OUR STAPLE INDUSTRIES

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 10, 6 July 1911, Page 3

OUR STAPLE INDUSTRIES

RURAL NEW ZEALAND UNDER I REVIEW. No. 37. [All Rights Reserved.] (By R. ,1. EAMES). OTAGO AND SOUTHLAND. A RUN THROUGH THE PROVINCES. In the last article it was shown that the wool and frozen meat industries play a most important part in the continued prosperity of the two southernmost provinces of New Zealand; and that it is altogether necessary to revise old notions concerning Otago and Southland so far as climate and productivity are concerned. Twenty years ago the writer was in Southland and then saw wide areas of country which the, settlers then thought to be not worth the trouble of redeeming from the tussock. To-day ihat, land, instead of niggardly, furnishing a nibbling for sheep, is yielding profitable crops of oats. This instance of change is typical of what has gone on throughout all that stretch of country, south of Waitaki. A common railway map gives a good working idea of the disposition of rural activity. Right down the East Coast, quite close to the seashore, runs the main artery which joins Oamaru, through Dunedin, down to Invercargill and the lilult. Striking inland, a.nd in some cases piercing half-way across the island, are railway veins of prime importance—veins through which run the products of a great hinterland, a hinterland hut iittle understood, and only half developed, but which is bound in the course of time to produce enormous numbers of sheep and cattle and large quantities of gram, of root-crops, and of fruit. At present Central Otago is not doing itself justice: it imperatively needs irrigation. Without the water it is generally agreed that its future is problematical, but with it there is an enthusiastic confidence that this vast inland area will grow fruit of many varieties exceedingly well, and almost any kind of crops to perfection. But to return to the main railway line. Upon entering Oamaru we find the heart of a really important farming district, and the abundance of the well-known Oamaru stone has enabled the settlers to give an air of stability—l was almost going to say cverla-stingness—to their dwellings and many of the farm outliouses. To the north-west there runs an important valley, the Wairakei. Towards Tokaralu the 1 uul is rather stony, but within five miles of Oamaru the t-otara land, priced at £3O and t4l) an acre, can produce up to (10 bushels of wheat, and 80 and 100 bushels of oats per acre. Pome of this land is let at £5 per acre, for patches up to 50 acres in extent, for growing potatoes upon; other rentals for this purpose are £2 and thereabouts. Last season at Tokarahi, "2o miles from Oamaru, foiul crops of lucerne had been cut from one field, and a fifth was about ready to be cut when the writer made his visit. The strong flavors imparted by turnips and rape to the milk has encouraged the growtli of lucerne and mangels, and the latter is rapidly becoming regarded by ;t thoughtful body of farmers as the feed, pir excellence, for the dairy herd. Proceeding southwards one passes through day land, then through really good sheep country, and afterwards, about Palmerston and Waikouaiti, through fine cropping land. Thence onward to the capital city of Otago the quality is more patchy, but where the land slopes downwards to the waters of the Otago harbor there are many farm sites of unrivalled excellence so far as situations are concerned. It had been a terribly dry season, but of the herds noticed by the wayside none betrayed signs of any unusual suffering. The boy at the tail of one herd at milking time was hailed. "Those cattle look well," was the wayside greeting. "Yep,' - he .replied, and then added laconically: "Turnips!" SOUTH OF DUNEDIN.

But for the principal rural gardens of Otago one must go southwards of Dunetlin. From the top of Saddle Hill, seven miles from Dimedin, one gets a first view of (Hugo's most famous and most fertile portion, the Taieri Plain. This is an alluvial flat 18 miles long by 5 miles broad, which, if it grows noxious weeds with unpleasant fertility, also produces, in the words of a resident, "grand wheat and oats wholesale." 'Tt is a splendid sight, this Taieri Plain. The view expands itself, and the intersecting roads with their lines of shelter hedges and plantation clumps make a most attractive pano- ] rama. Flat in the centre at the plain end is Mosgiel, the hn-y Woolopolis. In | many places the "plain'' is really rolling I country. Just near Mosgield "there is '■ not iso much dairying as further south. The farmers, apparently well-to-do, seem I more disposed to plough the field and scatter the good seed on the ground, and although last season it was not watered so abundantly as the agriculturalist desired, the average yield was reported as excellent. Land values run to £SO an acre, and £4O an acre was refused for one 300-acre farm. Towards the sea. the hills are scored with roads which lead to settlements, and many of the hills are put under the plough. Down towards Henley the land values fall lower, the average, perhaps, being £24 -an acre. The Taieri Plain runs to bike Waihola and along the western shore of that piece of water the sloping lea is unusually picturesque. Dairying is here carried on more freely. The succeeding plain of importance is the Tokomairiro, upon the centre of which Milton is situated. People who live .there, and they ought to he heard, declare with evident sincerity that Tokomairiro is more prolific than the Taieri. In any case, it must be confessed that there are manifold evidences of prosperity. tt may be said of this plain in particular, and of the whole run between Dunedin and Invercargill in general, that along the wayside there are to be seen homesteads and outhouses of such substance as to be unexcelled, taken as a whole, in any part of New Zealand. Tokomariro is a picturesque valley. Both hills and flats are under cultivation to which witness is borne by the stacks of grain. Dairying is neglected. There was a dairy factory once at Milton, but the arduous business of milking did not commend itself to these contented agricultralists. and the factory was closed down. It is a district of the solid and the well-to-do. Wheat and oats, with liig fields of turnips, are chiefly grown. To the acre 70 bushels of oats and CO bushels of wheat are unhesitatingly quoted. There is not much land on offer for sale, but one farm of .120 acres, suitable for grazing, was on I the market at €22 an acre; while a I wheat farm, with an affirmed capacity of 70 bushels to the acre, was called at, i £35. These several places do not l>v ! any means exhaust the points of interest and productivity. Tnere are the famous downs of the Oluthn. the desirable country between Balelutha and (Jore, and the j most excellent stretch of territory which ' runs through Matauraand 'Kdi ; ndale and oil to Inverca rgill itself. .Northward from Tnvcivargill right'up through Winton (renowned as a horse-brooding territory)- and Lumsden there are still lands in be had at, a. figure which compares more, tlwn favorably with quotations elsewhere. And to the west, to Orepuki, and north-west to Otautau there are big areas the potentialities of which deserve

to be much more widely known. Virtually throughout the vast and important country over which we hav» skimmed the roads are eminently satisfactory in summer, whilst long distances are wiil metalled and a fiord comfortable travelling nil the year round. A visitor must have received a highly favorable impression of the south even if he "did" the country as late in the season as June. Evening papers, July 12. Morning' papers, July 13.