MORE THAN AN ART

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 53, 26 November 1930, Page 10

MORE THAN AN ART

Growing of Fruit BECOMING A SCIENCE “1 think we are well on the way to making fruit growing not only an art and industry but a science,’’ declared Mr. R. G. Hatton, director of the East Map ing Fruit Research Station and the Imperial Bureau of Fruit Production, when addressing a conference of Dominion fruit exporters yesterday morning. Mr. Hatton explained that he would not have been in the Dominion had it not been for the Imperial Agricultural Research Conference in 1927, at which New Zealand was represented, and its expressed wish that there should be set up within the Empire a bureau of information. The object of the bureau was that there should be a central place that could take a general view of fruitgrowing problems, collect information and build up a technique of information. The bureau was quite distinct from the East Maling Research Station beyond the connecting link made by himself as head of the-work of the'bureau. The bureau was- in the East Maling buildings and of course had the services of the St During his tour, Mr.'Hatton said, he hoped to get a picture of the problems facing growers in the variqjis parts of the Empire, and when information was received by the ■ bureau he could then view it in 4ts proper perspective. It had to be realised; that only within the last 1? or 20 years had they come to close grips with their horticultural problems. The bureau would be able to lay bare all the mistakes that were made and hand over the conclusions it reached lock, stock and barrel to the Dominion’s investigators. . Fruit research and investigation would be speeded up throughout the Empire, he' said. Now was the time for the New Zealand investigators to act. The speeding up now of investigations would probably avert a tremendous lot of the mistakes that-had been made in the Old Country because it had not seen soon enough the beneficial- results that came out of scientific investigation. , ' T r. Hatton was accorded a hearty vote of thanks, for bis address. He was also asked to convey to the Empire Marketing Board the thanks of the New Zealand fruit-growers for making bis visit to the Dominion possible.