BUSH FARMING.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2069, 8 July 1890, Page 3

BUSH FARMING.

A Temuka resident, now farming in the bush in the Hawkes' Bay district, sends the following:— - y Sir,—As a farmer of considerable experience down south I wish to trespass on your valuable space with a few observations and impressions I have received since residing in the . bush. I find an exceeding difference » here in the way of farming. The extent of ploughed land is very small. The farmers seem to be afraid of cultivating, and for the want of clearing and sowing a few acres of land in turnips or rape they lose a considerable percentage of sheep annually. .The farmers here have no push, and would. sooner have a few sheep or cattle running on unbroken ground than have cultivated acres teeming with heavy crops. This seems io me a great pity, as a greater portion of the- land is exceeding rich, and some ©f the river flats are not to be beaten. Perhaps this lack of energy may be accounted for in the scarcity of real farmers. The greater number of these would understand morp about the manufacture of coats, saddles, pot menidng, etc. In other words they have originally *een tailors, saddlers, tinkers, in. fact almost every trade is represented, not omitting lawyers and doctors, though even down south we find the doctors eD J°y the unearned increment, lend money and charge cent, per cent. The land "wb appear to me to work badly in he bush. In the first place six Lndred and forty acres of such firstclass land as we find here, and t*j thousand acres of second class land, if properly worked, is more than any Ke man can manage; then again the Wger the block the more encouragement is given to the land shark, and SVnd government scheme will L -cone and the majority of us 17 ill Z iittle with id* John of

old Sack Land. The dummy system of acquiring the land seems to be in full vigor here, anc 1 uncles, brothers, sisters, cousins, and aunts are frequently brought into requisition, and occasionally a grandfather or mother unearthed. Such a state of things is a crying shame, and virtually excludes the poor man from getting a piece of good land. I think the Land Commissioners are a good deal to blame for this state of affairs. The ease with which land so acquired can be transferred from one individual to another would almost warrant in regarding the commissioners with distrust. Another evil is particularly prevalent hear, namely, the contracting system. The competition is so keen that contracts are taken at so low a rate as often to leave barely enough to pay labor, consequently the work is often slummed, and one man is expected to do the work of two. This matter calls for some very •vigorous legislation—some scheme by which contract prices could be so adjusted as to give a fair wage to the workman, and a fair profit to the contractor. Eor my own part I should faver doing away with contracting in its present form, as it is _ simply a means by which parties calling themselves contractors turn labor into slavery, and by a process of sweating extort and appropriate what should go to the laborer. —Tours truly, Thbee Months Ovebdue.