FARMERS' UNION

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 107, 6 May 1926, Page 15

FARMERS' UNION

MEETING OF EXECUTIVE

DAIRY AND PORK INDUSTRIES.

The meeting of the Dominion executive of the New Zealand Farmers' Tin-1 ion was continued yesterday after "The Post" went to press. Mr. W. B. Matheson (vice-president) occupied the chair. A resolution, was passed favouring the present policy of the .Dairy Control Board. ' The chairman mentioned that there had Been considerable controversy in the Press in regard to the treatment of boys working on farms, with special reference to the Flock House boys. The speaker said there were quite a number of boys working on farms in. his district, and from inquiries he had made they were quite content to remain in their present places. A letter was read from Mr. A. H. Cockayne, Director of the Fields Division, Department of Agriculture, in which lie said that a remark made by him in Dunedin as to the relative seriousness of blackberry and bracken fern menaces had been incorrectly reported. What he said was as follows: —"The seriousness of weeds can be-judged from two standpoints, either from the present actual loss in production that is being caused by any. plant, or from its liability to detrimentally affect production in the future. Blackberry, viewed from the first standpoint) is not our most serious weed; in fact, at the present time, the complete elimination of a plant one hears little about, namely bracken, would easily cause a greater immediate production from > the land than would, the f elimination of blackberry. Viewed from its possible future effects, if not controlled, blackberry is our most serious weed, from the fact that it is a grassland weedj and cannot be dealt with by stock manipulation as is so regular in the control of many plants liable to invade grassland. The presence of blackberry, causing as i£ does such" losses to stock, particularly sheep, by being hung up in its growth, tends to the non-stocking of such areas, thereby eliminating to a great extent the all-important factor of alterations in stocking density so essential in grass-land-weed control." PORK INDUSTRY. The secretary of the Dairy Produce Control Board wrqte stating that, the board had decided early in the season to regulate shipments every month. As soon as strike conditions had passed, that policy was put into force, and fairly regular quan\ities if butter and elieese had' been shipped to Great Britain since that time. There would be a: slight falling-off in the quantities available for shipment during the next few" months; due, first,, to the regrettable reductionih the output of butter, and. further to the shortage in Australia and tho: resulting sales of New Zealand butter to the Commonwealth. Fairly large sales had heck made in this connection. . ■ :,. Mr. A. H. Gorringe>. Chief Instructor of Swine Husbandry, Department of Agriculture, addressed the meeting on the position and prospects of tne pork and bacon industry. Nothing, he said, but the first quality should je sent to the London market, iffhe . BerkshireTamworth cross provided a type of carcases, of excellent, character—a f type which had won the approval of curers in Great Britain, Nothing should go from New Zealand to London which' would spoil the ■ high reputation New Zealand had already won there. He urged the adoption of co-operative methods in the Dominion in regard to the pork export1 industry, and emphasised the ".importance of tho development'of tho. industry. . '.' The chairman said he recognised that tho pork industry was only in its infancy; there ■were great possibilities in its future. „ Mr. Gorringe advocated compulsory grading, and said that farmers should be paid on grading. This would encourage the farmer, to improve his stock to suit the. market. New Zealand, he added, was a splendid country for pig-growing. We should be raising millions of pigs in the North Island.. As to. the policy for the future,, he urged, first,' the giving of more instruction to the farmers. The executive resolved to recommend the Department of Agriculture to give Mr. Gorringc further assistance in promoting.swine husbandry. Mr. .Crowthcr addressed the executive on the importance of encouraging ..trade in our primary products with China —an illimitbale market and near at hand. His remarks were on the lines of addresses already given before other.public bodies in the city.