Long isolation from Australia has prevented land mammals from reaching New Zealand; our only endemic land mammals are two small species of bats. On the other hand, the greater part of our present land bird fauna is largely of Australian origin; the sea, however, is not a formidable barrier to creatures with well developed powers of flight. The fact remains that there is no geological evidence to suggest a direct trans-Tasman land connection with Australia at any time.

It is evident, however, that within comparatively recent geological times, transient land extensions to the north to the vicinity of Melanesia allowed the influx to northern New Zealand of fauna and flora of New Caledonian origin; not necessarily a continuous land connection, but rather a rafting effect of a series of give and take land movements.

In the flora we have the striking examples of our kauri tree (Agathis), mainly of Melanesian distribution, and a “bottle-brush” flowering shrub (Xeronema), found only in New Caledonia and islands off the North Auckland coast. In animals, there is the influx to the North Auckland Peninsula of Placostylus, a genus of large land snails, otherwise restricted to the islands of the now largely submerged Melanesian Plateau.

Archaic elements in our land fauna are the reptile tuatara (Sphenodon), the moas (Dinornis), and allied genera, the kiwis (Apteryx) and the primitive caterpillar-like arthropod Peripatus. The moa belongs to that group of large flightless Southern Hemisphere birds which includes the Australian emu, the cassowary of New Guinea, the ostrich of South Africa, the rhea of South America and the extinct Aepyornis of Madagascar. Some interconnection of southern lands in the distant past is required to account for the present wide dispersal of a group of ponderous birds ranging in height from three to 10 ft. It is hard to visualise how this dispersal was achieved, whether it developed on a formerly extensive southern continental mass, the “Gondwanaland” of geologists, whether by radial extensions of Antarctica continued to connect with these southern lands, or whether by means of “Continental Drift”, a theory which holds that the now widely separated southern lands were formerly more contiguous.

Although there is no geological record of their undoubted antiquity, a family of large primitive carnivorous land snails, the Paryphantidae, have relatives widely dispersed in southern lands, ranging from South Africa to Southern Australia, and to the islands of Melanesia and New Zealand. Our present marine fauna, also, contains elements of considerable antiquity, notably the Struthiolariidae, gastropods with living members found outside of New Zealand only in South Georgia, Kerguelen Island, and South East Australia. In the Cretaceous and in the Tertiary, the family was well represented in New Zealand and extended to Patagonia as well.

A great number of warm water genera of shellfish common in our early Tertiary formations have been exterminated during subsequent cold periods, many during the comparatively recent Pleistocene. Owing to the insularity of the New Zealand area, there was no retreating to warmer seas and, in consequence, extinctions were numerous. A notable example of a very recent extinction is in the bivalve Anadara, dead shells of which wash ashore from time to time around our northern coasts, derived from estuarine deposits and raised beaches. These bivalves were apparently completely exterminated in New Zealand during one of the cold phases of the Pleistocene, and at the same time the species suffered extinction in South Eastern Australia and Tasmania. The species, however, survived in the waters of Queensland and, with the return of warmer conditions, spread southwards again. New Zealand insularity, however, precludes its re-establishment here.

Two physical factors have a pronounced effect upon the constitution of our present marine fauna; the East Australian warm water current, already referred to, and the West Wind Drift, which sweeps the Southern Ocean, from west to east almost unimpeded. This results in an influx of sub-Antarctic organisms. Many are rafted with masses of torn-off and drifting kelp (D'Urvillea) which shelters or supports a specialised fauna, either attached to or hidden in excavations in the hold-fast. Upwelling of cold water of Antarctic origin around New Zealand, particularly on the West Coast of both islands, enables some of these sub-Antarctic genera to spread even to the extreme north of New Zealand.

Although relatively small in area, New Zealand is long and narrow, spreading over 13 degrees of latitude. This factor alone makes for a wide variety of species, many with a restricted range determined by water temperatures. Moreover, the fact that New Zealand straddles two great and distinctive water masses, the subtropical and the subantarctic, makes for relatively sharp faunal distinctions between north and south.

by Arthur William Baden Powell, Assistant Director, Auckland Institute and Museum.

To understand New Zealand's present fauna and flora one must delve for the necessary background into the realms of geological science.

