The Hawera Star. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 1928 BOYS’ AND GIRLS’ AGRICULTURAL CLUBS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 15 August 1928, Page 6

The Hawera Star.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 1928 BOYS’ AND GIRLS’ AGRICULTURAL CLUBS .

Delivered every evening by 6 o’olook In Hawera. Manaio. Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltbam, Mangatoki. Kaponga, Alton, unrleyville Patea. Waverlev. Mo_oia, ffhakamara, Ohangai, Meremere. Prasei Boaii. and Ararata.

It is mot surprising that the boys’ nmVl girls’ n gricultural club (movement., had its origin, so far ais Now Zealand is concerned, in South Taranaki, should receive the whole-hearted sympathy of a Minister of Agriculture who has placed the encouragement of intensive farming method*’ in the foi ofront of his policy, but it is particularly gratifying to find that the Hon. 0. J. Huwkem lias ’been able to give practical expression to that sympathy, through his department. The announcement made at Tokaora on Monday by the Minister that it had .been decided to grant a £ for £ subsidy up to £SO for the assistance of the work carried on voluntarily here in the past, is very welcome news indeed, particu laxly as it follows close upon the heels of al previous promise to allocate one of the -officers of the department to the ■organisation of the competitions held throughout the district annually. His speech at the Tokaora prize-giving ceremony showed that the Minister has a very clear vision of the future which ; 'li'Cis il>Gif ore New ZtxiJotncl ss ipTiunfl-ry .producing country, not so much through the agency of costly land settlement schemes as through the better use of the land at present in cultivation. The comparison which the Minister made between’ the productivity of Denmark and of New Zealand contained nothing j new, but the few succinct sentences he used to illustrate his meaning gave ne w force to an old argument. New Zealand farmers .know, or should know, the comparative statistics quoted by the Minister, but they cannot be told too often that the Danes produce more than j twice as much cheese, butter and bacon as New Zealand from am area one-sixth the size of this Dominion, and that they do so under climatic conditions not nearly so favourable as ours. Just as necessity lias been the mother of invention in the mechanical field, so Inis necessity forced the 1 .over -populated countries of Europe and Asia to put •their limited areas of land to the best use in order that all their people may live. In the past there has not been the same need to conserve space in New Zealand. The first need of this country was the pioneer who would go out back amd break in new lands, but, though the Dominion has by no means reached its population-]unit, it has certainly attained the stage of development at which it has to turn for guidance to the example of the older countries if it is to make the capital and labour expended on the land more immediately productive. Already we have reached a point where wo realise that we cannot go On for ever taking everything out of the soil amd putting nothing back. We have started to 'study, and have begun to apply, scientific methods of rotating crops and manuring the soil —-methods Which, not so long ago, were deemed all .right for Chinese market gardeners, but not necessary in such a fertile country as tours. The next step is : that for which the Government, through its Department of Agriculture, has been endeavouring to prepare the farming community, the introduction of intonsivo methods which will result in increased' production from the area already cultivated. More cows to the acre and more -butter-fat -per cow, more sheep to a given area and the production of the class of wool most in demand in the markets l of the world j the development of fruit-growing, beekeeping, poultry and pig-raising from convenient side-dimes of farming into important industries standing on their own feet —these rank high among the objects which the Government is strivling to secure and which arc. receiving the close attention of the. Department ■of Agriculture under the sympathetic guidance of the Minister. At the same time the official mind is being kept open to the possibilities of new primary industries being developed, with the result that -to-day it is becoming the case that the Department is leading the farmer to think of mew enterprises connected with the land, instead of ‘ ‘si tting tight” and resisting all demands for encouragement of such enterprises until tiro last possible moment. The thoroughness with which the Minister has taken up tkei question of supporting the calf-roaring and root-growing competitions for juveniles, now that it is apparent that the movement lias grown (too- big to be supported- entirely by voluntary contributions and assistance, provides 1 further proof that it is his object to use every sound method ;to this hand to ensure the adoption' of his Government’«? policy, which aims at j securing increased production by the •employment of improved methods.