SIR JOSEPH WARD.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXX, Issue 14980, 28 April 1909, Page 4

SIR JOSEPH WARD.

A VISIT TO CHRISTCHURCH. INSPECTION OP LOCAL INDUSTRIES. REORGANISATION OF THE AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. A POLICY SPEECH AT INVERCARGILL. Sir Joseph Ward arrived in Christchurch yesterday morning and went on to Dunedin by the second express. This morning ho will receive a deputation in Dunedin in regard to the stopping of the Lawrence-Roxburgh railway, and in the evening he will present prizes in connection with the Associated Board of Music. To-morrow he will go to the Taiori. and will be present at a social gathering at Mosgiel in honour of the Hon T. Mackenzie in the evening. He will bo in Invercargill on Friday. On Saturday evening, in that city, he will deliver an important (speech. He will remain in the south until Tuesday. On that day he will return to Christchurch. He will be present at a social gathering to Mr W. W. Tanner on Tuesday, evening, and that evening he will 'leave for Wellington. He refused to be interviewed in Christchurch except in regard to the reorganisation of the Agricultural Department, saying that he would deal with all prominent public questions in his Invercargill speech. Amongst these are the offer of tho Dreadnoughts and the manner in which it is intended to raise the money, tho financial position, details of the system of military training he intends to advocate, and the retrenchments in the Civil Service. THE AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT.

Before he left his hotel to accompany members of the Industrial Association on a tour of inspection of local industries he supplied representatives of the newspapers with details of the reorganisation of tho Agricultural Department, briefly referred to in a telegraphic message from Wellington published yesterday morning. He said that the reorganisation had been completed as far as the head offices were concerned. Instead of the department being split up into many different divisions, as at present, there would be in future only five divisions. Mr R. F. Pope had been appointed head of the department, with the designation of Secretary of Agriculture. He would take the general executive administration of the department. His appointment would date from November 1 next, but he would take charge of the department, as acting-secretary, from May 1. His appointment as' acting-secretary was necessary on account of tho promotion of Mr J. D. Ritchie, the present secretary, to- the position of chairman and inspector of the Land Purchase Board, which dated from November 1, but in the meantime Mr Ritchie would be absent from the dominion. Mr Pope's salary had been fixed at £SOO a year from November 1. It was intended to attach the Commerce and Tourists Departments to tho Agricultural Department as soon as possible. . He considered that it was necessary that the designations of the officers of the different divisions of the department should be changed in order to prevont confusion and to have similarity of terms. . For that reason the designations of chief inspector of stock and chief veterinary officer and others disappeared, and the designation " would be substituted.

Mr E. Clifton, who had been chief inspector of stock for some years, would be promoted _ to tho position of director of the Fields and Experimental Farms Division of the department from May 1, at a salary of £6OO a year. Hie principal duties would be in regard to the direction of the following matters:—Field crop 9 (including New Zealand hemp), pastures, ensilage, chocking tho rabbit nuisance, noxious weeds, injurious weeds, injurious birds, control and sale of fertilisers,

tho grading of hemp and hemp mill instruction, experimental farms and field experiments in other lands. Mr C.-J. Roakes had been appointed director of the Live Stock and Meat Division from May 1, at his present salary, £6OO. His principal duties would be the direction of live stock generally, the veterinary laboratory, the health and diseases of live stock, quarantining of imported live stock, sterilising of manure, moat inspection, slaughterhouses, dahy farms other than those supplying factories, poultry and bacteriological specimens. Mr J. T. Bruce, inspector of stock at Dunedin, would be promoted to the position of assistant-director of the Live Stock and Meat Division from May 1, at a, salary of £4OO, with headquarters in Wellington. His duties would.bo connected with the Stock Division under Mr Reakes. . Mr D. Cuddio, Chief Dairy Commissioner, would be director of the Dairy Produce Division of tho Department, from May 1, at £550 a year. He would direct operations in connection with milk and dairy produce generally, the inspection of dairy farms, supplying factories, instruction in milk production, instruction and inspection of dairy factories, and the grading of dairy produce. Mr T. W. Kirk, Government Biologist, would, be promoted to the position of director of the Orchards, Gardens and Apiaries Division, at £550, from May 1. He would direct operations in connection with fruit and vegetables, general plantations, instruction in regard to orchards, vineyards, gardens, nurseries, fruit and vegetable shops, plantation work, tho inspection of imported fruit, instruction in fruit-pre-serving, vines and bees generally, and vineries at the experimental farms, and experiments in fruit trees and other i plants on other lands. I Tho whole of tho existing divisions would be concentrated under the directors he had named. The reorganisation of the department had been carried out on the plan ha had described, and the details, which would be announced soon, would show /that great economies could bo effected by doing away with the overlapping that had taken placo. The overlapping of district work of various portions of the department would bo abolished, and it would be seen on examination that the reorganisation had been made on methodical lines. It would be seen that in future everything connected with stock, both live stock, including poul- \ try, and dead stock, would be under an officer who was previously the chief veterinary officer. The intention had heen to place all allied branches with community of interest under one of the directors who had an intimate knowledge of them. All the changes had been made by Sir Joseph himself, as Minister of Agriculture, before the new Minister took up his duties. They were of a far-reaching character, and it was only fair that that course should be adopted. The value of the Agricultural Department had been recognised, and the Government, while carrying out material alterations in the organisation and making considerable reductions in various branches, had kept in mind the efficiency of the department as an educator and as a means of assisting the producing portion of the community. Its high standard in that respect would be maintained. It would, indeed, bo more efficient than under the former system.