A Tour in New Zealand.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume IX, Issue 933, 9 April 1881, Page 2 (Supplement)

A Tour in New Zealand.

No. V.—A GIGANTIC PROPERTY [From the Melbourne Leader], The Waimea Plains railway, extending from Gore to Elbow, a distance of 37 miles, runs for the whole distance through an immense estate, the property of the New Zealand Agricultural _ Company. This large "estate co nt aws 168,000 acres of freehold land, and a leased run of 142,000 acres being 70 miles long and about 10 or 12 miles wide. The freehold takes up about 40 miles of the frontage to the Mataura River, the land on the extreme alluvial flats being of the richest imaginable description... In addition to horses and a .herd of about 3000 fairly well-bred shorthorn cattle, the property is stocked with sheep, 124,000 having been shorn this season, and this only represents a small part of its carrying capabilities, for as the run recovers from the effects of the rabbit plague, which has now been suppressed and cultivation extends, the stock will be multiplied many fold. Since the property came into Ihe hands of the Company, the rabbit nuisance has been systematically dealt with, and cultivation with-the sowing-down of _pastures has been extensively carried on. Judging from appearances, there must have been a good deal of mismanagement on the part of some of the former owners, but the vigorous exertions of Mr. Henry Driver, the company’s manager, and of the resident manager, Mr. John Chaplin, who, by the way, like most of the leading men of Southland and Otago, are old Victorians, are rapidly organising matters' and working a beneficial transformation. “ How was this gigantic ' property put to-gether, and how about a land tax ?” a Victorian land reformer will naturally inquire. As to theland tax, although it was light, the Grey Government was compelled to give place to the Hall administration, which straightway snbstir.uted a property tax; and so powerful is the landed interest, and so general has been the dabbling in land speculation, that many • years are likely to pass before any attempt is again made to raise revenue from such a legitimate source. The land was originally obtained from the Crown at from 10s to £1 per acre, but the company bought in at secondhand, paying about £4 per acre. Ip the first instance the country was taken up by 4 or 6 squatters who, like the squatters in Victoria and elsewhere, had a strong earth hunger, which • led them to purchase as much of the-best land as they could with their : own mopey and that of the accommodating banks. Like Victorian squatters, those of the Mataura Valley were excellent judges of land, and bought up all the best, leaving the comparatively worthless to the Government to settle the farmers upon. Some of these gentlemen perhaps found the banks which had been so liberal beginning to draw a tight rein, but however that may be, they agreed to join together and form one vast estate, to be handed over to a joint stock company, which was accordingly done, and the company was floated in the Londonmarket less than two years ago. ;

The properties which now form the company’s estate are Croydon and Waimea, formerly owned by Mr. G. M. Bell; Wantwood and Caroline, by Mr. Joseph Clarke, of Melbourne, and Mr. P. K. M‘Caughan, M.P.; Longridge, Dome and Eyre Creek, by Messrs. W. J. M. Larnach and H. Driver; and Ardlussa, by Messrs. M'Neil,. I only visited two of the homesteads, viz., TV antwood and Waimea. Wahtwood is a homelyhouse, surrounded by a nice plantation of blue gums, pines and firs at the foot of a high shelter-giving range ; and Waimea, the head-quarters of the estate, being in a central position, is a handsome and commodius dwelling commanding an extensive view of the Mataura Valley, with-a background of high rugged mountain ranges, tipped with snow. The homestead, with i s well kept shrubbery and extensive plantations nestles at the foot of a bold grassy hill, from the top of which the fertile flats of another river, which runs- from Josephville through the estate, can be seen. At some distance from the dwelling there is a bookkeeper’s house and offices, and further on the men’s hut, an -extensive ’stable, and a very large implement shed with blacksmith’s shop attached. It will give some, idea of the extent of the agricultural operations carried on to note that there are stored in this shed alter harvest no less than 15 M‘Cornnck and Wood reaping and binding

machines, besides 12 Nicholson and ! Reid and Grey back delivery reapers, as well as numerous ploughs, harrows, rollers, clodcrushers and broadcast sowing machines. The woolshed is also in this vicinity, and a branch line has been made by the company from the shed to the Riversdale railway station, so that the wetfl can fie put-at once into the trucks, and never again touched until it gets to port. As to the quality of the soil, it may be stated that there is probably over 100,000 acres of first-class agricultural flats, the terraces and hills varying from medium to inferior. Unfortunately the Waimea Plains railway runs through the worst part of the estate, thus giving an untruthful impression to the numerous tourists who travel to and from the Lakes every summer. Those, however, who will take the trouble to ride over the extensive areas on both sides of the line will find the land as rich as any in the province. If the land had not been I good the sqatters would not have ■ bought it, but the best proof of its 1 fertility is the abundant crops which lit produces. Beginning at Wantwood I and travelling up the plains to above Waimea, and taking a ten-mile ride up the valley of the Otapiri River, I passed over vast tracts of magnificent land, and saw crops of artificial grass, oats, wheat and broadcast turnips as good as 1 have ever seen. Judging from the yields obtained from the crops in the New River district, I should have estimated the return at a higher figure than Mr. Chaplin ■ but his estimate, although apparently low to one who has seen the .field®, wall be considered high enough by those who are accustomed to farm in a less favorable climate. The oats were expected to yield from 40 to 50 bushels per acre, the wheat 40 bushels and the barley 45. The paddocks are large, for although there are 420 miles of fencing erected and in course of erection upon the estate, there isyet much work to be done in the way of subdivision. From 600 to 800 acres of wheat in one paddock; looks large, and, after a day’s*'fide l through fields of this kind one’s ideas of area get somewhat confused. There are this year 1500 acres of turnips, 1100 acres of wheat, 1500 of oats, and 150 of barley, while no less than 10, acres have been broken up and sown with grasses during the season, which with the old grass land makes a total of 23,000 acres cultivated. . The- big farms of America are heard of all over the world, but comparatively few know anything about the extensive agricultural operations of New Zealand; yet from 3000 to 5000 acres of grain crop is not uncommon in this Colony. It is a heavy undertaking to get 10,700 acres of land ploughed and sown in one season, yet Mr. Chaplin managed this in a few mouths, employing from 46 to 52 four-horse double furrow ploughs. ’ ? • ;. ;. J

