The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, JUNE 20, 1911.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3249, 20 June 1911, Page 4

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, JUNE 20, 1911.

Taken as a whole, the report on the Colonies by the Scottish Agricultural Commissioners makes very interesting reading. Whilst containing many points of praise and many of criticism, it may be fairly described as exceedingly cautious. It is, in fact, not a treatise either advocating or opposing emigration ; it is really a very complete handbook of information for the use of the settlers. On the subject,of farming in general, some of the Commissioners say: “Looking at Australia as a whole, there can be no doubt it is destined to be the scene of enormous developments in production of fruit. The pests and plague to afflict the Australian farmers are worse and more numerous than have to be endured at home. Luckily, they are not concentrated in any one region. If one were to describe all the agricultural horrors that are possible in Australia one could make a very evil picture indeed, but it would be' altogether misleading and unfair.” It is the opinion of the Commissioners, we find, that nowhere as yet is there any real obstruction in pioneering. “There is,” they say, “no man on the spot to show the newcomer the best way to clear, fence, and break his land, and to get water, to build a house, and the numberless • other things he has never seen done before. Surely the Government cbuld improve matters here. Indeed, if the expectation of a coming rush of immigrants is in any degree fulfilled, and newcomers insist at once on taking up land, as they generally wish to do, the Government must contrive something. No doubt the problem is a difficult one, and it will hardly be solved at first trial, but where so much has been successfully accomplished a little more may well be attempted. If a beginning were made even in an experimental way we should have faith in its ultimate success.” As the tendency in the Colonies is undoubtedly to prefer farm workers as emigrants, it is interesting to note what the Commissioners have to remark in this regard. < “Too much weight,” they declare, “must not be attached to this fact. No young man who is healthy and strong, who is not afraid- to rough it; and who is willing to learn, need be afraid of farm life in Australia. jEven the city-bred business man who is progressing slowly at home, and who has a taste and Rapacity for rural occupations, may make a good farmer, and may not improbably, thanks to his sound business habits, succeed better, than the immigrant who has been "n.n agriculturist all his days. Similarly lads from the towns have a

A Candid Report.

perfectly good chance of doing well if care is taken to let them have a failstart. So far as our observations went, we were inclined to the conclusion that not only may the townsmen of the old country lie encouraged to take up farming life in Australia, if they emigrate, but iif the time coming the great bulk of emigrants going out to settle as farmers must be drawn in increasingnumbers from our cities, and not from our rural districts.” As to the stock which the Commissioners found in the Colonies they say:—‘‘Sheep.—A merino type has been long since established, a type varying in its character with district and climate in which it is found, but still a type of sheep which has no superior, if indeed an equal, in any part cf the world. Very little can be suggested in the way of improving the management of sheep in Australia. The pastoralists know their work as no either outsider can ; but our visit led us to the conclusion that farmers keeping sheep in small numbers might with advantage remember that the best class of sheep pays best. Cattle.—lt is doubtful if the general run of beef cattle can be characterised as anything but secondary, and the breeders, rearers, and feeders of the best cattle at home have not much to fear from competition with the frozen or tinned beef of Australia. The price which it at present brings in the British market is high enough when the quality is taken into consideration; and if the home consumer had the opportunity of comparing the well fed two or three years old bullocks sent to market by the average farmer at home with the rough, bony, angular, five or six year old of Australia, the demand would probably be less even than it is now. 'ldle cattle stations from which the greater proportion of the butchers’ cattle come are in the roughest and most distant parts of the country ; and the chief consideration of the stockowner is to have numbers, the breeding being of less importance. Invariably they have long distances to travel, either on foot or by rail, generally both, before arriving at the meat factory, and often their treatment in transit is of the poorest description.” With, regard to wages, the Commissioners hold that the capable man of good character soon becomes his own master. When that fact is kept in mind (they continue) the wages offered may be held to be not inadequate. Big or little it is quite possible to save off them. A man remains poor not because he cannot make money, but because he cannot keep it. “The native born ’ Australian,” it is averred, “is not thrifty. He earns money easily, he spends it carelessly, and he expects the newcomer to do.the same. He thinks nothing of expending a year’s savings on a fortnight’s holiday or on a race meeting; and he will throw away his money on a casual acquaintance as readily as on himself. In such an atmosphere thrift is a difficult virtue, and the man who develops

enough strength of character to P tise it in spite of such temptations wi not only be the richer for it, but wil have acquired a habit invaluable m Australia.” By far the strongest criticism in the report is upon the system which in the Colonies has become connected with the words ‘‘no encumbrance.” “The people most wanted in Australia,” they remark, and other things being equal, most likely to make good citizens, are- undoubtedly married couples with children. It m therefore a distinct misfortune for the Commonwealth that such people have in common honesty to be warned that they may find it difficult to get situations in country service where thenfamilies can remain with them. Ibis is confessed and acknowledged by everybody, and it is to bo hoped, and even expected, that efforts will be made by private employers, and also by the State Governments, to remedy such a serious evil. While the problem is by no means an easy one, it should not pass the wit of man to solve, noi can it be altogether ignored by the progressive statesmen of the Commonwealth.” But, withal, the Commissioners have a very good word to say for the Colonies. It is their view that in this portion' of the Empire a man will find a community in customs, laws, language, and sentiment, intensely British, and in blood even more purely British, than that lie lias left in the old country. “There need,” they add, “be no feeling of exile or expatriation. Except for the greater distance from home, and the difference of climate, he can hardly realise that he is not still in Britain. He will find himself amongst a people of kindly disposition, hospitable to a fault, and always ready to welcome and encourage any newcomer of the right sort. If a man shows himself adaptable, willing to learn, and not too confident about his own ability and importance, he will find plenty of people to be friends with him.” It will be noted with interest that a cablegram just received from Home records the fact that as a result of the Commissioners’ report a number of emigrants have left or are leaving for Australia.