A NEW ZEALANDER IN ARGENTINE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10040, 14 July 1910, Page 5

A NEW ZEALANDER IN ARGENTINE.

A COUNTRY OF EXTREMES. THREE YEARS WITHOUT RAIN. A Masterton resident, Mr W. Coulter, places at our,.disposal.a letter received from John Coalter, in South Africa, took up farming in Patagonia and Argentine, South America. His letter dates from Comodoro Rivadavia, Chubut, April; 20th, 1910. We extract the following:— "We have experienced a fearful drought, absolutely, so to say, no rain or snow for three years. The little rain that did fall in that time was so light that it did more harm than good. As a consequence the animals became very low in condition, and very low in price. I sold 2000 sheep at 5s each, and was glad to get the price. Wool has been low in price, because the wool froi starved sheep is not of much value; Altogether we have had 8 very rough time with the drought. This is a country of ex • tr.;met} the drought broke a month ago, and it rained, and fcained, for 48 hours terribly hard, tf «old rain too. I had a dam or re&fvOir for irrigation purposes that was washed elf En away, and about'two or three feet of sari'd and mud spread over our potato The same thing happened to some of our Alfalfa (Lucerne). Fences swept away, and there were land slips'. al ! l over the place. Roads that me months to construct are destroyed and deep dongas have replaced them, some 100 feet deep. Then there is the tale of animals which lay dead after the storm passed. I ara likely to sell out, having had an offer fjr the place. As to going'back to New Zealand, land there is so awfully expensive and labourers so very unreliable and also very dear that lam a little afraid I cannot manage it. Risks ate too great here, one's flocks are either decimated by drought or smothered in snow. You are surprised that I feel inclined to go back t® Africa—sunny South Africa. Well, do you know, the best and most comfortable living I ever made was in thai country. Land is' cheap there, and labour is reliable and cheap. I pay a kaffir 10s per month, and give him two or three pounds of maize meal per day and he is happy; and he can drive bullocks or horses, pluugh and sow, weed and dig, herd sheep or cattle, just as well, and more conscientiously, than the majority of white men. I don't say I would not go back to New Zealand, tar from it but my experience of New Zealand is work, work, and work hard to make ends meet. This country Is like New Zealand, it is ail work, and labour is awfully scarce and dear. I have been offered the managership of a large estate of 100 leagues of land, that is to say 620.000 acres, but it is 330 miles from herj by waggon road, and a desert in between. I have r.ot accepted it, and shell be leaving .here after the shearing."