New Zealand is not ancient by comparison with the vast antiquity credited to the continental masses; nevertheless, there is irrefutable evidence in our rocks that our region has an antiquity back to at least 600 million years, that is, to the Cambrian, that world-wide base line marking the first appearance in geologic strata of well preserved and varied animal remains that constitute a faunal assemblage.

In visualising New Zealand's past history, one is prone to think in terms of this country's present size, shape, and approximate topography, but all three are very recent and very transient features. We must, therefore, project our minds back in time and become accustomed to the idea of a fluctuating land mass sited around a place on the globe marked by the present location of our country. We must envisage a land of continental dimensions at one stage, a mere scattering of small islands, an archipelago, at others – a land not entirely coincident with our present location but sometimes extending greatly both westward and northward. The actual site of our country as we now know it was a trough in the ocean bed which steadily accumulated sediments that were slowly built up, and in time became raised to the surface. Their contained fossil remains now give us the clues to our past history.

Another factor we must consider is that of climate, for the fossil faunas reveal fluctuations ranging from near tropical to conditions far colder than those experienced today. For instance, Conus shells, characteristic of warm seas, lived here in early Tertiary times but are absent from our seas of today – coconut palms flourished in North Auckland in comparatively recent times but disappeared during the world-wide ice ages, when New Zealand, although it escaped many of the rigours of northern lands, did see a great advance of glaciation, particularly in the South Island. Despite all these changes, New Zealand has existed as a more or less separate entity for a very long time, at least as far back as the early Tertiary, 50 million years or more ago, and during that time it has evidently had no direct connection with the Australian continent or with other southern lands. Nevertheless, there is evidence of the arrival of new colonising elements from time to time but not of necessity those which required a continuous land connection for the purpose.

One of the main colonising agencies at the present time is the East Australian warm water current which originates in the New Caledonian area, sweeps down the New South Wales coast, and then across the Tasman in a great arc, bringing with it not only adult long ranging swimmers that are induced to travel southward of their normal haunts, but also larval forms of marine organisms, many of which ultimately become acclimatised.

Examples of the long ranging swimming animals that reach our shores as adults are the swordfish, three species of marlin, several members of the tuna family, smaller fishes common in East Australian waters, two species of turtles, and two sea-snakes.

Country Women's Institutes were established in 1921 at Rissington, Hawke's Bay, by Miss A. E. Jerome Spencer, later honoured as the founder. The first federation, that of Hawke's Bay, was formed in 1925, followed by Auckland federation in 1927 and by southern Wellington federation a year later. The Country Women's Institutes aims to provide an organisation to enable women to take an effective part in rural life and its development, to provide for the fuller education of country women, and to arrange for instruction and training in all branches of agriculture, rural handicrafts, domestic science, hygiene, and social welfare. The movement is now organised in 51 federations within New Zealand, with 1,015 institutes, and has a membership of 36,354. Extension work has also been carried out at times in the Cook Islands.

by Leonard John Wild, C.B.E., M.A., B.SC.(HON.), D.SC., formerly Pro-Chancellor of the University of New Zealand, Otaki.

The Women's Division of the New Zealand Farmers' Union (now Federated Farmers) was formed in 1926 to associate farmers' wives and other country women with the general aims of the union and with matters of special interest and concern to women. The organisation parallels that of Federated Farmers. The Women's Division has, however, from time to time assumed responsibility for some special social obligations, among them the provision of relief housekeepers in farm homes in cases of sickness or to enable wives to go away for a holiday. The residence “Honda” at Lowry Bay, Wellington, the gift of the late Dr Agnes Bennett, is available for the accommodation of country families in town for a holiday; and in some places (as at Nelson) there are rest homes for elderly people. Attempts have also been made to train girls for domestic work; or, in the case of girls from the Islands, to train them for home making on return to their own country.

The younger Country Girls' Club movement follows generally the same pattern as the young farmers', with possibly more stress on social activities as the motto suggests: “Courtesy, Grace, and Companionship”. Club activities are naturally such as are related to the lives of young women living in the country. The movement also receives help and encouragement from the Department of Agriculture.

