AGRICULTURE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 99, 28 April 1936, Page 5

AGRICULTURE.

NEW DIRECTOR-GENERAL. MR. A. H. COCKAYNE APPOINTED. (By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. The Minister of Africulture, Mr. Lee Martin, announced in the House of Representatives this afternoon that Mr. A. H. Cockayne had been appointed Director-General of Agriculture in succession to Dr. C. J. Reakes. Mr. Cockayne is a son of the late •Dr. Leonard Cockayne, the famous botanist. He entered the Department of Agriculture in 1904 as assistant biolo--gist, and in 1909 became biologist to the Department. This position he occupied with distinction till 1922, when lie was appointed director of the fields division, in which position he became widely and favourably known to the farming community. In 1927 he combined that position with that of director of the plant research station established in that year at Palmerston North. In 1929 he was appointed assistant Director-General, while he retained the position of director of the plant research station.

During his wide experience with the Department he has paid particular attention to the development of grassland farming in New Zealand, and his work in this direction has done much towards overseas recognition of New Zealand's grassland" practices. He is also a member of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.