DAIRY INSPECTORS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 197, 19 July 1935, Page 10

DAIRY INSPECTORS.

THE BOARD'S PROPOSAL. OPPOSITION VOICED. CHRISTCHURCH, July 17. The Dairy Board’s proposal for the expenditure of £35,000 a year on farm and dairy instruction, with the appointment of nearly 100 dairy inspectors, was strongly criticised to-day by Mr A. Leslie, E.R.C.V.S., head of the veterinary department at Canterbury Agricultural College. Mr Leslie said that this plan to assist the farmer would not prove to be in the farmer’s interest and that the Government should take the opportunity of building up the strength of the Department of Agriculture by the appointment of expert veterinary officers. These men would offer their scientific knowledge for the improvement of dairy produce as well as their services as instructors and inspectors. “This idea of putting on 100 inspectors will not be in the interests of the farmer,” said Mr Leslie, “because they will not be sufficiently qualified to bo of real service. I believe that by the reorganisation of the Dairy Division and the Live Stock Division of the Department of Agriculture we could build up an organisation of far greater economic and practical importance not only to the dairy farmer but to the farmer generally. I believe that the time is now due in New Zealand to do away with stock inspectors. At the moment there are between 70 and 80 of these, and 1 think that we should place veterinary men in their positions.”

If the veterinary officers replaced the State inspectors, acting as parttime instructors, the farmers would have men fully qualified in farm management as well as scientists capable of detecting live stock diseases. At the present time this service was lacking in New Zealand, and according to the deputy-chairman of the Executive Commission of Agriculture, Sir Francis Frazer, the number of veterinary men should be increased tenfold in New Zealand. There were about 800 dentists and about 1400 medical men, and yet there were only 50 veterinary men. This was the’ more remarkable because New Zealand relied to a great extent on the quality of her live stock. There were, however, 70 or so stock inspectors.