pays better than the cereal. An average price of 5s. 6d. per bushel is procurable in Dunedin all the year round for linseed, and I am convinced that rape seed, mustard seed, sesamum, gingelly, castor and other such crops would be more suitable to our climate and pay our farmers better.
Much might be written on this subject, but the space at my disposal is limited. New Zealand is so bountifully endowed with that merciful gift of heaven—water—that she has an undeniable superiority over us in this drought-infested colony of New South Wales; but this is only another argument to strengthen my contention that we do not utilize our gifts to the full as we might.
Water conservation might well go hand in hand with the experimental work of an agricultural department. As an instance of what private enterprise can accomplish, I may mention that in the far west now, I am privileged to be a co-worker with a public-spirited and wealthy land owner, and on rich soil, such as we have for countless leagues on our great western plains, he is now irrigating and preparing land for sowing with tropical crops, and the result may be the introduction of several new and remunerative industries.
With irrigation, a plentiful supply of agricultural labour, intelligent experiment and collation of facts and dissemination of information under a well-organized and active agricultural department, a liberal land system, which will seek to minimize harassing restrictions and exactions, and give
