BROADCASTING SERVICE

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26220, 18 September 1950, Page 6

BROADCASTING SERVICE

OFFICER OF RURAL PROGRAMMES

APPOINTMENT FOR MR J. C. TAYLOR

Mr James C. Taylor, a returned serviceman of the Second World war. and the first rehabilitation bursar to be sent to an a gr icul , t h ral n =° Ue nost h of been appointed to the new post oi Rural Officer in the National BroadCa Ann g oun e on Saturday evenincr the acting Minister m or JSroadcasting (Mr W. J. Broadfoot)

said that Mr Taylor’s duties would be to oversee existing farm broadcast sessions, to organise new ones with a widening appeal, and to co-ordinate the whole into a more effective service for listeners generally. Although the primary aim would be to interest farmers and their wives, the new sessions would also be directed towards interpreting the country to the town, and it was hoped to make them entertaining as well as informative. , , ~ . . Mr Taylor was born in India, but went to England for his schooling. He had three years’ experience of English mixed farming—in Devonshire and Sussex —and came to New Zealand in 1939. After 18 months on dairy farms in the Waikato, he‘enlisted in the 2nd N.Z.E.F. He served with the 24th Battalion in Greece, and in the 1941 desert campaign. He was severely wounded by mortar-fire at Sidi Rezegh. and lost his right leg below the knee. He was invalided home in 1942. When he was discharged from the army Mr Taylor entered Canterbury Agricultural College, Lincoln, as a rehabilitation student. He gained both the Diploma of Agriculture and the Diploma of Valuation and Farm Management, and early in 1946 was appointed to the staff of the Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Council. There, as an assistant soil conservator, he has been concerned particularly with the council’s educational work, and with preparing material for its

public displays at agricultural and pastoral shows and elsewhere. Last year, Mr Taylor revisited Britain and also spent three months in Canada and the United States. He is oarticularly interested in the study of erosion and soil conservation. He will transfer to the broadcasting service early next month.