(5.) Cold Winds and Droughts.

During late years the dairy industry has been one of the most popular and profitable industries of the bush settler. Every acre or two of grass represents a cow, whose yield of milk helps to swell the monthly cheque from the factory; and so, regardless of everything beyond the immediate return, the bush is cleared away as fast as possible, and the land laid down to pasture. If it were only a question of a dairy farm here and there amid the surrounding bush the results might, perhaps, justify the policy; but when a large area is wholly occupied by dairy farms unlooked-for consequences are sure to follow. To take one instance where the whole thing has been worked out to its logical conclusion: Some forty years ago the Settlement of Okaihau was formed on a piece of land between the Bay of Islands and Hokianga, covered for the most part by a dense forest, then known as the Nine-mile Bush. Through the centre ran a broad level ridge—almost a tableland—800 ft. above sea-level, which fell away on both sides in sharp ranges and deep gullies to two tributaries of the Hokianga River. When the first clearings were made the soil seemed to be of quite unusual richness; droughts were unknown, and every variety of crops grew with the greatest luxuriance. Attracted by the fertility of the soil and the advantages of the situation new settlers flocked in, and before long practically the whole of the land was cleared. Then, when it was too late, the evil of this wholesale denundation began to be apparent. The wind drew up the bared gullies and swept unchecked across the tableland— in bitter squalls in winter, and in scorching gales in summer. Droughts became common, and the smaller streams dried up for want of protection at their sources. The very character of the soil seemed to change from a rich, deep loam to poor, light stuff; cropping was almost abandoned, the grass grew scantier every year, and the whole settlement now carries less stock than it would do if a reasonable proportion of the bush had been left standing.