ASSISTANCE FROM GOVERNMENT

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21734, 17 March 1936, Page 5

ASSISTANCE FROM GOVERNMENT

—♦ RETURNED SOLDIERS* TOBACCO FARM APPRECIATION EXPRESSED^ Appreciation of the assistance the Government had given the Disabled Soldiers’ Civil Re-establishment Committee’s tobacco farm at New Brighton was expressed at a meeting of the committee which was held yesterday. Mr H. Holland presided. The secretary, Mr W. E. Leadley, reported that Mr C. Lowe, a tobaccogrowing expert of the Department of Agriculture, Dr. D. G. Campbell, head of the horticultural division of ;the Department of Agriculture, and, the Hen, H. T. Armstrong, representing the Government had installed a furnace in the tobacco kiln, ordered new flues, which would cost £26, and' had given a grant of £l3 for buying coal, coke, cement, and curing sticks. They had also approved of the transfer to New Brighton of Mr J. Willis, a returned soldier from a tobacco farm- near Auckland, which was worked by unemployed men under the control of Mr Lowe. Mr Willis, who had been at New Brighton for a fortnight, had had practical experience of curing and harvesting tobacco leaf for a number of years, said Mr Leadley. He had given the men at New Brighton very valuable information. Mr Willis had told Mr Leadley that he never expected to find such enthusiasm for tobacco growing as he had found at New Brighton. One kiln had been harvested and cured; with what Mr Willis considered satisfactory results, continued Mr Leadley. It was hoped to get in an- ! other two kilns if the weather held, but there was a fear of frosts. The abnormal season had delayed work a. month, "• , Disposal of Leaf’ A local company had guaranteed, to take the whole .of the output, provided the leaf was cured to a satisfactory standard, Mr Leadley said, and he thought that this could be done. In reply to an enquiry, Mr Leadley. said that a .kiln would hold . about 6001b of tobacco, which at l? per 1b - was worth £BO. If the tobacco could b§ got 4a Ia time there should be

about four kilns of it If the leaf were harvested to the standard ' required, however, the tobacco -should be worth at least 2s'per lb. a,.. The committee decided^to writp ters of thanks to. the Hon.'. D. G.Sullivan, the' Hon. H. T. Armstrong/ and the Department of Agriculture for .the assistance given. * Of 25 men interviewed for census work, 13 returned soldiers had been taken on by the Post'Office-as subenumerators. Mr Leadley said. Of these 13. six were on the disabled'sol* diets’, register. • r The committee decided to make, an inspection, of the tobacco farm yester* day afternoon.