would probably be a better policy to reserve such land for flax growing than to spend money in opening it for settlement. Then millers could be granted a suitable tenure, for which they would pay a huge amount, and the countiy would be benefited financially and economically. PIG-RAISING. This branch of agriculture has also made rapid strides on the Plains. Seven or eight years ago the number of pigs raised on the Plains was probably about a thousand, and they were not in a good condition owing to the prevalence of disease, particularly paralysis. The strain was not a good one. and farmers were advised to try a Berkshire and Yorkshire cross. Two years later the number, had. risen to 3000, and the quality had improved 35 per cent., but there was" still room for more improvement, as about 25 per cent, of the pigs were condemned. The Yorkshire-Berkshire cross proved ralther a .delicate pig, and the Tam-worth-Berkshire cross was advocatedThis proved a hardier strain, and one that thrived and did well on the Plains. An enormous increase now became noticeable, till in 1920 the exports were between 6000 and 7000'. Since then the market conditions have been unsettled, and the number may have decreased silghtly. The handling and transportation of such large numbers is an acute problem, and a bacon factory on the Plains is urgently needed. There are at present ample pigs to warrant this, and it is bound to come. An obstacle that will have to be overcome is drainage. Pigs do so well on pasture alone that they only require six weeks Ol sty feeding to turn them into baconers weighing 1501 b. SAWMILLING. The timbei- industry on the Hauraki plains County is not a very big one. pne sawmill, capable of cutting 5000 ft a day, is at present operating behind the Maukoro estate, about three miles from Patetonga. Probably 750,000 fit of kauri and 1,500,000 ft of totara and, rimu, besides other less valuable timber is available for this mill. , ' In the opinion of one miller there is still enough timber available on the Plains and nearby to fulfil the requirements of the Plains for many years. BEE FARMING. The extent of the bee-farming industry on the Hauraki Plains is not widely known. Besides several privately owned apiaries the Thames Valley Honey Company has 700 hives distributed over the Plains. The company has erected at Kerepeehi an extracting depot capaible o’’ holding 20 tons of honey. The season has been against honey producing, and the yield is reported to be.“poor to fair.” | After the honey has been removed from the hives the Thames Valley Honey Company intends to shift all the bees to apiaries in North Auckland, where they may winter on the short red ti-tree. Expensive breeding apiaries have been established on the Wade River, and special attention has been given to improving the strain.