DEFIANT DAIRY FARMERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 57, 8 March 1921, Page 4

DEFIANT DAIRY FARMERS.

WILL NOT CTJT HEDGES. FIRE BLIGHT IN" WAIKATU (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.! HAMILTON", this day ' Some of the dairy farmers of ihe " Waikato are preaching open defiance o£ ' the order to cut back their hawthorn ' hedges to prevent the spread of tire ' blight. There are hundred* of railas'of these hedge* in the Waikato, which are in many cases the-sole shade and shelter for stock, and their removal would mean a great depreciation of properly, whiie the cost of eradicating them is set down by a Government oSicer at £2<JO j>«t mile. The dairymen, in fact, declare openly that they will not comply with the order; firstly, because they are unable to find the money, and secondly, because the labour is unprocurable. Mr. J. A. Young, 11.P., who is taking a keen interest in the matter, arranged a' meeting at Ruakura farm, yesterday. lat which Dr. Reakes, Director of Agri- ' culture, was present, as well as Mr. •). A. Campbell, Assistant Director of : Horticulture. The meeting was largely ■ attended by farmer?. j Mr. Young said he was the Bolshevik of the occasion, and declared that th; , !a\v would not be complied with, bei cause it could not be. The Department 1 did not realise the task it had set the dairy farmers of Waikato. Therp was one man in the room who had five m:leof hawthorn on his place to rlear wiikh by March 31 would entail the employment of 40 men, and would cost £1,000. I Fire blight was primarily a menace to ! the fruit industry, but now it was also ! being made a menace to the .dairying industry. Mr. Campbell said that while infected hawthornes remahied, the menace would !be ever present. The question was whether the greater cvii was to allow i the- fruit industry of the Dominion to be permanently destroyed, or the dairy industry to be temporarily inconvenienced. Dr. Reakes, who had made a tour of the district earlier in the day. -said h? fully realised the difficulties of th? task set the dairy farmer. Ho felt >tir» the Minister of Agriculture was anxious to ■ do the right, and at the -amp time the fair thing. He could not give any definite information as to whether the Government would be prepared to compensate the dairy farmer*, but he promised to place the whole of the fact* from both standpoint* faithfully before the Minister. He also promi>e<l that any conclusions arrived at would be communicated through Mr. Young bef tp they were put into operation.