A NEW JOURNAL

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30823, 7 August 1965, Page 10

A NEW JOURNAL

FOLLOWING close on the 1 appearance of the “Journal of Agriculture” in its new form has come the first issue of a new publication, “New Zealand Agricultural Science.” This is not a chance happening for it represents a sort of division of the dissemination of agrij cultural information. The new “Journal of Agriculture” i is beamed to communicate knowledge to the farmer. The “New Zealand Agricultural Science” will be more of a means of communication between scientists and scientists and advisory officers. In a foreword the DirectorGeneral of Agriculture, Mr D. N. R. Webb, says that the two should be complementary. The Minister of Agriculture. Mr Taiboys, is hopeful that through the discussion which will go on in the “New Zealand Agricultural Science” there will come clearer recommendations to the farmer—that it will help research and advisory workers to provide recommendations that can be applied more easily under practical farming conditions. The president of the New Zealand Institute of Agricultural Science, Mr 1. L. Elliott, says that the institute’s new publication should serve as a medium for expression of jpinion by members on mat-

ters affecting the agricultural industries of the country and the practice of their profession. It should serve as a medium through which the profession can make its voice heard on matters affecting the welfare and conditions of employment of members. It should be used to express policy. It would also provide a medium for the publication of technical data and would be a source of information and reference for members. Mr Elliott said he also hoped that it would provide a means through which the Government and other organisations could communicate directly with members of the profession. Dr. L. R. Wallace, director of the research division of the Department of Agriculture, is quoted as feeling that the general climate of opinion on the subject of agriculture is healthier today than for many years past. . . . “On the other hand, one of the things that distresses me is that as yet in New Zealand, a country more dependent than any other on her export earnings from meat and wool, there is no national sheep and beef cattle flock and herd improvement plan. The Dairy Production and Marketing Board, through its Herd Improvement Council and its artificial breeding centres, and in co-operation with the district Herd Improvement Associations, controls what is probably the best and most scientifically-based hterd improvement plan in the world. What is urgently needed is a similar type of national recording scheme and improvement plan for the beef and sheep industries.”

He also notes: “At a time when so many countries are becoming increasingly conscious of the rapid rate of advance of science and technology and the very large extent to which their future prosperity will depend on their ability to compete in this sphere, it is extremely disturbing that so many of our best science graduates continue to leave New Zealand , before even starting work in this country. In addition many others who have been employed in New Zealand continue to be lured away by attractive offers from overseas. ... There is a pressing need to ensure that conditions of employment in both the research and advisory fields of agriculture are such that they will attract and hold a reasonably high proportion of the more able young undergraduates passing through our universities.”