The Press TUESDAY, MAY 25, 1897. GOVEBNMENT COCKS AND HENS.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 9735, 25 May 1897, Page 4

The Press TUESDAY, MAY 25, 1897. GOVEBNMENT COCKS AND HENS.

From paragraphs and telegrams which have appeared in the Press of late oar readers will have gathered that the present Socialistic Government of New Zealand has added to its functions. It has decided to go into the business i of poultry-rearing: in competition with I private persons, -who are already I struggling to make a living by the sale of pedigree fowls and eggs, and who will have to contribute in their capacity as taxpayers towards the cost of this Ifttesf fed. A poultry "expert ** 2x3.3 been Tvrerl Ibff-W. iii oiiipjiafe v may be discovered, as in the case of another famous Government expert, that a trip round the world is needed to finish his education. We only itope that to. complete the analogy fflMSiMliMlliM to float a Company in some member or • members of the present Ministry are interested. On this point, however, we feel tolerably a$ ease. Even if such a Company were projected we do not think the British publjor-bdng rather tired of com-" znercial undertakings engineered by New Zealand Cabinet Ministerswould rise to the occasion. Nor do we think that the new expert is likely either to beguile the British investor or to set the Thames on fire. A really sensible attempt on the park of the Government to develop the poultry raising and exporting industry would have had our hearty support. The colony is well suited for saeh an enterprise, and we see no reason why, if it were energetically taken np by our colonists In the right way it should not flourish. The Government might have helped forward each & movement in a rational and .legitimate manner, Ijy doing what is being done in other countries, both in regard k> this.and other industries.. They should Have found out first of all whether there were* reasonable prospects of getting ja good market for New Zealand j poultry., If their information satisfied fehenj; that a profitable export teade might be relied upon they should next have appointed one or more instructors —practical men—chaiged with the duty of teaching the settlers the best methods of rearing poultry, the best breeds £or their purpose, and the beat

methods of preparing them for market. There the legitimate function o£ the Government begins and ends. That is the .plan pursued in from which country England derives so large a' proportion of its. supplies of fowls and egge, and that is the plan which is now being adopted in England itself, where lecturers appointed by the County Councils are giving instruction in poultry raising and other rural pursuits. The New Zealand Government has gone to work on a different plan—a new and original method of its own. In appointing its expert it did not go to the large poultry farms where the business is carried on upon commercial principles, and select a man who had made poultry raising a financial sueC3ss, but it has bestowed the office on 3> gentleman already holding an app::atment in its own servica—in the railway Department in fact. What was 'i-ioprecise kind of work Mr. Hendekson p..formed under that department we cannot say, but railway construction and management, even under the New Zealand Government, are each quite fliflerent from " running " a fowl-yard. We can only conclude, therefore, that the new expert is an amiable amateur enthusiast, chock full of hobbies, as amateurs usually are. " Mr. Henderson, however, is in the enviable position of being able to make the public of New Zealand pay for his hobbies, whereas the ordinary, less-favoured class of amateurs have to gratify their hobbies at their own expense. With such a glorious opportunity before him the new expert has lost no time in starting on his hobby ride. Ho has sent to France for Houdans, and to China for Cochins aud Langshans. So far we have not heard of his sending to India for Indian Game, to Spain for Andalusia ns and Minorcas, and to Italy for Leghorns. No doubt this will come in time. Personally, we shall be glad if it is not found necessary for Mr. Henderson to visit those places in person in order to make sure of getting the right article. We confess to grave misgivings on this score, aud shall be agreeably surprised if they are not borne out. Having got together his fowls from the four quarters of the globe, the new expert intends to locate them at the Seacliff Asylum. If they were to ba used as object lessons for the instruction of-New Zealand farmers we should have thought a place like Lincoln Agricultural College would have been more convenient. However, bearing in mind the decidedly eccentric manner in which the Government has acted throughout in this'matter, we are quite prepared to admit a certain kind of appropriateness in the selection of Seacliff. Next, we learn, it is the intention of the Government to breed from these fowls and supply eggs to the farmers. What will they do next, we wonder? Are they aware that there are fanciers in this colony who liave spent thousands of pounds in getting prize birds from the most celebrated yards in England, America and elsewhere, aud that some of them, who have their living to make, find it .exceedingly hard to get prices for the pro.duce of these birds which will 'compensate them for their outlay ? Within., the last two months a shipment of pritfa birds worth a hundred pounds has come to a Christchurcb. resident, and another shipment of the same value was imported by a -breeder in the South. We* are probably within the mark in stating that during the Just five years £2000 a year has bedn spent by New Zealand settlers in importing • prize birds with a view of improving the breed of poultry in this colony. Suiely the Government has selected a strange Way of rewarding, them for their enterprise. Ministers have no more right to start in business in poultry raising, tisicg public money to undersell these men, than they have to start a boot factory to sweat the bootmakers ot tho colony. The private importers of prize fowls, however, will probably, after all, feel no very great alarm. The Government competition is not likely to do them much harm. The enterprise is sure to. be bungled as such work always is bungled under . State management. The Seddon Ministry started ,a ,Sta,te Farm but it never produced anything to speak of, and the private farmer did not suffer. They . have - .started ' experimental nurseries in opposition to private nurserymen who do the work of raising plants and trees very j&iich jiatter, but one never hears of these State nurseries except when more money is. required to keep them going. - So, we suspect, it will be with the.Government fowl-yard. Practical men are already laughing at the idea of importing Cochins—perhaps the most inane and least profitable fowl that walks. As an egg-proclacer it is provercual tor lis " Government stroke.'" Terfiaps -fclils aaj Qommenaea it %9 tfa© eoyeraw^iatj ■if ii I .expert. Even in " msafciness "for the table it is beaten by half-a-score of " general purpose " fowls, such as the Wyandotte* Plymouth Rock, Orpington ancl Xiaxigsttan, all of -wiiicli ii warn iojni ii if com a.bsixrd to send to China fox liangshans. The Langshan in China is altogether different from the up-to-date Langshan as it has been developed by breeding. On this point ii is interesting to note that quite recently the English Consul at Cherbourg reported that French poultrv-raisers had tried Cochins more than once, but were disgusted with them and were importing Langsbans from. England, considering them the best fowls bred in that country. To complete the exposure of the folly of the Government in this matter, it is only necessary to add that that we have already in the colony JQang3hans from Miss Cbo&d, who now occupies the place of the late Major Ckoad, as the chief prize-winner at English shows with this particular bird, it was, in fact, the late Major Cboad who introduced the present type of liangshan to the British public* Notwithstanding these facts, we suppose the Government will go on its blundering way. When the new industry at Seacliff is in. full swing farther, legislation mil sorely become necessary. A Domestic Poultry Eight Hoars Bill will of course be one of the first measures introduced, to limit the hoars during which hens may lay eggs. It is to be hoped there will be a clause in it .to prevent the male birds from crowing daring the hours usually devoted by human beings to sleep. And there certainly ought to be a Conciliatioa and Arbitration Bill to settle

the disputes of rival roosters and thus avoid the cruel necessity of their going to war I