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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Canterbury Provincial District]

Agricultural And Pastoral

Agricultural And Pastoral.

Canterbury is the chief agricultural province of New Zealand. The great expanse of plain country, and the richness of a large proportion of the soil naturally facilitate farming operations. The area of land under tillage will in time to come be much extended when the irrigation of the plains has covered all the ground which needs to be treated in that way. At the same time a large area of Canterbury is particularly well adapted to sheepfarming; and the province stands far before the rest of New Zealand in the degree of success which attends both the agricultural and pastoral industries. It would be hard to find better grain country than that to be met with in the Ashley district and around Rangiora in North Canterbury, in the heavy lands round Brookside or Leeston, at Longbeach, or on the great Levels estate in the south. The country is good for sheep almost everywhere—in the Amuri district, on Banks' Peninsula, along the Waiau. along all the hills that mark the headwaters of the large rivers, and on the great Mackenzie Plains running up towards the Mount Cook region. But the yields of grain and wool which will be quoted in their place are the best proof of the wonderful productivity of the province.

In total area of holdings, Canterbury comes second in the list of provinces. The figures for the four largest provincial districts are: Otago, 10,207,434 acres; Canterbury, 6,391,606 acres; Auckland, 5,063,778 acres; and Wellington, 3,663,180 acres. But the North Island generally is divided into smaller holdings than the South Island, and the total number of holdings in the four province runs as follows: Auckland, 14,806; Otago, 13,929; Canterbury, 10,965; and Wellington, 9977. In area of freehold lands, also, Auckland has a considerable advantage over the southern provinces. In Auckland the area of land held on freehold tenure is 3,256,396 acres: in Otago, 2,890,581 acres; in Canterbury, 2,754,083 acres; and in Wellington, 2,408,427 acres. In holdings under ten acres Otago and Auckland are almost level—Auckland, 4013; Otago, 4043; Canterbury comes third with 3508, and Wellington fourth with 2650. From ten to 200 acres the order is: Auckland, 7073; Otago, 5723, Canterbury, 4767, and Wellington, 4396. From 200 to 1000 acres Otago heads the list with 3357 holdings, Auckland follows with 3080, Wellington comes third with 2375, and Canterbury is a had fourth with 2018. It will be noticed that the other provincial districts posses a number of holdings from ten to 1000 acres considerably greater than might be expected from the proportion that Canterbury's total holdings hear to them. In areas from 1000 to 20,000 acres the numbers of holdings are: Otago, 716; Auckland, 615; Canterbury, 611: Wellington, 544. Here Canterbury is still only third on the list, but is very close to Auckland, while in total acreage of 1000 to 20,000 acre holdings, Canterbury is second only to Otago, the order being: Otago, 2,677,652 acres; Canterbury, 1,945,057 acres; Auckland, 1,917,013 acres; Wet lington, 1,730,526 acres. In estates of 20,000 to 50,000 acres, Otago comes first with forty-eight holdings, 1,564,309 acres; Canterbury second with thirtysix holdings, 1,178,274 acres; Auckland third with sixteen holdings, 490,997 acres; while Wellington's ten holdings cover only 279,496 acres. In estates of over 50,000 acres, Otago is easily first with forty-two holdings, totalling 4,042,346 acres, and Canterbury is second with 2,026,862 acres divided between twenty-five holders. The North Island is, in the matter of large estates, far behind the South Island. Auckland has only nine holdings of more than 50,000 acres, 754,033 acres in all, and Wellington has only two, 165,010 acres. From these figures it is evident that Canterbury has a greater number of what may be generally termed large holdings and fewer small holdings in proportion to her area than most of the other provinces.

Harvesting in Canterbury.

Harvesting in Canterbury.

