Areas under Grass compared.

The marvellous advantages of this fine colony cannot be better emphasised than by a comparison of this item with like totals in the other Australasian Colonies. I will not, however, weary you with figures, but state, proportionately, the fact that the acreage in sown grasses in New Zealand is no less than eight times greater than the entire area so sown down in the whole of Australia and Tasmania. Compared with these vast colonies, New Zealand is but one-thirtieth the size, but when grazing capabilities are taken into account, the importance of the latter is vastly altered. Owing to conditions of climate Australia is generally unsuitable to the growth of English grasses, and indeed the produce of even the natural grasses of these colonies is much less per acre than that of the sown grasses in New Zealand. So noticeable is this that it has been estimated that the productiveness page 21 of New Zealand grass lands is about nine times greater than the like in Australia, so that the lands of this colony covered with grass may be considered equal for grazing purposes with an area nine times as great in the adjacent colonies.