The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, APRIL 14, 1885. INDIAN WHEAT-GROWING.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1327, 14 April 1885, Page 2

The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, APRIL 14, 1885. INDIAN WHEAT-GROWING.

The following letter, which recently appeared in the Otago Daily Times, is well worth reading “Sir, —During the fortnight that I have spent in New Zealand, ray opinion has frequently been asked as to the injury that is likely to accrue to the wheat industry of this Colony from an unlimited extension of wheat-cultivation in India. As considerable apprehension seems to exist in the agricultural mind here on the subject, and as I had a close official connection of 37 years with the finest wheat districts in India, some good may be effected if I put my views on paper. “There is any amount of land in India splendidly adapted to the production of wheat, and labor is cheap and abundant; but, fortunately for New Zealand, wheat will not grow to pay without irrigation and manure. There was a time when the supply of water was very limited, and in dry seasons it is so still; but the public works policy of the Government is rectifying this defect, and what with canals, and money lent to the people io enable them to make dams and wells, the supply of water is becoming every day more plentiful. But the great Indian difficulty in this connection is the supply of manure. The most philanthropic Government and the moat enthusiastic of reformers have not yet been able to devise a means of increasing the very limited

manure supply, nor is there any prospect of this difficulty ever being overcome. The manure supply of India is limited to first, house sweepings, and second, cattle droppings during one-third of the year only. The calls of nature and the ashes of the sole fire of the establishment make up the first of these two items. As to the second, fuel is, as a rule, a very scarce commodity in the leading wheat districts, and the result is that during the eight dry months of the year all the cattle droppings are conserved for fuel purposes, and it is only during the 'four wet months, when the droppings cannot be collected, that they go to fertilise the land.

“ In occasional villages there are a few sheep and goats, and these are at certain seasons penned out to improve the land, but the supply from this source is insignificant, “ Speaking from memory, I should say that 25 per cent, of the cultivated area is as much as is to be found manured in the average Indian village, such manure being all supplied by the weary process of being carried out in baskets on the people’s heads. And this 25 per cent,, be it remembered, is not confined to wheat alone, but is also planted out with sugarcane, tobacco, and herbs, all of which pay as well, if not better than wheat. “Irrigation, however"abundant, does not obviate the necessity for manure. There are districts which have been positively injured by too much canal water, and one of the Government difficulties is how to remedy this evil in Saharunpoo and elsewhere. Chemicals and manure would probably do what is wanted, but the people have not the the means to pay for these. “ I have referred above to the policy ot the Indian Government of making what are known as taccavi— advances in money to landowners, large and small, to enable them to improve their lands by the construction of wells, ponds, or dams; and even to buy seed grain, implements of husbandry, and plough bullocks. Ten per cent, per annum is the ordinary rate of interest charged by the European banks in India. The native village banker charges from 20 to 60 per cent per annum. The rate charged by the Government cn the advances made for the above purposes is from 4to 5 per cent per annum. Having passed half my lifetime in officially conducting these operations, I can say with confidence that little practical difficulty is experienced in carrying them out, nor are the financial institutions of the country materially affected by the cheap money which the Government supplies to enable them to be conducted. Under the circumstances the wheat-growers of New Zealand may rest assured that the extension of wheat-growing in India is limited by the poverty of the people, and by a very scarce supply of that manure which is absolutely essential to its cultivation.—l am, etc., “ Patrick OiKNEGY. “March 30.”

There are two points in this letter which we desire to draw attention to. We have all along hold that if it did not pay to grow grain in New Zealand it would not pay anywhere else, and this letter proves the truth of the assertion. The next point is that though the cheap money scheme suggested by Sir Julius Vogel is carried out to a large extent there, the general rate of interest is still very high. If Sir Julius’s plan is pul into practice in this colony, the result will b 6 the same, money will be as dear as ever, and no good will be done ; for nothing can do good except a National Bank.