The first local Young Farmers' Club was formed in the Feilding District in 1927, its main work being the running of an annual agricultural show for exhibitors under the age of 21. Later, the Auckland Young Farmers' Club – a post-school agricultural club – was formed by Dr W. S. Hill in 1930. Still later, inspired by J. E. Davies (then in the Department of Agriculture), a club was formed at Palmerston in Otago in 1932, followed immediately by clubs at Moa Flat and Clinton. A. C. Cameron of Dunedin was impressed with the potentialities of such clubs and started setting them up in large numbers, first in connection with “educational weeks” in Otago, then further afield. He finally promoted the formation of the Dominion Federation of Young Farmers' Clubs, of which he is recognised as the founder.

The official motto of the federation is “Youth, Farming, Citizenship” and it aims generally to help to establish Young Farmers' Clubs throughout New Zealand and to promote their well-being. The objects of the individual club include the development of the spirit of leadership among the youth of the community, the carrying out of all kinds of educational work among farmers, and the promoting of interest among young farmers in the well-being and advancement of farming. Strict attention is rightly paid at club meetings to correct procedure. Officers are changed frequently to spread experience in various offices as widely as possible through the club. There are many club activities such as listening to lectures by visitors and by fellow members, discussions, debates, including interclub debates, stock and other judging competitions, which extend to Dominion championships, and so on. Interclub visits are also popular. The Department of Agriculture is fully alive to the potentialities of the movement and provides a secretary-organiser at Dominion Council level and general supervision at district council and club level. While the age limit for membership is 30 years, clubs are permitted (and advised) to avail themselves of the advice of older farmers or other advisory members of committee.

The federation recognises five decentralised districts – three in the North Island and two in the South – and some 47 district committees. The Dominion Council is formed from representatives of district councils. The office of Dominion president is normally held in rotation. There are now 369 clubs with 10,786 active members. The number has been fairly constant for some years. Each year some clubs are revived or inaugurated and some go into recess.

(Formerly the New Zealand Farmers' Union)

In early years farmers' clubs existed in various districts. At the inaugural meeting of one such in the Rangitikei district, Dr Curl, a medical practitioner interested in farming, pointed out that farmers had no organisation that looked after their interests; that unlike farmers in Britain, with their chambers of agriculture, and farmers in America, with their ‘Grange’, farmers in this country had no union. But the farmer in New Zealand was, and to a large extent still is, an individualist. Unionism was a plant of slow growth.

The first impact was made by one Sam A. Brown, secretary of the Auckland Cooperative Society, whose advocacy aroused the interest of A. G. C. Glass, a farmer of Broadwood in Northland, under whose enthusiastic guidance the first properly constituted branch of a New Zealand Farmers' Union was formed on 1 September 1899 at Kaitaia. The entry fee was 6d., the annual subscription 2s. payable in half-yearly instalments. Formation of more branches followed rapidly and, in July 1902, the first national conference was held and the New Zealand Farmers' Union formally constituted. M. M. Kirkbride, in an opening address from the chair, said, among many other things: “If the Farmers' Union is to be useful to us it must deal not with party politics but with farmers politics and discuss every question that affects our interests….”. J. G. (later Sir James) Wilson was unanimously elected president, and G. W. Leadley, of Canterbury, vice-president. Wilson gave himself completely to the office for the next 20 years. He was an ideal man. He was acceptable to the large landowners because he was one of them, but his interest in the well-being of the agricultural industry was clear to all, as was his conviction that the road to national prosperity lay in closer settlement by increasing numbers of independent small farmers.

Three main tasks faced the new union: first, to set up an office and appoint a secretary; secondly, to establish an official journal; thirdly, to draft a constitution and a platform. The office was established in Wellington. Of the several secretaries over the 60 years the late E. C. Jack deserves mention, as does A. P. O'Shea, secretary for many years to 1963. At the outset the New Zealand Dairyman was used as the official journal; but in 1906 the union founded its own paper, the Farmers' Union Advocate, which ran till 1924, when it gave place to The Farmers' Weekly, a private venture. Then came Point Blank (1933), which in 1939 was taken over by the Farmers' Union and, in 1941, amalgamated with Farming First and Farming Progress to become the now bi-monthly Straight Furrow.

