SEED-TESTING STATION

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25579, 21 August 1948, Page 2

SEED-TESTING STATION

CLAIM OF CANTERBURY A renewal of its request for the transfer of the seed-testing station from Palmerston North to Canterbury was decided on by the executive of the South Island Local Bodies’ Association yesterday. The executive considered a letter from the Prime Minister outlining the difficulties in transferring the station and the’ staff, because of accommodation problems. “We have got to keep hammering away,” said Mr E. C. Bathurst (Ashburton). “If they can get over difficulties in the North Island, they can do the same here.” Mr E. H. Andrews (Christchurch) said that the steady building up of the station' in Canterbury was the solution to any departmental difficulties; Mr Bathurst said the seed should be tested-in the climate where it was grown. “The heads of the- department are settled at Palmerston North, and that is why they are difficult to shift,” said Mr W. S. Mac Gibbon (Christchurch). From an educational viewpoint, the seed should be tested in the province in which it was grown, said Mr R. T. McMillan (Canterbury Power BoarAs). “Our reply should be that an auxiliary station should be established here, where the seeds are grown, said Mr Andrews.

Mr D. H. Cockburn (Otago counties) suggested that the staff should be recruited in Canterbury and trained at Palmerston North. Mr J. N. Clarke (Christchurch); .That would never do,. They would go north, and stay there. The grounds stated by the Government for the retention of the station in the North Island were of no consequence, said Mr Cdckburn.