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New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4386, 10 April 1875, Page 2

The New Zealand Gazette , published on Thursday, contains further returns of the agricultural statistics of the colony, from the Registrar-General. In previous issues we gave the summary of Otago, Canterbury, and Taranaki provinces. We now have, in addition, the returns for Wellington and Hawke’s Bay. We should also add, that the Otago returns appear for the first time in the New Zealand Gazette, having been published previously in the Dunedin newspapers, as supplied by the Provincial Government through the Superintendent-Collector. The new returns are as under : ■Wellington Province, February, isyn. Acres. Bushels. Wheat .. .. 955 .. 22,202 Oats (grain) .. 3,654 .. 111,841 „ (green food) 046 Barley .. .. 104 .. 4,200 Sown grass .. 205,238 Grass hay .. 4,801 .. (tons) 6,907 Potatoes.. .. 972 .. (tons) 6,254 Other crops .. 383 This result, it must be admitted, is by no means satisfactory. With the exception of permanent pasture, the province of Wellington does not appear to have done much in the way of tillage farming ; but as we have explained, on previous occasions, the difficulties and cost of land transport have been the principal, if not the sole cause. The total area under cultivation, including permanent pasture, when the returns were made up, was 302,346 acres ; and there were broken up for next season’s crops, 5,324 acres ; —not a large extent of country certainly, but still showing progress. We trust, however, that with the increase of population, and the progress of rural settlement, this state of things will speedily change, and that Wellington will take much higher rank as an agricultural district. The differences between the estimated crops of 1874 and 1875, for the province of Wellington, as shown by the return, as follow: 1874 1875 bushels bushels Wheat .. .. 41,738 22,202 decrease 19,535 Oats .. .. ,71,996 111,841 increase 39,845 Barley .. .. 2,943 4,206 „ 1,323 Potatoes (tons).. 5,433 6,254 821 It cannot, therefore, be said that the province of Wellington has been stationary during the past year, but the result, as wa have already said, is far from satisfactory. The returns for Hawke’s Bay province are very much on a par with those for Wellington. There does not appear to be much agricultural activity in the Bay province. This will be at once seen from the following statistics ; Hawke's Bay, February, 1875. Acres. Bushels. AVlieat .. 37 .. 1,000 Oats (grain) ~ .. 1,208 .. 30,208 ~ (green food) .. 470 .. Barley .. .. 00 .. 1,500 Sown grass .. .. 201,509 .. Potatoes .. .. 303 (tons) 2,403 Grass hay .. .. 3,583 (tons) 4,079 Other crops .. .. 023 There appears to have been some difficulty in compiling the Hawke’s Bay returns, inasmuch as the following note is published by the Registrar-General; — “The quantity of land in permanent “ artificial grass returned for several of “ the holdings is considered excessive, as ‘ 1 in many cases they include a large acre- “ ago of surface-sown seed, the growth “of which has been over-estimated. In “ regard to this the Supevintondent-Col- “ lector reports :— ‘ I have arrived at the “ ‘ conclusion that 35,000 acres should “ ‘ be taken off the 201,509 acres, loav- “ ‘ 166,500 acres as a much better ap- “ 1 pi’oximation than the actual returns “ ‘ received.’ ” Whether the facts justify this note we are not in a position to say. It is a matter of some importance to Hawke’s Bay, which would have its cultivated area considerably docked were the suggested reduction made in the statistics. As it is, it throws a serious doubt upon the return. Hawke’s Bay shows a decrease of 2,088 bushels of wheat, as compared with the returns of 1874; an increase of 13,884 bushels oats ; a decrease of 5,251 bushels barley ; and an increase of 1,336 tons potatoes. There were 492 holdings in Hawke’s Bay; 3,587 acres were broken up for next season’s crop ; and the total area under cultivation was 204,344 acres. In the foregoing returns wc have omitted all fractions.