OUR STAPLE INDUSTRIES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 310, 25 May 1911, Page 3

OUR STAPLE INDUSTRIES.

SURAL NEW ZEALAND UNDER REVIEW. No. 31. [All Rights Reserved.] (By R. J. EAMES). SUNNY MARLBOROUGH. BLENHEIM: PICTURESQUE AXD PROSPEROUS. There is a striking resemblance lie tween the conditions which exist in Xel

son and in Marlborough. Just as in Xelson the fertile Waimea Plain is checked by the hills, through which run numerous valleys, so in approaching ISlenheim, the capitai city of Marlborough, the roadways pass through valleys until they break upon the Wairau Plain, which represents the largest and most fertile block of agricultural land in the whole of the land district. For the rest it is a network of valleys, of every shade of quality, encompassed by those barrenlooking hills, thousands of acres of which become much more friendly upon a closer acquaintance. There is an air of peace, of picturesqueness and of prosperity about the town of Blenheim itself which is unsurpassed by any place of its size throughout New Zeaiand. One might easily imagine that every citizen of earlier days had conceived it to be his sacred duty to "plant a tree," with the result that the residential quarters surrounding the commercial centre are luxuriantly sheltered with trees and | creepers and greenery of every known I variety. Outside this belt of residential J cosiness there is free access by good roads to every part of the Wairau Plain, which

is everywhere closely settled—but the richness of the soil justifies still closer settlement yet!—with well-tilled fields and homesteads (snuggling amongst delightful clumps of shelter trees), which are the envy of visitors from quarters which do not en joy this rural luxury. So far as climate is concerned the land district is singularly blest, and in this respect, by common consent, it compares favorably with the most favored parts of Hawke's Bay. It is the land of the Golden Glow. Of all the South Island provinces it is the earliest kissed by the morning sun, and none of its mountaits (the loftiest reaches a* altitude of 9462 feet) carry perpetual snow. For the most part it is sheltered from the winds which further north and south rage for

long periods together. Marlborough is not a big province. In magnitude, it is t!'p smallest of the ten land districts in tin? Dominion, its territory covering only 2,276,000 acres. And of that area there is a lot of poor birch land, a lot of lWlit and stony stuff, and quite a lot of Ir'ltops which may safely be "counted out." But there is land watered by the Wairau (upon which Blenheim is situated) and by the Clarence and Kowhai rivers (of which latter Kaikoura is the centre of commercial gravity), which must ever make glad the hearts of men; land, the produce of which has found expression in planted picturosqueness and in abounding prosperity. A GLIMPSE AT THE VALLEYS.

Of the valleys in the northern part of the province the Pclonr- is the chief. One of its important tributaries is the ltai, into which (lie traveller by roitd drops as soon as he crosses the boundary line between Nelson anil Blenheim. Thi- i< one of the valleys which speak eloquently of the spread of population and of the extension of the dominion of the Cow. Not that Marlborough will ever be a very important dairy province, as compared with the essentially cow areas. Still, its annual contribution to the quantity of butter and cheese made in the Dominion is increasing every year, and t.lio limit of possible expansion is nowhere in sight. The Rai Valley co-opera-tive factory, which last; year ran for part of the season, expected to manufacture 80 tons of cheese this season. A still newer concern is at Canvastown, onee the «entre of feverish searching for gold, but which now looks forward to the future in the confident reliance upon butter-fat. This is the WaJ;amarina factory, an up-to-date little place which, with 22 suppliers, anticipated an output this yearits fir.«t in operation—of 45 tons of clicese. The Rongi and the Opouri valleys are other tributaries of the Pelorns. In all of these, and in others, the face of the country is in a state of change. From standing bush to dairy land is only a (short step ill these piping times of monoy movement art! liere, in <t few short years, pleasant pastures hare been wrung front forbidding forests. Some of the valleys are Ort the cold and misty side, hut for much the greater part they are well suited for dairying.. The hillsides often brow abruptly and sometimes frowningly over these mid-mountain folk, and rise sheer into the sky, presenting there a stupendous line of razor-tops. Otherwhere the hill-sides lend themselves to a system of mixed farming—heavy stock on the lower and light stock on the higher lands—which is putting the valley farmers nicely on their feet. It is impossible, without considerable elaboration, to convey an idea of land values. Some of this valley land has fetched as high a.s £4O an acre, and it runs down to very slight figures where it is subject to flood or is badly weed-infested. Likewise the hills: Some may be had, so to speak, for the asking, and other, according to its carrying capacity, commands as high a price a.s elsewhere in the Dominion.

MARLBOROUGH'S SHEEP. Although the Romney sire is tho most' popular in the Martborongh-Xelson-'Wcst.-land district, in Marlborough county tlip Merino holds an easy ascendancy. In the whole sheep district there are 2070 Merino flock rams, and of that number 2230 are used in Marlborough county alone. Likewise, of the -1082 breeiimg merino ewes in Hie -beep district, Marlborough possesses no fpwer than 4007 of them. Next in favor amongst breeders is the English Leicester, and sires of this breed are largely used for purposes of crossing. The county of Marlborough has 2270 of the 2773 English Leicester flock sires in the Marlborough-Xclson-Westland sheep distriei. The tendency to stick to these breeds was indicated at this year's ram sales at "Blenheim, when English Leicester* topped the market, in price. The Romney. which as a sire commands great respect throughout, Xew Zealand, is not wanted in Marlborough, where the conditions lend themselves so admiraWv to the more aristocratic Merino, and to the Loiee-ters. Tn the whole sheep district, there are liVlli Ronincv flock -ires, hut of that number Marlborough county own- only 711. The sheep (generally arc of line ouality. and I lie norlh-east corner of the South Island has not been behind in blli 1 di!lno flocks of which any young couutrv 111il!!11 be liroud. It. must, not be forgotten that Marlborough slimes a" honors in the reputation won bv '•nrinic Cantcrburv." Tl has been mentioned alreadv Hint there are 2.270.(100 acres of bind in Marlborough: of Unit area 1 .fiSfI.OHO acres, dcpaslnrinir 1.072,01 M) liea.l, are devoled to -beep.