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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Nelson, Marlborough & Westland Provincial Districts]

Mr. John S. Lang

Mr. John S. Lang , J.P., is a member of the Westland Land Board. He was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland, in the year 1838, and followed farm work from his boyhood. In 1857 Mr. Lang caught the gold fever, and emigrated to Victoria, in the barque “Ida,” from Liverpool, and worked on the Ararat goldfields; after which he was employed on railway contracts at Castlemaine. Mr. Lang came to New Zealand in 1860, visited the Otago goldfields, and was subsequently employed in the erection of the telegraph line between the Molyneux and Invercargill. In the “rush” of 1865 he went to Hokitika, and for a time engaged in bush work, but in 1867 he took up fifty acres of land at Kokatahi. Mr. Lang was a member of the Westland County Council for three years as representative for Kanieri riding, and he was chairman during one year of his term. He is a member of the Hokitika Agricultural and Pastoral Association, at whose shows he has been a large prize-winner. Mr. Lang's model dairy farm is as fine a property as can be found in Westland, and even compares favourably with farms in the pastoral districts of Wellington and Canterbury. There are 500 acres of land, of which 200 have been cleared
Mr. J. S. Lang.

Mr. J. S. Lang.

and sown in English grasses. About thirty-five Jersey milch cows are grazed—the number varying with the season. A De Laval separator is used in the dairy, and is capable of treating thirty-three gallons of milk per hour; it is worked with a four-feet water-wheel, supplied by a water-race about a mile long. Over one hundred pounds of butter per week are turned out during the winter months and more than double that amount during summer and autumn, and the highest price is obtained for the butter; the “Familiar” brand being a sufficient guarantee of quality. Mr. Lang was the first to introduce water-power for dairy purposes on the West Coast. The cowsheds and yards are well built, and contain nineteen stalls, in which the cows are housed during the winter months, and hand-fed. By this mean; they are kept in health, and give milk in greater quantity. Mr. Lang has also been successful as a poultry-keeper. His farm at Kokatahi is now (1905) let to a tenant, and Mr. Lang himself resides in Hokitika.