page 24

The total area of land laid down in wheat in the colony for 1900 was 269,749 acres. Of this area Canterbury claimed just about two-thirds—181,648 acres. Otago had only one-third of Canterbury's wheat area, 61,460 acres, and no other province sowed so much as 10,000 acres in wheat. The average yield for Canterbury was 31.35 bushels per acre. This is surpassed by Otago, 35.27 bushels; but Otago's average is not lowered by any such poor return as must be expected from much of the lighter soil on the Canterbury Plains. The Wellington average, 30.43 bushels, is nearly as high as the Canterbury figure, but it represents a return from only 9829 acres, and the Taranaki average of 40.59 bushels, considerably the highest in the colony, comes from only 1273 acres. The average yield of wheat for the colony in 1900 was 31.81 bushels; which was slightly below the return for 1899, 32.76 bushels. It is instructive to compare these results with the returns for wheat from the Australian colonies. In 1900 Tasmania, from 85,000 acres, averaged 27 bushels; Queensland, from 46,000 acres, averaged 13.13 bushels; but from 2,250,000 acres Victoria raised only 9 bushels per acre; from 1,250,000 acres New South Wales produced 7 bushels per acre, while South Australia, with 1,750,000 acres in wheat, had to be content with rather less than 5 bushels per acre. A comparison of these figures with the New Zealand returns shows the wonderful advantages enjoyed by wheat-growers in New Zealand, and especially in Otago and Canterbury.

In oats the total area for the colony in 1900 was 398,243 acres. Of this, Otago accounted for over one-half, 210,043 acres, and Canterbury, for over one-third, 137,429 acres. The only other province growing oats to any extent was Wellington, 22,664 acres. The average yield for Canterbury was 40.15 bushels, which was again surpassed by Otago with 42.05 bushels per acre. The Wellington average return from the small area just mentioned was 41.99 bushels, while Taranaki, from 6000 acres, averaged 47 bushels. It may be worth noticing that the highest Australian average in oats for 1899 was 38 bushels per acre from 60,000 acres in Tasmania, while Victoria, the only Australian colony growing oats on a large scale (266,000 acres) yielded only 20 bushels to the acre, or just half the Canterbury and New Zealand average.

In barley the total area for the colony in 1900 was only 48,003 acres. Of this, over one-third, 18,000 acres, belonged to Canterbury, while Otago had about one-fourth of the total area, 12,977 acres. The average return for Canterbury, 35.71 bushels, was considerably above that for Otago, 32.24 bushels, while the New Zealand average was only 33.02 bushels. The high averages from Hawke's Bay, 40 bushels; Taranaki, 37 bushels; and Wellington, 36.85 bushels, were raised from areas so small that they afford no fair means of comparison with the yields from Otago and Canterbury.

Bye, the only other cereal grown in Canterbury in 1900, covered only 317 acres. The return, 23.5 bushels per acre, was decidedly high; the average for the colony was 25 bushels. But from the nature of its soil and its climatic conditions Canterbury was, with respect to this cereal, distinctly below Otago, which, in 1900, produced an average of 27.2 bushels from 1265 acres.

In 1900 the area of grass lands, ploughed and unploughed, in the various province ranked as follows: Wellington, 2,416,232 acres; Auckland, 1,794,481 acres; Canterbury, 1,769,871 acres; Otago, 1,729,875 acres; and Hawke's Bay, 1,714,675 acres. But the areas of surface sown in grass in unploughed lands were strangely at variance with these totals. Thus Wellington, which headed the list, had only 254,869 acres of ploughed grass lands, and 2,161,363 acres of surface sown grass. Similarly, Auckland's total was made up of 524,549 acres of ploughed grass land, and 1,269,932 acres of surface sown grass. Contrast with this the condition of things in the southern provinces. Otago had 1,436,698 acres of ploughed grass land, against 293,177 acres unploughed, and Canterbury was almost in the same position with 350,405 acres of surface sown grass, and 1,419,466 acres of ploughed grass land.

In the matter of hay, Canterbury in 1900 was easily first with 14,942 acres. Auckland and Wellington were some distance behind with 10,769 acres and 10,396 acres respectively; and Otago was still further in the rear with 8856 acres. All these returns showed a great falling off from the previous year, but less in Canterbury than in the other provinces.

Under the heading of gardens and orchards, Canterbury appears to have possessed about 7471 acres in 1900. This was considerably more than Otago, which had only 5976 acres in all, while Wellington had 6065 acres. But Canterbury was, in this particular, a long way behind Auckland, which, as the great fruit-growing centre of the colony, naturally headed the list with 13,639 acres, or nearly one-third of the area devoted to these purposes throughout the colony.

The sheep returns for 1899 placed Wellington at the head of the provinces with 4,070,737, Canterbury following closely with 4,040,456. Otago had fallen off considerably, the decrease from the previous year amounting to 245,974, and the total for 1899 was 3,745,485. Hawke's Bay came fourth with 3,291,876, and Auckland fifth with 2,082,121. The total number of sheep in the colony for 1899 was 19,348,506, being a reduction of 325,219 from the previous year, and of this total Canterbury's share was considerably over onefifth.

