AGRICULTURAL AFFAIRS

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 101, 28 April 1917, Page 9

AGRICULTURAL AFFAIRS

MEETING OF BOARD.

The Board of Agriculture held a lengthy meeting- on Wednesday last, and dealt' with many important matters. A reply was received to the communication which had been sent to'the .Minister of Agriculture urging that a special officer should be detailed to conduct a full "investigation of the methods of distribution of club-root disease; and to investigate the rotting of turnips in the South Island. It was stated that the matter was being gone into by the Department's expert officers as fully as circumstances would permit, ajid that the board's recommendation as to a specwJ. officer being devoted largely to the work would have careful consideration, and would, if found practicable in the present circumstances, be given effect to. The director and secretary of the Christchurch Technical College wrote pointing out tliat there were some 40 boys taking the agricultural course at the Technical High School, and the 'Agricultural Committee of the Technical College Board of Governors felt that it would be a great advantage to have some assistance from the Department of Agriculture in instructing the boys. The Board of Governors had experimental plots arid an orchard for the purpose of practical instruction, and hoped, shortly to be in a position to appoint a specialist who would not only ..be able to take charge of the agricultural course, but also to give instruction in suitable centres throughout the district. The committee was desirous of having the support of the Board of• 'Agriculture in its endeavour to obtain occasional lectures and demonstrations to the boys, at the High School by the specialists attached to the Department of Agriculture in Christchurch. After conferring with Mr. Pope, Secretary of Agriculture, on the matter, who expressed sympathy with* the proposal, it was decided to reply that, while' the Department could not. undertake to give a regular course of | instruction, . arrangements might, however, be made for some of. the {Depart-1 mental officers in Christchurch to give occasional lectures and demonstrations to the boys, as desired by the committee. Interesting particulars, concerning the afforestation question were furnishedby Mr. D.! E. Hiitchins, F.R.G.S., who detailed what had been doiie with regard to the demarcation . of. the Waipoua forest in the . Holcianga district, and vthni stops should be taken to preserve and regenerate the remaining bush country in the Dominion.

As the board's term of office shortly expires (it having held office for three years), a lengthy report detailing what had been done, and the recommendations made by. it since it first met, was drawn up for submission to the Minister of Agriculture. . .

Amongst other matters dealt with were:—Proposed legislation in regard to imported: seeds ; American Meat Trust; suggested restrictions on the removal of cattle affected with contagious abortion ; improvement of the dairy herds, and the milk supply of the Dominion ; and the necessity for doing everything practicable, even during the war, to stimulate the fullest development of the natural resources of tho Dominion.