At first the new land is ploughed 3 or 4 inches deep, just giving soil enough to bury the silver tussock which covers the ground in its.natural state. A crop of turnips is sown broadcast, which is afterwards fed off, carrying about six sheep to the acre for two or three months in winter, The sheep are sometimes divided on the turnips by means of cord netting, and sometimes merely turned into the paddocks. The next step is to plough 3 or 4 inches deeper,-effectually turning down the tussock roots, when a good crop of wheat or oatsis obtained. The third step is to plough again and sow down in grasses, a few turnips being put in to afford protection to the grass; and give feed while thp pasture is in its earlier stages. It Will be seen from this that the Company’s graingrowing is only a means to an end, and the end is to get the land into artificial pasture. In passing it may be pointed out that a large proportion of the cultivation carried on in the Colony is undertaken quite as much for the sake of grass growing as grain growing; and if the freezing process is not soon established as an outlet for meat, I expect fat stock to become a drug in the local market The best land 1 have seen in the Colony will barely keep a merino sheep to the acre in its natural state, while in grasses it will keep three cross-breds or five times the stock. Although heavy yields of grain can be obtained, farmers coinplain very much of the recent low prices, and threaten to go more in for grazing, so that the exportation of meat is the only thing that will keep stock raising at a profitable figure and enable land to hold its present value. Nearly all the cultivation is done by contract, a system which is general on the large properties, and not uncommon on ordinary farms. Farm laborers

employed all the year round are paid from £5O to £6O per annum, while harvest men receive from 3d to Is an hour. Some men struck for Is an hour this harvest in Southland during my visit, although the harvest had not well commenced. Most of the harvest would probably be got in by men working for lOd per hour. When wages?are So high harvest men do not work so hard as at other times, and the result is that the contract system is becoming pretty general. The rates at which work has been done on the N.Z.A.C.’s estate this season are : —Ploughing new land, 9s per acre; old land, 7s. For each scrape of harrow, lOd per acre, three scrapers being required ; rolling, Is per acre ; sowing with broadcast machine, 6d per acre. The contractors find toolsand everything, buying oats for their horses from the Company at Is 6d per bushel, and chaff at £4 per ton. Mr. Chaplin has a large Buncle chaffcutter set up on a low four-wheel carriage, which is moved about to stacks in the different .fields to supply the contractors with chaff. AV hat is called harvesting by contract includes reaping, binding, .stook-ing/parting, stacking and thatching. .This riujdoue with the back delivery machine, at from 15 to 17s per acre, according to the crop, and at from Ils 6d to 14s per acre with the reaper and binder, the Company supplying the machines in both cases. The wire, if I remember rightly, is also supplied with the binding machine, the contractor agreeing to return the machines in good repair. As to the quality of the work, Mr. Chaplin, w-ho, by/the.;waythe “King Cobb” of ‘ Nfew Zealand; can be depended upon to see that all the terms of the contract are complied with. The usual rate of harvesting on other estates where the contractors use their own machines is £1 per acre. Threshing is done for from 2|d to 3d per bushel. However grasping the squatters may have been in putting their estates together, many of them are now willing 13 sell to-farrpers. The New Zealand f Company, whose Edendale estate was referred to in the last paper, have sold some farms, and offer others on liberal deferred payment terms; and the New Zealand Agricultural Company have just decided to sell 10,000 acres of the property just described, upon terms w r hich must be considered liberal indeed. Farms can be selected upon any part of frhe.estate, and the terms are: —No part of the purchase money need be paid for seven years, and no interest is charged for the first six months. After seven years the payment can be made in one quarter cash, and the balance in three equal instalments extending over a period of three years, and the interest charged upon the whole purchase money is only 4 per cent, per annum. The price asked for unimproved land varies from £6 to £l5 per acre. These terms, which of course include reasonable conditions as to improvements and the system of agriculture, are certainly easy; and provided a man does not take up more land than he can manage, should be well calculated to meet the circumstances of intending settlers.