In 1905 the annual conference decided to try to gain the return to Parliament of candidates who agreed with Farmers' Union views. This policy, expressed in a demand for the freehold tenure, resulted in 1908 in the defeat of the Hon. R. McNab, Minister of Agriculture, and later secured the return of the Massey Administration. Farming solidarity promoted by the union was also the power that broke the waterfront strike of 1913, the strike breaking being organised and directed from the secretary's office in Wellington.

The First World War brought to a head many problems, especially those of the control, sale, and shipping of primary produce. New and sometimes impracticable proposals were brought forward; new leaders with new ideas were emerging. In 1920 Sir James Wilson (knighted in 1915) retired. G. W. Leadley took office as president for a year and was followed by the long and productive presidency of W. J. (later, Sir William) Polson, in which the union grew enormously in numbers and in influence. He was succeeded in 1936 by W. W. (later, Sir Walter) Mulholland, a man of wide and deep understanding of the industry. In 1950 W. (later, Sir William) Perry became president and, successively, J. (later, Sir John) Andrew, S. D. Reeves, W. Malcolm (1961), and E. W. McCallum (1963).

Provincial branches and provincial councils were formed throughout New Zealand by the end of the first 25 years. Auckland Province, always the strongest in numbers and branches, became restive at one stage, mainly because of the increasing importance of the dairying industry in the province and the need experienced in the period between the wars for better advocacy of the claims of the industry. Hence it formed Federated Farmers of Auckland. But this organisation (with related independent bodies, such as the Sheepowners' Federation) was brought into a unified structure by the incorporation of the Farmers' Union as Federated Farmers of New Zealand, with sections to deal with particular interests – agriculture, meat and wool, and dairy production. The Dominion Council, however, a strongly representative body, is the official “voice” of Federated Farmers. Its continuing interests and activities include a wide variety of matters, such as wage agreements affecting farm and primary production workers, legislation affecting land or stock, the supply of farm needs, and taxation and rating.

Ploughing

In 1840 Malcolm McKinnon used bullocks to plough the first 30 acres of Canterbury. In 1843 John Deans used horses. They became the main form of power on South Island farms for many years. The two-furrow lever plough riding on three wheels, invented by Pirrie, of Scotland, and later developed and improved by Reid and Gray Ltd. and P. and D. Duncan Ltd., was of light draught and eminently suitable for ploughing the tussock-covered plains and downs of the South Island. It was drawn by four horses in block yokes. Thousands were soon in use and made possible the bonanza wheat harvests of the 1880s and 1890s.

Harvesting Machinery and Tractors

Early crops were cut with a scythe or sickle and the sheaves bound by hand. Shortage of labour, due to the gold rush in Australia, made the 1855–56 harvest very difficult and led John Deans to import a “Bell's Improved Reaper” in 1857. In 1877 the wire-tying reaper and binder (the “Wood”, the “Osbourne”, and the “McCormick”) appeared and quickly became popular. In 1880, after Appleby's invention of the twine knotter, the twine binder appeared in New Zealand. There were 2,000 in the country by 1882.

At first grain was flailed by hand. By 1853 small portable threshing mills driven by oxen were used. In 1865 Messrs Osbourne and Rennie, of Prebbleton, imported a portable steam engine to drive a larger mill with a winnower incorporated. These units were not replaced until 1878 when the steam traction engine was introduced. Now steam power applied to large swamp ploughs made it possible to develop the heavy soils of scrub-covered swamps, which were beyond the reach of horse power. The big mill followed, and this pattern remained until the early 1900s when the first tractor was imported. The horse was finally replaced as a source of farm power. (Clydesdale horses, worth about £65 in the 1920s, had by 1932 fallen to £30, thence to 15 in the slump.)

The English “Sanderson” tractor was one of the first used, to be followed by “Titans” and “Moguls” from the United States. An “Ivel” was exhibited in Christchurch at the Agricultural and Pastoral Show in 1913, a “Sampson Seeve Grip” in 1916, and a “Fordson” and a “Case 10-18” in 1919. In that year there were 136 tractors at work in New Zealand – 78 in the North Island and 58 in the South Island. Of these, 13 were in North Canterbury, 10 in the Christchurch district, 11 in mid Canterbury, and six in South Canterbury. The Waikato had 11 and Southland and Matamata counties had six and five respectively. By 1929 there were 3,377 tractors at work; 9,639 in 1939, 27,447 in 1949, and 75,291 in 1959, and over 84,000 in 1962.

