THE POULTRY INDUSTRY.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13095, 21 April 1908, Page 9

THE POULTRY INDUSTRY.

to TiiF. rmton ay ''toe rnESS.' ,

Sir, —In a previous letter 1 suggested that the £0000 wasted annually by the Government on the poultry industry could bo more advantageously utilised on agricultural experiments. It has been .suggested that an experimental station should be e*U:U»lis}Kd in Canurbury. but 1 submit thai; it- would be far better to sufficiently endow the Canterbury Agricultural College at Lir.coln to enable it to add to its present usefulness by taking up experimental work as well, rl-ere we have a oollego sufficiently and efficiently equip- j pod to carry out this hnportauz won;, and to carry it out n:ore thoroughly than can be done at any other place in tho Dominion, and all that is required is a little more- money. What better than that the XoOOU wasted on poultry bo set as an endowment for Lincoln College. There is not a scientist attached to any of the Government ivti.ei'imental stations; in fact, outsUi© the vet-e-rin-ary division there is hardly a thorouglily qualified eciontist in th*> wholeoit?ho Agricultural Department, and 1 maintain that it is impossible for untrained unqualified men to carry out scientific experiments in the mariner in which thi<> important work should be done. Further, I believe it is a wrong policy to establish i:i number of experimental stations in this small Domiuion of ours. What we want is a thoroughly equippou station (or may be, ono in each Island but not more), at which the different problems affecting agriculture can be studied and experimented with, the results being afterwards tested widely by cooperative experiments in several localities by the farmers themselves. It j would be impossible for the Government to equip aud maintain an experimental station for n less sum than that which if granted, as an endowment to Canterbury Agricultural College would enable it to undertake the work. There would be no need for Government- interference in tho management, as nearly all the State experimental stations of America are run on similar lines. Tho Government finds tho money aud the institutions are managed by a Board, similar to that controlling Canterbury Agricultuial College. It would bo a eonsiderablo advantage to the students to have thic-; experimental work at the College also, and all that is necessary to obtain, this desirable, end is a few thousand pounds a year. Here, then, is an outlet for the £5000 wasted on poultry, but, apart from this, I feel sure that it would bo letter to add the experimental work to Lincoln College than to establish a separate station somewhere else in Canterbury on similar lines to those already existing in other parts •of the colony. As far as I can see there are no insurmountable difficulties iin the way of bringing this scheme to a successful issue if.the matter is taken in hand by the Press and agricultural authorities. —Yours, etc., GEORGICUS.