AKAROA COCKSFOOT.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20334, 5 September 1931, Page 11

AKAROA COCKSFOOT.

•10 THE' Elllioa or THE .paEBB . _ gi r> _-It was. stated in tbe Honflfi of Representatives yesterday, and haa been mentioned recently m , £^j£. papers, that Mr Levy and the Department of Agriculture are not Prepared to certify Akaroa " HUfh it having been decided to cia*s K no. doubt.

ill for the benefit of our North Island friends, but it is somewhat strange on top of Mr Levy's strenuous boosting of Hawke'a Bay ryegrass to the exclusion Of Canterbury and Southland seed. Incidentally it now transpires that in 1929-30 only one-ninth of the total perennial ryegrass was harvested in the. North Island. The following extract from a speech at the meeting of Grassland Research workers recently held at Palmerston North, with Mr Levy in the chair, should ar/Guse the Farmers' Unions and A. and P. Societies in Canterbury to some action:

"As to cocksfoot (for «export), the Akaroa seed was to good demand, and the point was that merchants asked for this type. Though speed in other parts might be equally as good, the difficulty was to overcome the name; 'New Zealand' would perhaps be a better term, as the Akaroa farmers could nob supply the market in full." r

In passing, I do not believe the last statement, but-why should th© Department of Agriculture deprive Canterbury of the privilege and advantages of being able to sell its Banks Peninsula cocksfoot certified under its worldfamous name of "Akaroa?" It would be just as reasonable to certify ,all Hawke's Bay ryegrass as 'New Zealand," but they look after themselves too well ut> there to allow euch a thing to happen.—Yours, etc., PENINSULA. September 4th, 1931