A NEW ZEALAND FARMER’S OPINION OF FREE SELECTORS IN AUSTRALIA.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume IX, Issue 979, 17 September 1881, Page 2

A NEW ZEALAND FARMER’S OPINION OF FREE SELECTORS IN AUSTRALIA.

[From the Sydney Mail]. The President of the Otago Agricultural Association, Mr. Thos. Brydone, has of late been endeavoring to collect as much information as possible about dairying, particularly comparing the condition of the dairy the ordinary grain-growing farmer, and the result of his investigation is most decidedly in ’favor of the former. His inquiries were not confined to New Zealand. He visited this Colony and Victoria ; and his opinions regarding the condition of free selectors as set forth in a paper recently read before the association, although he selects the darkest shades for illustration, are worthy of the consideration of those who deem the position of the Australian grain-grower enviable. Mr. Brydone says : — “ I went up the country amongst the free selectors both in Victoria and New South Wales, and so long as I kept amongst those who depend on

grain-growing I found a class of people existing in a most miserable condition where the land was still occupied, but many farms I found entirely deserted. Wein New Zealand have no idea of the state of these free selectors, and you will hardly credit me when I tell you that men with their 200 and 300 acres of what is termed wheat-growing land are in a state of semi-starvation. Most of them live in log huts covered with bark seldom more than one apartment ; half the glaJfe gone from the window, if it ever had any to commence with ; rents in the walls and roof wide enough for a small boy to crawl through. This mansion is generally the only building on the farm, there being, indeed, no need for any others, as there would be nothing to put in them. “ The stock consists of two or three screw-up horses of a nondescript breed all skin and bone, giving one the shixers to look at ; a couple of cows, □a sow with a few followers, and a flock of geese. The implements fell far short of Burns’s inventory, as all that ever I could see was a light dray and sometimes a spring-cart, both in the last stages of consumption, an old swing plough, and sometimes a couple of harrows. As for reapers and binders, or even a reaping machine, they are things to be read of. The districts which I visited, having been timbered country, are full of stumps, and consequently unsuited for machinery ; but there are districts of open land, where stripping machines and doublefurrow ploughs are used. I am only speaking of what I saw, and how these men live I cannot imagine. I was told that many of them have only one meal a day, and really they look like it. Till I got amongst the dairying class I was thoroughly disgusted with farming in Australia ; but when in New South Wales I visited a large dairying district about 60 miles south oi Sydney on the coast, where I found an old settlement of small farmers in a very different state of prosperity, and where nothing but dairying has been practised for the last 20 or 30 years. illustrating what may be done by dairying, I will give a short account of this very interesting settlement. The dairying is confined principally to three districts, named Wollongong, Kiama and Shoalhaven ; and as Kiama is the one which I went through, I shall speak of it only. The area of the district is 57,400 acres —the size of some of our freehold estates in New Zealand ; it has a population of 6500, including the Kiama township and small port used by the district only. There are 28,400 head of cattle 19,000 of which are milch cows, 2526 horses, 824 sheep, and 10,300 pigs. The farms generally run from 100 to 200 acres, a few being up to 300 acres, and are mostly occupied by the owners, although some are leased from absentees. The land was all originally covered with timber, and clumps still exist, with any quantity of stumps about. No grain or root crops are grown, the only cultivation being a few potatoes, of which they can grow two crops in the year, and a sort of bastard sugar-cane called “ planter’s friend,” which grows a very heavy crop, is cut in a half-ripe condition, and given to the cows in early winter vrhen grass is scarce. The farmers generally milk from 30 to 50 cows, but some some have 80 to 100. The most of the milk is made into butter, and generally sold in Sydney, but at times the market there gets glutted, and any surplus has to be disposed of wherever there is an opening. The price obtained varies from 6d to Is 6d a pound the average for the year being about 9d, “ Very little cheese is made, as butter is considered to pay the best. The returns from the dairies vary a good deal, in accordance with the quality of the cows and the skill and attention given them. I heard of one dairy of 40 cows which yielded an average of 61b of butter per cow a week fftr Jthe whole year, and some cow r s produce as much as 181 b a week for a few months in the summer ; but the average of the whole district is estimated at about 1601 b per cow per annum, in addition to which a little sweet milk is used for calves and the keep of the family. The cows are not large, and have been bred up from the usual colonial cattle, both Shorthorn and Ayrshire bulls having been used, so that the cross now appears to be two-thirds Shorthorn and onethird Ayrshire. “ The whole work on the farm is generally done by the farmer and his family. The morning milking commences between 5 and 6, according to the season of the year and the habits

of the individuals, and the evening milking between 4 and 5, and about two hours is taken for each. Fifteen cow's are considered a full complement for one person to milk, Of course, in addition to the revenue obtained from the butter, there are some surplus stock and a good many fat pigs, the whole actual return being between £7 and £8 a cow, the best dairies going as high as £lO and the worst not making more than about half that sum.”