Poverty Bay Standard. PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY. SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 1881. A Tour in New Zealand.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume IX, Issue 931, 2 April 1881, Page 3

Poverty Bay Standard.

PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY. SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 1881. A Tour in New Zealand.

We shall sell to no man Justice or Sight; We shall deny to no man Justice or Riyht; We shall defer to no man Justice or Right.

No. IV.—RABBITS & THISTLES.

[From the Melbourne Leader}

At Invercargill I met Captain Raymond, the discoverer o£ the phosphorised oats cure for the rabbit nuisance. This gentleman has experimented for years in the endeavor to save his run from destruction, and has consequently gained a valuable fund of information upon the rabbit question, which he is very laudably publishing for the benefit of land-holders in all the Colonies. It is unfortunate for Captain Raymond that he did not make his valuable discovery in time to save his own property, for now that the nuisance can be held in check his property, the whole of which he lost through the ravages of these pests, would have been very valuable. Captain Raymond’s run, like most of the others in Southland and Otago, was overrun with rabbits until its carrying capabilities were reduced to a low point. Keeping men with large packs of dogs employed in killing rabbits was the system adopted, but notwithstanding the expensiveness of this work, the nuisance increased, and to extend operations only tended to disturb and destroy the sheep, so that the remedy became as bad as the disease. At length, after repeated experiments, the use of phosphorised oats was found effectual, but it was too late to save the discoverer from financial ruin. Considering the magnitude of the rabbit nuisance, and the fact that the pastoral runs would have nearly all been abandoned if a remedy had not been found, there is no doubt that the Government of New Zealand ought to recognise the great benefit which Captain Raymond has conferred upon the Colony; while the runholders both here and in Victoria, who are reaping the advantages of the discovery, should not forget their indebtedness to the discoverer.

“ I used phosphorous before Captain Raymond was heard of,” I heard one squatter assert, and several others claim to have found the cure out for themselves. The rival discoverers set forth their claims in the Southland newspapers, and many are inclined to prevent Captain Raymond from getting any more than the usual amount of honor obtained by the prophet in his own country, but I am inclined to think the Captain has the best of the argument. However that may be, there is one thing certain, namely, the Captain was the first to make its usefulness public. He was not content to quietly use his discoveryin the mountains and glens of

his batik country, but hastened to give his fellow-colonistsHhe' beiibfit of his experience. It is through'his exertions that the rabbit difficulty -of Southland and Otago has been settled; and it was owing to his action that The Leader was enabled to bring the discovery under the notice of its readers in Victoria and South Australia.

“ Settled the rabbit difficulty ” is a startling statement, but it is true. I do not mean to say that all the rabbits have been destroyed, and that there is no longer need of action, but they can be killed so rapidly that they can be kept down by a comparatively small annual expenditure. In the mountainous country, of which the larger portion of the Crown lands consist, the cover is so plentiful that the breeding warrens are likely to exist for some years to come, but the phosphorous is so effectual that the rabbits can be killed off every year in such an effectual manner as to prevent serious damage to the pastures. Before this cure was discovered there was no hope of checking the nuisance. Notwithstanding the large expenditure in efforts at extermination, the nuisance continued to increase, the runholders had to reduce their stock by, from 50 to 75 per cent., and some runs were entirely abandoned, while all the squatters were losing hope, and a general abandonment of the pastoral lands was imminent. Everything is now changed. The squatters expend money in clearing their runs with the confidence that the outlay will be remunerative. It will take some time for the runs to recover from the destruction of the pasture, but the war is carried on upon all the stations with perfect confidence. Those squatters who have large freeholds as well as the leased runs have generally got the rabbits well cleared off, but many who only hold pastoral leases have done very little. It is an important undertaking to begin clearing the rabbits off a large run in a mountainous country, and the uncertainty of the tenure has the effect of deterring some holders from beginning. The runs can be resumed by the Crown upon giving twelve months’ notice if the land should be wanted for settlement, and consequently the case stands much the same as the rabbit question does with the squatters in the Victorian mallee country. There is this difference, however: Inaction is the rule in Victoria, but here nearly all the runholders have been at work with phosphorised oats, and the brown bare hills will shortly be clothed with grass and re-stocked with sheep. The runholder generally supplies oats which have been phosphorised to the rabbitters, charging them the cost price of the mixture, and the rabbitters’ wages are made up from what they get for the skins. To encourage men to go rabbiting, the squatter offers a price for the skins which will well repay the men ; about 2s per dozen is paid for the skins, and at this rate the men make high wages. The rabbitter first goes over a large range of country, dropping the oats in about tablespoonfuls in suitable places, and in three days afterwards he goes over the same ground gathering up the dead rabbits and skinning them. The squatter makes the skins up in bales and sells them either to dealers in the Colony or experts them with his wool. Sometimes there is a loss upon the skins and sometimes a profit, for as high as 3s per dozen has been obtained in the English market for winter skins, which are well provided 'with fur. Wheat, when properly treated, will do nearly as well as oats ; but as Captain Raymond is sending for publication to The Leader full directions as to mixing and using the phosphorised oats, it will not be necessary for me to go into details in the present paper.

