THE YEOMAN.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume I, Issue 24, 17 June 1867, Page 3

THE YEOMAN.

Thebe is an old Flemish proverb which says that “without forage no cattle, without cattle, no manure, without manure, no crops.” We have often thought that this proverb, embroidered by the farmers’ daughter, and hung on the man-tle-piece in the farmer’s sitting room, would prove in the Wairarapa both ornamental and useful. It is a mistake to suppose that cattle here in the winter months require no forage; it is a greater mistake to suppose that we can have cattle without crops; and it is a still greater mistake to suppose that we can have a, succession of good crops without manure. The Provincial Government have from the first labored under the delusion that there are two classes of farmers—the pastoral and the agricultural, and that the one want no crops and the other no cattle, and though in no country has there been crops without cattle, in this Province we have tried to rear cattle without crops, and crops without manure. The sooner an alteration takes place in this respect the better. In the pastoral districts of the Wairarapa and Fast- Coast it has been possible to rear cattle without crops, but it is a delusion which the legislation of the Provincial Council has helped to foster, that the agricultural farmer requires no cattle, and that bush land alone is adapted for their calling. Hen ce the only two small settlements established by the Government, that of Pahautanui on the West Coast, and that of Carterton in this district, have consisted chiefly if not entirely of bush. Any successful 1 farming under such circumstances is out of the question. There is no land that can be ploughed; there is no grazing land for the farmer’s cattle. Consequently there is no forage, but few cattle, no manure, and but poor

crops. Our Agricultural and Pastoral Association, now in the process of formation will be able indirectly to affect an improvement in these respects, and it will be our object in the Yeoman column of the Mercury to aid its efforts in this direction as far as possible. Besides subjects relating exclusively to agriculture, or the breeding of sheep ancl'cattle, there are others which ought to engage the attention of such an Association, such as the survey of the waste lands, the formation of agricultural-grazing’ settlements, and the necessity of bringing into operation Torrens’ Land Registry .Act. Mr J. J. Mechi, in an address delivered at Farringdon, touched upon one or two of these subjects. He observed—- “ Agriculturists beHn to feel ashamed that they have for so long’a time opposed statistical information, much to their own disadvantage. Public opinion, acting through our Legislature, has given to us a Government Registration Officer for Land, so that a title once well proved will be no more endangered by the loss, by fire or otherwise, of some one or two old musty parchments, deeds, or wills. In that new but wonderful country, America, our intelligent cousins, who have still one thousand million of acres of maiden land to dispose of, have had them all carefully surveyed, measured, mapped, and registered in a proper Government office (what an extent of country as compared with the seventy-seven millions of acres of our United Kingdom!) “ The cost of transferring land is in this country outrageously great and the delay proportionate. I will illustrate it by a recent case that came under my observation, A farm, nearly all freehold, worth about £6OOO, which had been occupied by the owner for more than twei tty years, was mortgaged. The costs were £2OO, and the. time occupied nearly three months. The same farm was transferred about two years later, and although the former investigation of the title had been most rigorous, again the process was gone through at the expense of more than £SOO, aud another delay of three months. “ Who would buy landed property ?” said a friend of mine, used to commercial and prompt transactions. “I am told on reliable authority, that in any portion of the United States, a property may be transferred or interchanged in a few hours at the local office, after proper notice has been given, at a mere nominal cost. It will take us a long time in this country to arrive at such a sensible mode of dealing with landed property. It is generally acknowledged that facility of transfer or exchange would enhance the value of land ten per cent, and, no doubt, from exchanging hands occasionally, it would be more likely to undergo improvement.”