Initiative and Energy Or Boosting Production

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 68, 11 June 1927, Page 20 (Supplement)

Initiative and Energy Or Boosting Production

A MAN is paid not for having brains but for using them. In all phases of activity this truism holds good and to no one does it have greater application than the man on the land. On the energy and initiative of her farmers depends the future progress and development of New Zealand.

The word “can't” has a place in the vocabulary of too many farmers. We hear it on every hand. Farmers’ Union meetings bristle with the word. Union agenda papers to-day, in many instances, are filled with “can’t’s”— difficulties alleged to be overwhelming, deteriorating lands, noxious weeds, high interest rates, and lew market prices are only a few of the present-day farmers’ can’ts. Yet, on every hand, there is room for development based on sound, progressive lines. Does it strike the farmer that, as far as the product of his lands is concerned, New Zealand is less selfsupporting to-day than was the ease 50 years ago. Not long ago the writer had occasion to delve into the early history of the Wairoa county. In the 70’s the residents of that district' were practically self-supporting. In fact, it was not unusual for them, owing to the closing of the bar at the rivermouth, to be shut oft 1 from the outside world for several weeks. There

were no roads. At no time did they starve, however. Wheat grown in the district was ground into flour on the farms and in the pas, and fruit of all descriptions abounded in season. The district exported grain and produce, and imported little of that nature. To-day agriculture is only a side issue in the district, and heavy importations are necessary. In most parts of New Zealand a similar position prevails. The man on the land has changed over from an agriculturist to a pastoralist, in direct opposition to the law' of evolution which has taught that progress and increasing population necessarily tend to reduce holdings and bring about more intensive methods of farming. NEW ZEALAND POSSIBILTIES To-day New' Zealand sends thousands of pounds sterling to other lands for the purchase of produce which could be grown profitably •within her own boundaries. Yet there arc many who to-day would have jt that New Zealand has almost reached the highest point of economical production. Experience in other countries has proved that there are many avenues awaiting exploitation by the wideawake farmer. It has been proved conclusively that tobacco can be grown successfully in this country, and that an improvement in the method of curing the leaf is all that is required to bring it into line •with the imported product. Yet in 1925 New Zealand spent over <£1,322,112 on overseas tobacco. No one w'ould be foolish enough to state that seeds could not be grown in New' Zealand, yet in 1925 £175,011 was distributed in various parts of the world for clover, grass, and other seeds required by New Zealanders.

North Auckland has been proved to possess all the characteristics essential to the cultivation of sub-tropical fruits. "The Winterless North,” it is called: Yet, in 1925, New Zealand sent £211,051 to America and Australia for raisins, £79,595 to Africa and Australia for wine, while to various countries of the Pacific over £165,010 wont for oranges and other fruits which could be grown in New Zealand. Even the South Island failed to keep up its quota, for in the same year £916,333 went to Australia for wheat and flour. So the story goes on. Thousands of pounds sterling leaving the country for produce which could be profitably produced within its boundaries by people with energy and initiative, and the vision to see in much of the waste and partially developed land in New Zealand to-day prosperous and fertile fruit * and grain-bearing lands of the morrow. A DESERT MADE PRODUCTIVE In a barren, arid area of the Californian mountains, there is a wonderful sight. Trapped by a dam in a wide valley extending miles back into the hills is a large expanse ‘of water,

caught in the spring as the snow melts on the mountain tops. ' From the surrounding country in the summer the heat radiates from the ground, nothing grows, and the rocks blister the hands that touch them. As the traveller journeys down the valley toward the coast, the water literally boils in the radiator. Gradually signs of plant life begin to show up, and stunted cactus is seen spread out over the desert. Further down, the traveller sees men clearing away the cactus, and thinks: "What fools—surely they don’t expect to make a home here.” Further down a green tinge is seen spread out over the land, gradually to increase till or-

chards and well-built liom -steads are located on every band. Finally, a thriving city is reached, a crowning climax to the triumph of man over Nature, all made possible by a stream of life-giving water from the dam away back in the hills. The site ol the city 10 years ago was occupied by a trading post situated in the heart of a desert. This is only one of the triumphs of brain over matter to be seen in many parts of America. Men have seen the possibilities of increased production and exploited them. Thousands of acres of barren land have been brought into cultivation, and to-day America exports fruit and produce to all parts of the earth. New Zealanders have infinitely greater opportunities on every hand. It reflects little credit on the farmers of this country that they are not self-supportin. Yet such a condition of affairs must continue to prevail until the farmers realise that the highest rewards await only those who are prepared to lead the way in the exploitation of all possible avenues of income.