“ You must not fail to see the Lakes, the wonderful scenery of the lake country.” As this advice was universally given, and as I had met some English and American tourists who had returned from Lake Wakatipu full of its praises, I started for that popular locality by the railway, which runs north from Invercargill to Kingston, a distance of 87 miles. The train crept along at the rate of 15 miles an

hour, stopping to take.in water every | hour, a delay necessitated by the 'small- j ness of the engine. To one accustomed ! to the country, the slow journey would be exceedingly tedious, and the scenery rather uninteresting, but it being my first trip, I found,much to attract my attention. The clumps of forest or bush, without anything Australian in their appearance; and the peculiar formation of the country, as the snowclad heights of the Takatimo mount to the westward, made one forget the slowness of the travelling, and inclined to excuse the bibulous character of the engine. Four square iron malt tanks, erected upon a wooden frame, into which water is pumped by hand from a spring well a few feet deep, serve to supply the engine with water, so that it is loss of time rather than expensive reservoirs that have to be complained of on the New Zealand railways. Excepting at the more important stopping places, small wooden skillions serve the purpose of stationhouses ; and at these, which are plentifully dotted along the line, no stationmasters are kept, the guard coming along the train while in motion and giving tickets to incoming passengers These little huts suit the traffic very well, although they give the impression that the railways belong to a rather struggling firm. It would be rather expensive, however, to build large station houses over 1,200 of rail-

way. Winton, 19 miles along the road, is the most important township passed through on the journey, and it seems to be a growing place, depending upon agriculture and the valuable forests in its vicinity. Josephville and Caroline are not townships, but only railway stations of the skillion description, and are only interesting to the Victorian traveller as being called after a millionaire and his wife, who own large tracts of land in the district, enjoying the interest in a Melbourne suburb. For the first 20 miles the railway runs through a farming district like that described in former papers, heavy crops of oats, and turnips, and rich artificial pastures, separated into paddocks by furze hedges, giving a prosperous agricultural appearance to the country. Further on the estates are larger and cultivation less general, while thousands of acres seem devoted to nothing but growing Scotch thistles. Those who can afford to allow valuable land to lie in thistles must make their profit out of the “ unearned increment,” and the land tax, which the present Conservative Government repealed to substitute a property tax, would do such holders a deal of good, while yielding a handsome revenue to the State. Not only on the flats, but all the way to Kingston and up the sides of the mountain, the thistle crop was thick and strong, the seeds flying at some points like a fall of snow. “ They die out in three years, and they do the land good,” said a squatter in the train, and I found afterwards that this opinion was general. It appears that in three years the land gets thisHe sick, and they disappear, while their roots have the effect of loosening and letting the air into the soil. Three years, however, is a long time to wait for the questionable benefits derived, and like the Scotchman who thought a “ little hanging ” would not hurt a criminal, I believe a little cutting would do the thistles no harm. As to the beneficial effect of the crop, it-is a suggestive circumstance that I nowhere heard anything said in favor of that system of fertilising land which is not carried out by letting things take their course.

