G.—lo.

With the abundance of rough feed and only a limited number of sheep and no cattle on the place when taken over, the station has been able to absorb the surplus stock from nearby Native Trust stations as well as 82 cattle and 1,510 sheep from farther south. No breeding of sheep will be undertaken for a year, so as to facilitate the establishment of pastures and the erection of adequate internal fencing to provide sufficiently secure paddocks. At present the property is carrying 2,635 sheep and 210 head of cattle. By careful planning and a progressive programme, it is expected to clear this land again within a few years and to make it the productive farm such a well-situated and fertile block should be. Tawanui Station. This property is now under the direct control of the Auckland district office. Containing 916 acres, and being a Crown leasehold acquired by the Native Trustee in 1931 as mortgagee, it is situated near Ngapaenga, thirty miles from Te Kuiti. A large amount of development work has been carried out during the past twelve months, and it is expected that within the next year this station will have reached the stage where it can be satisfactorily run by a manager and one man, with occasional extra labour for seasonal work. At present the farm supports a foreman and fourteen labourers with thirty-two dependants. Three new huts and a set of sheep-yards were built, and approximately 60 acres of new pasture sown. The live-stock tallies at 31st March, 1939, were as follows : 955 breeding-ewes, 341 dry sheep, 132 breeding-cows, and 211 run cattle. The wool-clip totalled 25 bales. In collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, a convincing experiment was carried out in the combating of " sheep-sick " country. As with the similar experiment at Waimiha, the first, or control paddock, was top-dressed with 2 cwt. of superphosphate per acre, and the second with 2 cwt. of cobaltized super per acre at the rate of 14 oz. of cobalt sulphate to the hundredweight of super. The ewes were picked at random, and the experiment commenced early in February, 1938, and ended on the 28th February, 1939. The following summary shows the result of the experiment, which has proved both interesting and instructional:— Control Ewes. Cobalt Ewes, lb. lb. Average gain in weights .. .. .. .. 34 54 Wool clipped .. .. .. .. ..10 llf Control Lambs. Cobalt Lambs, lb. lb. Average weight at birth .. .. .. .. 10 12| Average gain in weight (January) .. .. .. 49 67 Wool clipped .. .. .. .. 2| 4| The details of the average weights of the experimental ewes and lambs throughout the experiment, together with the cobalt content of the pastures, are given in the following table : —

Note. —Two control lambß and one cobalt lamb died atjbirth.

9—G. 10.

65

21/11/38. 24/2/38. 22/3/38. 27/4/38. 27/5/38. 25/6/38. 29/7/38. 29/10/38. 21/11/38. 23/1/39. 28/2/39. Average Wool. lb. Average weight in pounds, 93 105 102 106 110 111 115 95 103 127 10-1 fifteen ewes, eontrol paddock Average weight in pounds, 93 104 102 111 116 117 135 115 126 144 11-6 fifteen ewes, cobalt paddock Average weight in pounds, .. .. . . .. .. .. 28 35 46 58 2-4 twelve " control " lambs Average weight in pounds, .. .. .. .. .. .. 49 55 68 80 4-9 ten " cobalt " lambs 23/11/37 Parts per million cobalt in dry 0-04 .. 0-07 .. .. 0-08 .. 0-06 .. 0-06 matter, " control " pasture Parts per million cobalt in dry 0-04 0-39 0-25 .. .. 0-69 .. 0-36 .. 0-19 matter, " cobalt " pasture