The Waikato Times. TUESDAY, JANUARY 2, 1877.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 709, 2 January 1877, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 2, 1877.

Equal and ejcact justice to all men, Of whatever state or persuasion, religious-or political „*# * # # Here shall the Presi the People's right maintain, TJnawed by inOnonce and unbribed by gain.

The New Zealand Times, the acknowledgedorganoftheGoverninent, in a recent.article says, ''The Land " Eand -is jqow * virtually Colonial '•'property, and probably next 3es- " sion vri\\ be so in fact." >To a great extent, this is undoubtedly the : case. Much of the -work done hitherto by the Colonial Government, and which was-a charge on the ordinaryrevenue. of Colony, has now, under Abolition and the Counties Act, been relegated to the County Councils, subsidised from the land fund to enable them to undertake these duties. ..This..has, to a large extent/ set free the ordinary revenue of the Colony from liabilities 'with which' it was hitherto charged, arid' there fore, as the Times very justly says, the land fund, to a considerable extent <at least, is now virtually colonial property. That it may, however, become so, in fact, is devoutly to be wished, notwithstanding recent statements made since the rising of the session by certain honorable members, Mr H. H. Lusk amongst the number, that there was little of land revenue left to ifight for. Such, however, can scarcely be said to be the case, for in Otago Province alone, seven million two hundred and fifteen thousand acres-of land ai e held Hiider pastoral .leases, and yield an animal income of £75,516. But these leases -will soon fall in, and, with the rise in wool and progressive advancement of the colony, a considerable increase in their annual rental may be looked for. An Otago contemporary, some twelve months ago, with more candour than caution,: congratulated Otago on the fact, that these lands in 1880 should be worth one shilling and sixpence per acre, when the income of the Province from this squrce would be ,£502,959, and further remarked, •"if this landed -estate is properly managed, Otago need never 'be short of funds." The same state of things prevails in Canterbury and in other Southern provinces, or, as we may now term them, Provincial Districts. It is not alone from the sale of land that the local .funds of those parts of the colony are increased, but from the pastoral leases. The one is a source which sooner or later must dry up, but the other becomes more and more productive every year. .There is something therefore, we think, still left to fight for. v

If we turn to the statistics published for the past year, we >shall find what the -value of these waste land funds are ..to the country districts of the Middle Island. Let us take the Province of Canterbury as an instance,/aTrd-compargs it with' that of Auckland. In Canterbury, there are forty. The total>ampunt raided iii rates for the year-1875 was, sinking shillings and pence, £12,981, bub the total income of these forty boards was no less a sum than £246,246. Of these forty boards, twelve never struck a rate •at all. The largest amount received by a Canter-bury Highway District frcm Government, land fund, and other sources was that of Waimate, which, gorgedf with £49,094 then in hand from the preceding year, still, received, -without striking a rate, the balance between that sum and ,£73,565, its total income for 1875. In the same year, out of the 130 districts 'comprising this Province, there was only one, -Matamata, but struck a rate, and of the total income of these districts, £3.2,887, a sum of £12,092 was raised in rates alone. The highest sum reoeived in that year from other source than rates, was that 0f,£1,997 by.the.Poverty Bay district,.-which rated itself to the extent of £6B7—the* lowest, that of £42 9s -6d received by the Cambridge North Township district. Now, this vast discrepancy in- the assistance received in the work of local self-govepnment -and<• colonisation by the Worth and South was due entirely to the possession by the latter of a land fund, while the former had not such.-resource to fall back upon, and any thing-which tends to fairly distribute what is really the public estate is gain to us. Abolition has served to clo *this to some extent. By * shifting- cei'tain charges on the counties, the land fund is made to sustain the cost of what heretofore fell upon the general revenue, and the latter thus relieved is enabled to advance to those districts which have no land revenue, the £ for £ which, if they had had one,- would have come from their surplus land. So far the New Zealand Times is right. * Virtually the land fund is becoming colonial property. That is no reasoD, however, why we • should lose sight of the fact that it is only a mere matter of justice to the North that it should -become absolutely and ■ inalienably <so, -and that the large yearly revenues likely to accrue from, the re-leasing of the pastoral lands should become the property of the Colony, as a-whole.

The want of a more quickly acting fertaliser than- even fine boue dust as sold in the colony has been alluded to at a recent meeting of the Cambridge Farmer's club as a hindrance to the grcgyth of root crops. Some quickly and stimulating

manure is needed *to* push the young plants, ahead in their earlier stages. At home, guano -and superphosphate of lime are much used'for this purpose, the former (Peruviafr) at the rate of -from "two to three hundredweight, and .the latter atfrom th|ee to five hundredweight to the acre. At borne the cost of the ! former was some eleven, and of the latter seven to eight t per ton. Here, however, guano is looked upon by many with .suspicion and dislike, whether, i ightly oY wrongly, but 'there is no reason why this should be the .case-with Super-phos-phate of lime. The manufacture, too, of this manure by the faimer himself is a matter of no practical difficulty. /Bones are readily procurable, and acid in bulk can, we presume, .be 'obtained direct from the wholesale chemists at a-reason-able price. The process of manufacture .is a simple .one. One hundred pounds of bones, ground, crushed, or dust (not,burned) require forty pounds of sulphuric acid .(vitriol). If unboiled or unsteamed bones are ;used, double the quantity -of acid required. If steamed or boiled bones, about 651bs weight of acid to the lOOlbs of bones must be applied. The acid should be of considerable ; strength, and. the farmer should'ask for it of the specific gravity qM-70. -The usual mode-of making'lhe fertiliser is, to.select a gOacLwqpden "floor of .a barn, well covered over head, or .todiiake a box floor of thick plank laid tight. On this, first throw the bones. If not in dust, ib would-be •well to .first sift them, and place the coarser -part only on this floor, putting the finer portion aside for mixing in afterwacda. By this means, the rough bone will come in contact .with the strong acid first,' and be more effectually divided, while the finer parts'- can be >added to dry up. No metal, except lead, should be :used on the""floor, or where the acid can reach. Water, equal to from one fourth to one sixth of the weight -of the bone is then to -be poured on the heap, and well stired in with a.spade, and left; for two or three days to.heat and ferment. ..It-is better to >use the water .boiling. At the end of this time, the acid is applied, mixing it well into heap with a wooden shovel or piece of board. The mass will effervesce or boil. Stir, twice a day well for two days, so as to turn the -whole mass over. Then let it stand, for two or three days to dry, and add the fine bone dust, and mix well. If it does not then dry, add some absorbing sub- j stance.as -sawdust or .dry earth, but not either lime bv ashes, as these latter would simply destroy the super-phosphate. When the superphosphate 4s once ;dry, it may be ■ barrelled or baggedfyup when not required for immediate use. Exposure to the air .will not cause it to deteriorate, but it must be carefully •kept from exposure to the wet or rain. If made.:_as directed, from -either raw or' steamed—compasitiou will be of a whitish color and without smell, or, if any: | a mere faint acid odour. If raw bones be the used, every ■lOOlbs of bones will have required 801bs of vitrol. .When, these have fully, acted on each other as directed, the mass would give super-phosphate -of lime gypsum '66lbs, suphate.-of magnesia soda -2Jibs, the balance of the . 1801bs being composed of water and undissolved bone earth. Of course we need scarcely, we suppose, caution those using vitriol or sulphuric.acid as to the great..care necessary to prevent its coming- in contact either with their person or clothes.