THE FRENCH MISSION.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 1436, 18 January 1919, Page 5

THE FRENCH MISSION.

AN INTERESTING INTERVIEW

R will bo remembered that when the members ot the French Mission accompanying General Pan passed through this district they did so hurriedly by motor, and did not have an opportunity of seeing any of the homesteads and stock at close quarters. What they did see, however, made them express a wish to make a more leisurely inspection of what the country could produce. Unfortunately, General Pan fell ill in Dunedin and had to remain behind, while several of the other members had pressing engagements in Wellington which they could not break. However, .Mens. Corbriere, the member who is most interested in agriculture and stock, managed to snatch a couple of days to pay a hurried visit to this locality. It should be mentioned that this gentleman has a large estate in Normandy on which, in addition to, carrying on farming on an extensive scale, he also keeps u string of racehorses, being an enthusiastic patron of the turf. This being the case, he is thoroughly qualified to speak in an authoritative manner on matters connected with the agricultural and pastoral industries, as well as blood stock. Accompanied by Col. C. J. Reakes, Director of Agriculture, as mentor, ho left Wellington by train yesterday morning for Feilding, where he was met by motor car and visited the estates of Messrs Knight, E. Short and Perry. After inspecting tlidse ho came on to Palmerston, calling in at the Highden estate on the way, and stayed at the Imperial Hotel. During the evening ho was introduced to a number of the leading residents of this district. This morning ho will visit Mr Tanner’s farm, and afterwards inspect the Palmerston Showgrounds and the Awapnni racecourse. He will then proceed to Maranui, where he will be joined by M. Louis Leolerq-Motte, and together they will look into the flax industry, returning to Wellington by the afternoon train. Although inundated with visitors last night, Mons. Corbierre kindly spared a few moments to give a “Standard” reporter some of his impressions of what he had seen during his tour of the Dominion, and more particularly of this district. M. CORBRIERE’S IMPRESSIONS.

Jn the course of tho interview M. Cor iriere went into raptures over the pastora

possibilities of tho Palmerston and Feilcling districts. With more than a suggestion of sentiment, he compared the district to that of his own country, which, ho said, it very closely resembled. “In New Zealand,” ho remarked, “you can grow anything that wo raise in Franco and England. You have tho same crops. You have good summers, and your winters are shorter than ours. Your short winters are an advantage over us, but in another sense they may represent a drawback. Throughout our long winter wo stable all our catile. This accumulates through tho winter a lot of stable manure, with which we fertilise our land. This has proved of great benefit to us. So you see that a line climate is a good thing, as in tho case of your country, for a pastoral country, but on arable land the man who goes in for stable manure can do with a long

winter.’

After referring in congratulatory terms to the crops ho had. seen in Canterbury. M. Corbricro said that he was very much struck with the cattle and sheep he had seen in the Palmerston North district. Anything bred in France and in England could be bred hero of equal quality. This was tho case also in Canterbury, and in this connection ho mentioned Sir George Clifford’s Stonoyhurst stud and tho stock lie had seen on the homestead of Mr J, B. Reid, at Eldorslie, and Mr J. Griggs’ fine farm at, Longbeach. Speaking as a farmer. M. Corbricro said that ho saw' much which interested him in the Manawatu district. Tho quality of tho: stock, especially the sheep, was a great source of admiration to him. His only regret was that he could spend not one, but several days, “a whole week,” ho fervently exclaimed, "in this ideal district.” It was when ho spoke of the stud flocks that ho saw during his hurried tour of the, district that the distinguished envoy was most voluble in his praise. “I saw,” ho remarked, “Mr Short’s Romney Marsh sheep and his Hereford cattle. In the Mastorton district I saw Mr Perry’s fine flocks, and also the excellent _ Southdown sheep on Mr Knight’s property in Feilding. All, all of those wore fine. They were magnificent—superb.’’ The Southdowns bred in the district also appear to have caught the visitor’s eye, for lie spoke glowingly of their fine quality. Generalising, M. Corbricro confessed that he had heard much of New Zealand before ever coming here, but he did not think it was such a fmo country from a pastoralist’s point of view. In England and in Franco, countries carrying big populations, Ihe land was of course much closer cultivated. For a far-flung outpost of tho Empire, New Zealand was indeed a surprising country. New Zealand possessed a great many advantages over Franco and England, but of course in some few things these older countries were bettor off. It was tho luxuriant growth of grass in New Zealand which particularly commended itself to the visitor. Ho himself came from Normandy, which ho had always thought of as tho best grass country in the -world until ho saw tho pastures of this district. “In Manawatu,” he exclaimed, “there is as good grass there as in my own province

Touching on another matter M. Corbnero recalled that the French troops regarded New Zealand mutton as too fat, and in tho Balkans his men were wont to exchange the fat rendered from our frozen mutton to tlie peasants for chickens and other food. Beef or pork better suited tho French palates. Before the war France used to export largo quantities of beef to Germany. The freezing industry was then unknown there, but during tho war the necessity of storing huge quantities of food led to the erection of a chain of largo cool stores central lv situated. These, the speaker thought, would iu future bo largely used for the storage of imported foodslults, m order to meet tho requirements of the civilian population.