NEW ZEALAND FARMS

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25083, 15 January 1947, Page 8

NEW ZEALAND FARMS

VISITOR’S PRAISE AND CRITICISM

COUNTRY AS NURSERY OF NATION

From the viewpoint of the people they produce and the average living Standards, New Zealand farms are among the finest in the world, * but there is one big omission, their lack of sufficient production of vegetables and small fruits, according to the Rt. Rev. Monsignor L. G. Ligutti, executive secretary of the National Catholic Rural Life Conference, when he was interviewed in Christchurch yesterday. Monsignor Ligutti, who comes from th 2 United States, is accompanied on his visit to Christchurch by the Rev. Dr. L. Rumble, M.Sc., an Australian broadcaster and lecturer. Yesterday he inspected the Canterbury Agricultural College at Lincoln, accompanied by the Very Rev. Dr. James Kennedy. New Zealand was equal to any other part of the world in the production of flowers- by the people, Monsignor Ligutti said, but had not nearly reached its potential, in quantity or varieties, in the production of small fruit and vegetables, both on the commercial ajid family basis. This was the more noticeable in that the Dominion’s atmospheric and soil conditions were so favourable. The fundamental reason for such production would not be just economic, he added, for, particularly on the farms, it could be a valuable educational and charac-ter-aiding influence for children of the families. Agricultural Colleges Monsignor Ligutti said that he had found Canterbury Agricultural College, Massey Agricultural College, and the various research stations highclass institutions. Though not as big as those in the United States, they were certainly trying to fulfil the country’s needs. He was particularly impressed at Lincoln with the type of curriculum allowing for short courses, and with the practical means of producing boys who would return to the farms and make good husbandmen and good leaders in rural communities, which was preferable to mere concentration on seeing how many Ph. D’s could be produced. Value to Country Describing ail cities as graveyards as they never reproduced themselves biologically. Monsignor Ligutti said that the country was the real nursery of the nation. Statistics had shown that 10 people in the country to-day produced 13; those 13 produced 17; and the 17 produced 22. On the other hand, in the cities 10 people produced

seven; seven produced five; and five produced three and a half. “Since the family is the primary institution, access to land and stewardship of land must be planned," he said, “with the family unit in view. The j special adaptability of the farm home for nurturing strong and wholesome family life is the reason for the universal interest in land use and rural welfare. A unique relationship exists between the family and the vocation of agriculture. The farm is the native habitat of the family. The family’s weliarfe must therefore have the first, consideration in economic and social planning. “I believe farming to be a very noble and high profession. Farming requires more intelligence, because it requires so many different types of ability, particularly in mixed farming. A farmer has to be a meteorologist, an entomologist, a veterinarian, , plant pathologist, and he also has to have a knowledge of genesis. He is a handy man with a sense of ’humus.’ “A farmer is fundamentally secure from an economic viewpoint,” he added. “You do not have unemployed here. In the United States we have up to 10,000,000 unemployed. The unemployed have to live on charity. To live on charity debases a person. A depression may come again. And so what? Farming is a way out of an economic situation. The farmer should produce all the food needs for his own family*