100 years ago — from our archives
Mutton birds for Maori troops
THE Maoris of the South Island propose making a gift of mutton birds to the Maori soldiers at the front, not only those who have gone with the Maori Contingent, and reinforcements, but also those who have gone with the pakeha battalions. These birds—8000 is the number aimed at—will be in addition to the 4000 proposed to be sent by the Lady Liverpool Maori Red Cross, and the money will be got from the 20 different kaingas of the South Island. The prime mover in this gift of mutton birds is Mr Wm. Spencer (better known to the Maoris as Te Pars), of Bluff, who has the cooperation of Mr C. R. Parata, M.P., Mrs Muriwai Mutu (resident at present in Wellington), and Mrs Rickens (of Temuka), in the work of organising the movement, seeing the Natives, and pointing out to them how greatly the gift—which should reach the trenches about Christmas time—will be appreciated. Mr Spencer and the ladies mentioned above are forming Maori leagues throughout the South Island as an auxiliary of the Red Cross to look after the comfort of the Maori soldiers and do anything that can be done for their benefit. It is also the intention to assist the European Women’s Patriotic Associations to the same end. Mr Parata will go north today for Wellington, whence he will keep in close touch with the South Island movement. He is particularly interesting himself in the mutton bird gift.
Advice on soils and manures
As most of the work during the winter consists of getting the soil in a suitable condition for the coming season’s crops, a few words on soils and manures may not be amiss. The soils round Dunedin are readily divided into three classes. One class consists of those on the hills which have been formed there by the disintegration of the underlying rocks and the decay of the vegetation which has grown on them. They usually consist of a layer of black soil of about six to nine inches thick, overlying a clay subsoil, but in some places, owing to bad cultivation, the black soil has disappeared, leaving only the clay, and anyone taking over a garden of this description has uphill work for a few years. Clay soils or those overlying clay are the best in the end; they retain water and soluble plant food, and are never so hungry as gravel, sand, or peat. The soils in the valleys are good and deep, but when new are deficient in organic matter, and require liberal dressings of stable manure. The peats which cover most of the flat are easy to cultivate, but suffer readily from drought in summer, particularly when the sections have been filled in with sand or rotten rock; clay is more suitable for the garden part. They require moderate dressings of lime and quantities of chemical manures. With suitable cultivation and manuring any soil can be made fruitful, and cultivation is more important than manuring, for the mechanical condition of the soil is more important than its chemical composition, and for intense cultivation trenching and deep digging are essential. A new garden should be trenched in the first instance. This greatly assists all subsequent operations, and renders the aftercultivation quite an easy task, and one which can be done by women. The importance of stable manure cannot be overestimated, and that from stables where straw litter is used is the most valuable, for it not only provides all the chemical constituents necessary for the growth of crops, but it has an important mechanical effect, opening up heavy clays and binding loose sands; and in the process of decay it exerts an important influence on the insoluble
plant food in the soil, rendering it soluble and available. Manure, if not the head gardener, is the first assistant, and though chemical manures are useful to supplement it where intense cultivation is carried out, as it has to be in small gardens, liberal annual dressings of stable manure are essential. I would advise those who have a convenient corner to lay in a supply during the summer. It can easily be covered over with a layer of soil and screened from t he rest of the garden with a hedge so that it will not be objectionable, for, during winter and spring the supply can hardly meet the demand, and loads are apt to diminish. — D. Tannock.
Troops’ newspaper
‘‘The Waitemata Wobbler’’, as the ‘‘official organ’’ of the Twentyfirst Reinforcements is called, is sure to be prized by those who were members of this portion of the forces and by their relatives and friends. It is full of timely advice, humorous and otherwise, and the sketches are clever.
Some of the verses are not without merit, and many of the hits at officers and others are patent enough to be appreciated by outsiders.— ODT, 9.6.1917.