In 1925, the power-take-off shaft appeared on the McCormick Deering tractors 10-20 and 15-30, together with the power binder. Rubber tyres were fitted to tractors in the United States in 1932; the first in New Zealand was sold to J. C. Guiness, of Ealing, in 1935. Conversion kits were soon available to convert steel-wheeled tractors to rubber. Just before the Second World War the first hydraulic three-point-linkage farm tractor came to New Zealand, though they did not become numerous until 1947. This tractor is now predominant; few standard-type wheeled tractors are sold to farmers.

In 1928 Albert Amos, of Wakanui, threshed 3½ acres of wheat with a “Sunshine” header harvester imported from Australia. American makes followed, adapted for the traditional bagging rather than for the unpopular bulk storage. There are now about 3,000 working in the South Island. One rarely sees a steam-driven big mill at work. In 1958 bulk harvesting gained ground when three farmers followed the lead of Sir W. Mulholland, who bought his first bulk header in 1930. Since 1958 the numbers of bulk headers have more than doubled each year, due in the main to a desire for a cleaner, easier, less laborious harvest at a time when farm labour is at a premium. The trade now accepts wheat, barley, oats, peas, linseed, and other small seeds in bulk.

More farmers have installed bulk grain storage facilities on their holdings and some have also installed driers.

by Clement John Crosbie, B.AGR.SC., Farm Advisory Officer (Machinery), Department of Agriculture, Christchurch.

Dairy Farms

At first cows were milked by hand and the cream skimmed from the cooled milk in setting pans. The milking machine and the cream separator, both powered by a petrol engine, reduced manual labour and made possible bigger herds on farms. Butter and cheesemaking were done in cooperative dairy factories. Rural electrification in the 1930s enabled electric motors and electric water heaters to be used in the cowshed. The herringbone and other new pattern cowsheds with a lower level for the shed hands now make it possible (using non-stripping techniques) for two men to milk over 100 cows.

Tractors and Harvest Machinery

The steel-wheeled tractor replaced the horse in heavy farm work in the 1920s. In the late 1930s the small rubber-tyred tractor appeared on dairy farms. The horse was finally replaced after the Second World War by the small three-point-linkage farm tractor, a versatile machine with a wide range of mounted equipment. In the 1920s the hay harvest already used horse-drawn mowers, rakes, and hay sweeps. Loose hay was stacked with hay grabs and stackers operated by horses. There were comparatively few hay sheds. In the 1930s tractors were used to mow, rake, and sweep hay, and stationary hay balers were introduced. Mobile hay balers, drawn and powered from rubber-tyred farm tractors, were in service before the Second World War, mainly by contractors. After the war this machinery was more used and, when smaller units were introduced, became as common as the hay sheds which are now used to store baled hay in.

Preparation of Silage

Silage, previously a heavy laborious crop to stack, became easy to handle in the 1940s and 1950s with the introduction of the English buckrake. Silage making became popular, especially in the wetter districts where haymaking is difficult. Terms like “wedges”, “clamps”, “buns”, and “saucers” became commonplace.

More recently the forage harvester has been used widely for silage making and concrete bunkers (often of “tilt up” construction) are now being built. Vacuum packing, wherein silage is conserved between two polythene sheets, was used widely in the South Auckland area in 1963.

The New Zealand farmer has been driven by the nature of the country and by circumstances to develop a mechanical mind. He has been faced by seemingly impossible obstacles – often rough, virgin land to break in, a chronic scarcity of manpower in a new country, and isolation, not only from his neighbours but also from local and overseas sources of materials. He has had nothing to fall back on except central and local government, the labour of his wife and children, and his own skill. He has a fine record of invention and resourcefulness to his credit – of improving methods and machinery and of using them productively so that he can sell what he produces in distant and competitive markets. New Zealand made machinery, or New Zealand improvements, have been used all over the world: a riding multifurrow plough, butter churns, machines for seed cleaning, flax processing, gorse cutting, hay crushing, and drain cleaning.