The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING, SATURDAY, MARCH 14, 1098. THE CANTERBURY FARMER.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2139, 14 March 1908, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING, SATURDAY, MARCH 14, 1098. THE CANTERBURY FARMER.

Ono of the- most remarkable features in, the development of the primary industries of tho Dominion is the prominent part that has boen taken by the Canterbury farmer in tho opening up of new lands for settlement. From ono end of tlio Dominion to tho other, from Southland to tho Waikato, the settlors from Canterbury appear to be constantly to tho fore bringing into profitable occupation lands that liad formerly been almost entirely neglected. So marked is this aspect of the Dominion’s farming development that it is not out of place to study the position. In the first place, it is recognised that Canterbury farmers wore the first to appreciate tho full importance of tho frozen meat industry. The settler on the plains went into this subject with a thoroughness and a determination that are always necessary in the commencement of a new industry, and their 'application was rewarded by extraordinary success. Instead of accepting existing types of sheep as satisfactory or “good enough,” those pioneers set to work to study first tlio requirements of the London market as to tho best timo for forwarding supplies and the most popular class of carcase, and then made exhaustive and continuous experiments to supply precisely what- was wanted. One notable instance of tlio assiduity with which this pursuit was followed is shown by tho fact that more than a score of years ago, Canterbury sheepfarmers endeavored to create an entirely new typo of sheep, and persevered to such an extent that tho result of their efforts, the Corriedale, is numbered by many thousands in tho Southern flocks to-day, and it is certainly a very fine specimen of a sheep, both from tho point of viow of fleece and carcase. How successful wore their efforts in general is apparent in tho great reputation of “Prime Canterbury” as applied both to mutton and lamb. Even in recent years, when other parts of tho Dominion havo been turning out mutton and lamb, particularly tho latter, of ft quality unsurpassed anywliero, tho great reputation attained by the Southerners stands to them, and in spite of the keenest competition, recognised brands of tho big Christchurch freezing companies still ton tho market in good and bad seasons. In pastoral matters, it must be remembered that the Canterbury farmer has had to contend against a much more severe winter than is in evidence in this district, with tlio result that feed becomes exceedingly scarco in tho cold montlis, but here again he rose to the situation, and reduced tho growing of turnips and swedes', with the aid of manures, to such a high degree of perfection as to bo independent of tho colder temperature. Paris of tho Canterbury plains were at ono time almost waste land, mud here also the Southerner displayed his progressive siiirit. Private enterprise first showed the way in irrigation matters, and then tlio Ashburton and Selwyu County Councils took up tho work and carried it on until practically tho whole of tlio Canterbury plains were strewn with watercourses that added thousands of pounds annually to the revenue of the localities served. Mixed farming, too, has been carried on by Canterbury farmers to a much greater extent than has been the case in tho North, and because of the variety of his pursuits he is less -dependent upon the vagaries of the London market- than the pastoralist who, figuratively speaking, carries all hjs eggs in one basket. This recognition of the fact -that the successful faAmef. must get from the soil tho Ssiitmost that it is capable of producing v -has been forced upon the iSouthenier|', for while land was still fairly cheap in other parts of the Dominion, Canterbury settlers were compelled to pay £-10 an acre for good land. In tile boom that followed tho long period of high prices for all the chief agricultural and pastoral products, settlers received tempting offers for their properties, and naturally accepted the cash with a view t-o acquiring new farms at a lower rate in Jess settled localities. Thus during the past five years they have taken up laud extern-j siveily in Southland, Marlborough, Hawke’s Bay, Waikato, and Poverty Bay. In doing so they have, of course, had to- pay interest- on higher values than did the original owners, and consequently it was necessary Hint greater skill should be shown by tlie new-comers in their work, otherwise the investments would have proved financially disastrous. As a matter of fact, tho experience of the Southerner has-stood-him in good stead, and with the assistance of continued good prices ho has -usually had little difficulty in showing a satisfactory return even from land for which he has paid a price that a few years ago it would have been -deemed mad-

ness to offer. All this has nu excellent effect on the country as ia wholo, for it provides a first-class stimulant to tho remainder of the farming community to adopt tho ideas which tlio now-comers havo introduced with such signal success. Of course, it is woll known that there are ill our district somo farmers who can bo taught littlo in tho science of sheep-raising and fattening or in other departments of farm work, but unfortunately the largo majority havo boen satisfied to jog along in a happy-go-lucky stylo, which could only continue successful so long as land remained cheap and prices of products abnormally high. What tho Taranaki and Manawatu farmers havo done for dairying, the Canterbury farmer has done for the pastoral industry, and the introduction of his methods into other parts of the Dominion must havo a beneficial effect. Our own district has made most gratifying progress, but land in handy localities has now reached such a price that it is only by tho exercise of the keenest discretion, and by utilising all tho knowledge which experience can give, that the owners or lessees can obtain -a payable return, whilst the fact that wool and skins are selling at lower nates than has been the case in recent years provides an additional argument in this direction.