Minister Speaks of Farm Instruction

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 149, 25 June 1937, Page 9

Minister Speaks of Farm Instruction

CABINET ALIVE TO SUBJECT HAMILTON, June 23. "I noticed in the annual report of vour association that emphasis is laid on the importance of a system of universal dairy farm instruction. The subject will shortly be placed before Cabinet, and I can assure you that the Government will give careful considera- | tion to the wishes of the industry." . This statement was made by Hon. W. Lee Martin, Minister of Agricult e, in j his address at the opening of tho National Dairy Association’s conference. “Farm dairy instruction on the basis , of the appointment of men with official status to carry out the work for individual or collective groups of dairy companies was started at Kaupokonui in 1912," the Minister recalled. “The number of men engaged in the work has varied from time to time, but at present there aro 39 instructors of this type, and two further appointments have been approved. Of tlie 363 dairy companies in the Dominion, S 3 have tho services of an instructor. Instructors are at the service of practically all the more important dairy companies. Tho total number of suppliers to dairy factories in New Zealand is 70,258, and of these 36,254 enjoy tho benefits of an instructor. Let me put it another way. Tho amount of butter made for the year ended July 31, 1936, was 146,G87 tons, and of this quality 103,150 tons, or 70 per cent., was made by creameries, having instructors, leaving 43,507 tons without this service. However, the cheese manufacturers * , re not so fortunate. There were 85,555 tons of cheese made in the same period, and of this volume 34,356 tons, or 40 per cent., were made under instruction, leaving a balance of 51,199 tons without that supervision. “In 1913, before tho present system of farm instruction was established, an inspection of COO milking plants showed that 23 per cent, were in good condition, 27 per cent, fair, and 50 per cent, were bad. In 1935, of the machines inspected 50 per cent. were good, 41 per'cent, fair, and 9 per cent, bad. Experience shows that in districts where the work has been undertaken for the first time tho conditions are similar to those found by tho pioneer instructors in 1913. “Those figures provide concrete evidence of the service which is being rendered by the instructors, who arc tackling the problem at the root. Unless the raw material for the manufacture of butter and cheese is of a high quality, tho efforts in tho factories themselves will be largely frustrated. Allocating the Cost. “Tho conditions under which these officers have been appointed in the past have been that the Government pays half their salaries and the dairy companies the other half, plus the cost of transport. The minimum number of suppliers required to qualify for the full subsidy is 500. It has been estimated that an additional 38 men would be required to cover those districts which are not fully served, and a total cost to the Dominion would be .0266 d per lb. of butterfat. •‘ln allocating the cost as between dairy companies, the practice follow ed in the past has been to base it ou butterfat in some cases and on the number of suppliers in others, as it has been recognised that circumstances vary. In some districts the number of suppliers per ton of butter or cheese is very much greater than in others, and tho allocation is not always equitable when based on either fat or suppliers alone. It has been suggested that if the contribution from the dairy companies wedo based equally on the weight of butterfat and the number of suppliers to the company this inequality would be reduced, and some consideration will be given to this point in tlio event of the Dominion scheme being established. ‘‘A feature of ‘ recent appointments has been the number made at the request of dairy companies which had dropped out and had later asked for the re-appointment of officers, while correspondence has been recently received from others who have tho part time service of an officer and who aro asking for his whole-time service," the Minister concluded. “It must be kept in mind that the farm dairy instruction service is primarily one of instruction, although it is necessary in exceptional cases to make it one of inspection. The number of cases in which this attitude must be taken is fortunately few. Combined with the milk and cream grading system, it has been responsible for a definite improvement iu the standard of the raw material being delivered to our dairy factories.’*