PUMICE LANDS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 345, 5 October 1932, Page 6

PUMICE LANDS

MR. VAILE'S VIEWS ECONOMY COMMISSION'S FINDINGS NOT JUSTIFIED COSTS OVER-STATED "I do not know what qualifications the members of the National Expenditure Adjustment Commission have for expressing so decided an opinion as to the uselessness of pumice- land for farming," said Mr. E. Earle Vaile, of Broadlands, when discussing the references to the value of pumice land which were included in the recent report of the commission. "Even if some member of the commission has some acquaintance with farming, if that knowledge has been acquired in districts such as the East Cape of Canterbury, it is worse than useless as a basis for an opinion of value respecting pumice lands. It is only men from the Waikato and similar lands that are entitled to speak." In this connection, Mr. Vaile quoted the finding of a representative delegation of Waikato farmers and businessmen, which in 1930, thorough traversed the pumice lands area in the Rotorua district and subsequently reported upon its findings in the following terms. The members of the delegation were : — Messrs. J oseph Barugh, D. Y. Bryant, Dynes, Fulton, R. J. Glasgow, F. E. Hughes, J. E. Makgill, C. J. Parlane and Stewart Reid : — "We have inspected a great part of the pumice area and have been most agreeably surprised, having seen paddocks equal to anything in the W aikato at a similar stage of development We have visited the farms of Messrs. Alexander, Friis ,and Seccombe, of Reporoa, and traversed the settlement in all directions from the road. We have also visited Strathmore, Broadlands, Waiotapu and Wairakei, and the Guthrie Settlement. The result is that we have formed the following decided view. (1) That this eountry comprises by far the largest area of land available in New Zealand for improvement and settlement in small areas; (2) that the land could readily be brought into good pasture by modern methods and manuring, at a very moderate cost, and in a remarkably short time, and is eminently suitable for dairying." The names of the members of this delegation, Mr. Vaile pointed out, must earry a great deal more weight in a consideration of the development of light land, than those of any commission composed of men whose knowledge of the subject would be at the least, second-hand. "As, far as I know the members of this commission have not even seen the eountry which they eondemn," said Mr. Vaile, "and many of the premises upon which they base these findings are quite false. 'In the Rotorua district the Lands Department and the Agricultural Department have for many years been experimenting,' they stated. Absolutely ineoi*reet. The work was begun within the last two years and under political pressure, has been much too hurried. The development of considerable areas of raw land of this description will take at least three years." "The cost of development of pumice land is in the vicinity of '£20 per acre," is another statement made by the commission. "This is absolute nonsense. It may be that it costs the taxpayer per medium of the Maori Land Board that figure, but the Minister has stated it at about half, and I can say from actual experience that the work can be well done for £7, to which must be added whatever sum the selector decides to spend on buildings. On a small place, it is easy enough to add another £5 per acre, but it is by no means necessary. "There is a heavy maintenance cost for the first few years," the commission states. "Again quite wrong. There is no land around Rotorua which has received a fraction of the manure which is applied to the Waikato lands. It has not yet been proved that these pumice lands are capable of economic development,' is another statement. "Had the commission cohdescended to look at the hundreds of successful farms around Rotorua? I know that they have not looked at Broadlands, where I can show them paddocks equal to any they have seen anywhere, won from the wilderness at the cost which I have named. Have they troubled to acquaint themselves with the fact that the Ngongotaha factory turns out four tons of butter every clay from fat produced on pumice lands? "The commission had made much of the fact that "during the past two years farming operations on a block under control of the Maori Land Board had resulted in substantial losses." But were' such losses peculiar to the pumice area? What about the colossal losses during the past two years on the very best stations in Hawke's Bay and Canterbury — and everywhere? If the committee could sug-gest a means of making farming pay in any part of the Dominion it would perform a public service of the first importance. But a recommendation to stop work everywhere

would not do much to cure unemployment. With reference to the development of the vast pumice area, by far the largest area of cultivable and habitable land in the Dominion, he had no hesitation in sajdng that it could and would be done conditional on the Government providing the best means of access. It must be remembered that the area was in the very centre of the island, and extinguishing the native title, which now closed to settlement so much of the best of the land. The Observant Mr. Pepys Mr. Vaile considered, however, that this actual development work should be done by private enterprise. "Three hundred years ago the observant Mr. Pepys had remarked: "I perceive that the King may not do things so cheap as other men." Neither pumice land nor any other land could be developed on economic lines with pay at Trades Union or Government rates, or carried out at Government or Trades Union stroke. It was impossible to pay 25s per acre for ploughing and 7s ,6d an acre for discing and then expect to show an interest on eapital cost. But this was not peculiar to pumice lands. It applied equally to all types of land. "I have heard the same stupid remarks applied to the Waikato, the Karaka, and other areas, now among the most productive and profitable portions of New Zealand," concluded Mr. Vaile.