12

C—9a

Extended Report. We find in the great majority of cases that the settlers are of a good average type, experienced, industrious, and making the best of their circumstances, which are in many cases poor, and their prospects under existing conditions by no means bright. Some of the married settlers with children have to put up with indifferent accommodation with which few 'people would be contented. The majority of the settlers are more or loss in arrears with their payments, but many of these are good men whose arrears arc due in some instances to the slump, in other cases to the high-priced land, and who would be successful under good normal conditions. As might b;: expected in any community, there is a percentage of settlors who, owing to inexperience, incompetency, lack of application, or instability, would be failures under almost any conditions, but these are proportionately small in number. The land, which was purchased to a very large extent during the land boom, is in the case of the majority of the holdings too dear in relation to the producing-capacity in good normal times, and consequently too high-- some of the holdings much too high—for successful settlement. In the selection and purchase of lands for soldiers' settlements we arc of opinion that in a great number of cases too little consideration has been given to the expenditure necessary for improvements or development before the land can be brought into a reasonably profitable condition. These lands may be classed as follows :— (a.) Wet and Swampy Land. -Two outstanding examples of this are the Moroa and Kuku Settlements. They comprise sections with a fair proportion of wet and swampy hind that cannot be profitably used until drained ; hence the settlers are at a disadvantage in having to pay rentals on a portion of their land from which little or no revenue can be obtained There are many other farms and settlements throughout the district that are more or less similarly affected in this respect. (/;.) Worn-out Pastures. —We 'are referring more particularly to bush hinds that have to be stumped and ploughed before the pasture can be renewed. This work can only lie, profitably carried out on land that has been felled for some considerable time, but even then it is costly and adds considerably to the purchase price of the land. In the northern part of the district, especially round Owhango, there is a large number of heavy-milled-timber sections, but as the stumps have not yel started to decay the land cannot at the present time be profitably stumped and ploughed, and the grass growing thereon is more or less run out. The carrying-capacity is therefore much reduced for the time being, and can only be temporarily improved by top-dressing, and this also is costly. (o.) Scrub and Gorse Country.- —■ At time of selection a, few of the sections were more or less under scrub and gorse. This entails considerable recurring expenditure which t: 1 , an extra tax on the settlers. (d.) Building and Fences.- When purchased or selected a large number of the holdings w ere without buildings and deficient, in fencing necessary for the successful working of the farm. These improvements had to be carried out by the, settlers at a, very high cost, which, when added to the high price paid for the land, makes it practically prohibitive for them to carry on with any degree of success. The slump in all kinds of farm-produce following so quickly on the settlement of most of tin; soldiers is to a large extent accountable for so many of them being in arrears : especially does this apply to the settlers who started sheep and cattle farming in 1920, as many of them did. These settlers purchased their sheep and cattle at very high prices, and by the time they had anything to sell wore landed in the slump, and had to sell stock in some instances at less than one-third of the price they had paid for them. At the same, time they had to face a proportionate drop in wool. When it is considered that even long-established sheep-farmers were in difficulties at that time it is no wonder that the soldier settler with his high-priced land and other drawbacks got so far behind. The dairy-farming settlers suffered almost in a like manner, though the slump struck them a year later. During the period when the bulk of the settlement took place butterfat had risen to a very high juice, reaching the unprecedented figure of 2s. Gd. per pound, and by-products had also reached a high price. This caused a great demand for dairy cattle, cows rising to a very high price, settlers having to pay £16 to £18 for indifferent herds. When the slump came butterfat dropped to about Is. per pound, by-products also fell to a low price, and cows which had failed to come to profit were sold at about £1 10s. per head. The settlers were thus stranded with high-price land and stock, while, their incomes dropped to such an extent that it was practically impossible for them to pay their way. An important factor contributing largely to the failure or partial failure of the dairy-farmers is that a great number of them, in consequence of the scarcity and very high prices, had to make a start with poor or indifferent, cows. It is manifestly impossible for a settler with such cows to make a success on high-priced land, while, on the other hand, a settler on similar land who has been able to start with a, good herd will, probably do well. As an example of this, we found on a very good settlement that the average for butterfat on similar land varied from 200 lb. to nearly 3001b. per cow. Though the settler averaging 300 lb. is a good farmer, his success is due very largely to the fact that he was in a position to purchase very good cows when starting. To work up a herd from indifferent to good cows takes some years, and it may be only during this transition period that some settlers will have difficulty in meeting their obligations. A number of settlers are dairying on land quite unsuited for that purpose. We will take as an example Oroua Downs and Taikorea Settlements. The land in these settlements is extremely poor light sandy country with little substance in the soil for the production of butterfat. It may carry a certain number of cows, but the yield of butterfat per cow would be very small compared to that of a cow grazing on good land, under good pasture. We also find settlers dairying on land which, though of fairly good quality, is altogether too steep and broken for that purpose, while the areas are too small for profitable sheep-farming. A limited number of dairy farms are too small to make a reasonable living from, while others, though just large enough to graze a sufficient number of cows, are too small to provide for the rearing and grazing of heifers necessary for the improvement and maintenance of the herds.