Nearly the whole way the line runs up the valley of the Oreti river, the alluvial flats of which vary from a mile to two or three miles in width, the portion which is not cultivated or covered with thistles being clothed with silver tussocks, the small rush, and New Zealand flax. All of these plants seem to indicate good soil, for the cultivated patches bear excellent crops and pastures. One crop of wheat, 3000 acres in extent, upon some higher or “terrace” land, looked rather thin, no doubt owing to having been sown on the first furrow, and would not yield, I should think, more

than 20 bushels per-acre,-although the owner expected' about: 40. _ Some, of the Government la’hfi/ Xvhielt-i*- openfor purchase ttpon-deferred payments, is upon this river flat and the adjoining higher plains or terraces, being near the railway and within 40 miles of'lnvercargill. One can hear, however,' of very little Crown lands of known richness open, for sale, but there are plenty of large, estates upon, which.farms can be Sought.' *1 am* not yet in a position to judge accurately, but what I have seen leads me to believe that nearly all the best agricultural lands have been bought up by settlers and speculators, the Government receiving from 10s to £1 per acre for country which is now worth from £5 to £2O per acre.

Elbow, 15 miles along the line, is a new township springing into some importance, owing to its being at the junction of a cross line which runs over the Waimea plains from the main Dunedin and Invercargill railway, and it will grow in proportion as the vast extent of agricultural soil in the district, at present held in large estates, becomes settled upon. Soon after passing Elbow the line enters a gorge between high mountain ranges, which continue on each side until Kingston, on the south of Lake Wakatipu, is reached. The lake is crossed by steamer, a distance of 20 miles, to Queenstown, the resort of numerous tourists, who visit the place for the beauty,of the scenery and the healthful clearness of the air. Not far from Queenstown there is a limited farming district around Arrowtown, which is famous for the high quality of its wheat. I must reserve my remarks upon Queenstown and the lake for another paper, and hasten to deal with a large estate upon which some extensive agricultural operations are being carried on.

Returning to Invercargill and taking train by the Northern or Dunedin line, the country passed through is open plains with here and there a clump of forest, until the Mataura River is reached, where a range of hills takes its rise, which extends along the coast with only occasional breaks for a distance.of eyer'2oo miles. The plains consist of medium soil fairly grassed with tussd<flfy“pßSture, and-are cultivated with apparbiltly good results in places, but for the most part the country is devoted’to grazing. When, however, the Mataura is reached, the country opens out into an exceedingly rich alluvial flat, upon which luxuriant artificial pastures and heavy grain crops are grown. Before crossing the river the railway runs for some miles through the Edendale estate, an exceedingly valuable property, owned by th© New Zealand and Australian Land Company. Many thousands of acres upon this*estate have been sown down with artificial pastures and subdivided into paddocks, which are surrounded by neat-well-grown furze and broom hedges. The land is of the highly fertile character already described as yielding such heavy crops of oats, wheat, and turnips in the New River and Aparima districts, and the estate has been brought into a high state of productiveness by means of cultivation. The same company has several flue estates, one of which I shall have an opportunity of visiting in another district. ■ An interesting feature of this estate is a pure breed of polled Angus cattle, a breed possessing many of the qualities of the shorthorn, with, it is claimed, more hardiness and suitableness for a cold climate. The townships passed through are Woodlands, where there is a meat preserving establishment, which, however, only carries on business when the price of stock is lower than at present; and Mataura, a snug-looking agricultural hamlet on the river of the same name, 33 miles from Invercargill. At Gove, a new rising township, in which a quarteracre building allotment recently changed hands for £5OO, the branch railway which crosses the Waimea plains to Elbow strikes off. By this line we travel to the New Zealand Agricultural Company’s estate, which will form the subject of the next report.