A deep interest in farming

Press, 29 August 1980, Page 16

A deep interest in farming

Mr S. H. (Sam) Hinton, who retired recently after being district manager of the Bank of New Zealand in Canterbury, including the West Coast, for nine years, is a man with a real affinity for farming and farmers, who has particularly enjoyed helping young -men to start in the industry. He has liked on the one hand giving them a challenge and stretching their capacities, while on the other chancing his ovyn arm or taking a risk with them. .

Judging by the calibre of the ..young people that he has worked with and seen, he concludes that there is not too much to worry about in the future. Mr Hinton would be seen watching the judging of cattle at a country show, at- a field day or farmers conference, at Addington market, or a Skellerup Young Farmer of the Year contest and. a host of other events of a rural nature. ~ . .<•

. The; question? ;thdt this' raised in ; the minds of many who saw him on these occasions was what made this man, who'was a bank officer, so interested in farming. Mr Hinton, who was born and brought ; up in Invercargill, says that he started off life with a foot in both camps — his mother’s family was very farming orientated while his father’s was city or urban orientated. But from an early , age he leaned in the direction of his moth-, eris family interests,; His ‘people conducted a shop, post office and service station complex in Invercargill and out of school the young Hinton learnt all about hard work. But there was still ample opportunity in those days to spend quite a bit of time on the farms of relatives and friends and it was at that stage that he developed his interest in farming. He recalls that often when it was time for the family to return to Invercargill from a farm visit he was nowhere to be found, being down at the cow shed or doing something else with the cows. He acknowledges that he had a very fortunate childhood. He came ■ and went from farms’ and was not tied down to a farming routine when he was still young. At the beginning of 1937 he joined the Bank of New Zealand in Invercargill, but then the war' intervened and after going overseas with - the New Zealand forces he served with the British forces, an outcome of the affection that he held for Britain and things British.

While he likes all forms of farming and animals his preference is for stud Friesian cattle and it was while he was in Italy during the war that he came ‘ Across-.a .Friesiah herd-f'in •the Po valley, .near. Pia::cehza. The herd' belonged a?- notable Italian . land- ' owning ifamily Viand ,ha d been supplying a sugar-of-milk • factory, of which there’had been ..ohly one other in the world and that in-his home province of Southland. By this time the Italian factory had

fallen into disuse as a result of the war. . After the war Mr Hinton had thoughts about settling in Britain and contemplated at one stage joining the Colonial Ser-vice,-.but with the old Empire; then in the process of shrinking he . returned home in 1947, and although it was not at first his intention he ended up back with his old bank in Invercargill. Subsequently he moved to Balclutha and here his interest in. farming was rekindled. Then after a short spell in Dunedin he went for more'than three years to the Suva branch of the bank serving as accountant; There again he became deeply involved in farming and particularly with cows, of which there were a good many. While in Fiji he also visited Tonga and Samoa.

On his return he was in Christchurch for a year before going off to London for three years as assistant to the bank’s manager there.

During his. spell there he was sent to the Administrative Staff College at Henley-on-Thames, the first of its kind in the world which was established just after the war, and while there his colleagues were mystified by his spare time activity — he helped with a nearby Jersey herd, which was reputed to be the oldest of the breed in Britain. Then .for more than two years he was deputy manager of the bank in Wellington before going to Whangarei as manager for two years at a time when there was rapid growth in the dairy industry in the district. His feeling for and understanding of dairying he felt allowed him to make a contribution to that process. Then after another five years in Wellington as staff inspector he moved to Christchurch in 1971 as district manager for Canterbury, covering an area from the Clarence River to the Waitaki on the east coast and from the Owen River to Jacksons on the West Coast. This Mr Hinton found a fertile field for the extension of his farming interests and he is appreciative of the way in which his employers- allowed him to follow this interest. . Mp Hinton saw himself in trie role of someone on the periphery of farming, who was able to work in the interests of the industry. . Farming, he says, needs such people. In this way he saw himself becoming a sort o(, reference point for farmers and

not only those who were clients of his own bank.

Mr .Hinton thinks that farmers like an interchange with a person outside their industry who is prepared to challenge their thinking and bring another point of view.He' comments that people say that it is gettering harder and harder for young people these days to get into farming, but in some cases he dbes not think that this . is strictly true. Certainly he says it is quite impossible to do anything on just wages, and it. is certainly difficult for a young man to get a start in sheep farming — less capital is required where someone is interested in dairying. But he observes that there are chances for young people to join up on a share basis with an established land owner -With the possibility of eventually taking over, or- developing sufficient equity to enable a person to make a start on his own, and again there was the possibility of tak-

ing up a management position, with also some investment, in a property in which someone else has invested. In this whole area he sees the property management service a't Lincoln College filling an important place. Mr Hinton is a member of its management committee. With his great interest in Friesian cattle Mr Hinton has appreciated the way in which both he and his' late wife were accepted by the Friesian Association. They have attended conferences of the association all over the country. Now Mr Hinton is involved with some breeders in the development of an organisation to promote the export of New Zealand Friesian cattle, which he says have a very high standing in the world. It is intended that the new organisation will not only bring to the attention of breeders export opportunities but will also supply to commercial and trade interests details, of cattle that are available for' export.

Mr Hinton’s work has, of course, also brought him in contact with interests in manufacturing, retail and the professional world, but behind much of the life in the province he sebs a strong farming, backing as being of great importance. He has been president for two years of the Canterbury division of the Institute of Management and a member of its

council and closely connected with the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce, the Canterbury Manufacturers’ Association and the Canterbury Club. Mr Hinton belongs to an organisation callea Farming Forum which discusses farming- topics without exposure to the media and he was recently a member of the organising committee for a seminar on rural depopulation and repopulation sponsored by the Land Use Advisory Council. He says that he has never owned land but he has often responded to calls for assistance and has helped milk cows and bale hay. There is every indication that in his retirement he is going to maintain and even possibly expand his interest in farming and the countryside.