The cattle returns for 1899–1900 showed a grand total for the colony of 1,210,439, or an increase on the previous year of 7415. As the interests of Canterbury are rather agricultural than pastoral, it is not to be expected that cattle should figure so largely in the assets of this province as in some others. The figures for the period mentioned were: Auckland, 335,774; Wellington, 234,526; Taranaki, 202,307; Otago, 186,991; Hawke's Bay, 97,108; Canterbury, 89,242.

In horses Canterbury compared more favourably with the other provinces. The total number for the colony in 1899–1900 was 262,390—an increase on the previous year of 3741. Of these Auckland claimed 69,296, Otago 53,746, and Canterbury came third with 47,169. Wellington possessed 40,895, but the other provinces were far behind, Hawke's Bay returning 18,349, and Taranaki 17,483.

The total number of pigs in the colony in 1899–1900 was 249,751. This represented a serious decrease since 1891, when the number was given as 308,812. However, there was an increase of 56,239 on the previous year's returns. Auckland headed the list for the year page 25 with 69,415, Wellington followed with 46,946, and Canterbury was third with 38,367. Taranaki came close behind with 37,337, but the other provinces contributed much smaller numbers.

Sheep-Drafting, Canterbury.

Sheep-Drafting, Canterbury.

The dairy industry has received a good deal of attention from the Department of Agriculture throughout New Zealand. The Dairy Commissioner, with two dairy instructors and five dairy produce graders, have done much to improve the conditions of the this disparity in numbers, it should be possible for Canterbury to play a larger part in the dairy trade of the colonies than she has hitherto attempted. In October, 1899, there were in the colony 235 cheese and butter factories and creameries, and 171 skimming stations. Of these Taranaki had much the largest share—ninety-nine butter and cheese factories, and fifty-four skimming stations, while Otago had fifty butter and cheese factories, and twenty-three stations. As many of the factories make no statement of their output to the Department, it is impossible to state accurately the value of the colony's dairy produce, or the share of it that should be apportioned to Canterbury. In 1896 there were in the colony only 170 factories, and 105 creameries, and the output for that year amounted to 11,336,776 pounds of butter, and 4323 tons of cheese. The quantity of butter exported from the colony has increased trade in dairy produce, and to promote its success. It does not seem that Canterbury has taken full advantage of the facilities thus afforded. According to the returns for the year 1899–1900, the dairy cows and heifers in the North Island numbered 245,681; those in the South Island 137,762; and of these Canterbury possessed 40,258, as against 80,701 in Auckland, and 77,458 in Taranaki: while Otago was returned as possessing 75,223. But allowing for skimming stations, Wellington twentynine butter and cheese factories, and thirty-six skimming stations, and Auckland twenty-five butter and cheese factories, and forty skimming stations. Canterbury presented rather a depressing contrast to most of the other provinces in this respect. Though much of Canterbury is well adapted to dairying, there were till lately in the province only sixteen butter and cheese factories, and thirteen skimming 354 per cent, in twelve years, and the quantity of cheese exported has increased 89 per cent, in the same time. The value of butter and cheese exported rose from £378,510 in 1895 to £713,617 in 1899. Those figures give some idea of the magnitude of the, New Zealand dairy industry, and its value to the colony. There is ample scope for the dairy farmers of Canterbury if they choose to use their opportunities to gain a far larger share than they now enjoy page 26 of the advantage, derived by this colony from the dairy industry.

Ostrich farming has been attempted on a small scale in Canterbury. The late Mr. J. T. Matson, well known for his energy and enterprise throughout Canterbury, first introduced this industry, Mr. Matson imported his birds from the Cape Colony, and found they acclimatised easily. There is always a ready market for good ostrich feathers, and the birds soon return their expenses. On one occasion a fan was presented to her Majesty the late Queen composed of feathers taken from the ostriches reared by Mr. Matson. The birds were for years an object of great interest to all who visited Mr. Matson's home at St. Albans, on the Papanui Road. When the Springfield estate was broken up the birds were bought by Mr. George King, who has since carried on the industry on his property at Burwood, north of New Brighton. Mr. King has exported several birds to Australia to the order of New South Wales squatters, and the feathers find a ready sale on the Sydney market at £5 the clip. There is no doubt that, properly conducted, ostrich farming would pay handsomely in this province.

Wool Sorting, Canterbury.

Wool Sorting, Canterbury.