LOVE OF THE LAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13767, 4 June 1908, Page 6

LOVE OF THE LAND.

■ . ..A STRIKING ADDRESS. MARKETS FOR FROZEN PRODUCE. A feature of the Farmers' Union dinner at Fcilding, last week, . was a speech by .the. Chief Veterinarian, Mr. J. A. Gil- ■ Ttith:"■■''■ ; In' addition to tendering some valuable advice to farmers, he delivered a very outspoken address on the needs of "the" agriculturist and the duties of the, 'State' . in. relation:. thereto. , Mi'- Gilrutli "commenced by referring to the exports of frozen product from "this country, and he emphasised the point that Great Britain was at prevent, by virtue of its fiscal policy -the -only little*, spot ■on the earth .where it could send .such 'produce. He also pointed out that while about six million carcases of mutton were now annually im---is.':alsd/'"i';>,to - the Homeland, . the consumption" of Home-grown produce there had not' I diminished. Lately, he . had secured -papers giving the text of an address delivered '.' by the , head- of the French Academy of Medicine, who had followed the line of argument that the admission of frozen produce would in .no way prejudicially affect. the local.markets: People had tot get .their requirements supplied, and he favoured the admission of frozen meats so long as the produce was of good quality and' would nourish the people who consumed it, and the article itself was healthy. This country could guarantee these re* quirements, he saw to it himself. (Laughter.) It was clear, therefore, that the French ,people were contemplating moving in a direction which would help New Zealand. f :

It might be said that in view of the market tor frozen moat in Great Britain, it did not affect New Zealand, but he was of opinion it was a good thing for a country to have two strings to its bow. If the Argentine got in Mrst, that was New Zealand's affair, and some people thought New Zealand was exporting alt the frozen produce ' she ; could. He did not think so ; they, were exporting just'as much as they eared to. When they remembered that Great Britain was only the size of New Zealand and eupplied the requirements of 65 per cent, of her millions of people, it would be seen that the question of increasing' our exports was only one of intense cultivation of subdivisions, and of increased production. That brought him to the question of education. New Zealand talked a great deal of what* it had done. A great deal of what had been accomplished • had been done because it could not help doing it. Now a new • phase had come about. Most of what had been done was. duo to the-energy of the president of the union, Mr. J ( '}. Wilson.' He had urged the necessity for more knowledge ■ and the application of more knowledge. Until that had been done the capabilities of the land could not. be fully realised. He ventured to say that no experimenting had been done in New Zealand; what had been done was demonstration, and he believed this part of the world -was .better suited to demonstration than investigation. Older parts of the world, having more money, were better able to cany on investigation.

•The colonies were primarily utilitarian, and not aesthetic. Dealing with education, ho £aid it had been a mattei of regret to him that many of the children of New Zealand knew a lot about Timbuctoo, but precious little of things around them. Tilt? original people of this country had a name for everything they knew . the flora of the country, and possessed knowledge which botanists had to discover. Be did not think it was a credit to our , educational system that tho Maoris knew more than the white man. This might .seem. a. small thing, but it was. not. (Applause.) Unless a love of the land was inculcated in the youth of the country, they would not stay in it. In cases young people had been made to loathe the land. - Concluding, Mr. Gil ruth said; It has really been saddening to me to receive applications from young men asking tc get into " a Government billet, at £5 per week,, applications from men who epuld go en the land and bo men. Docs that' reflect credit on a country liko this? What is the reason? There must be something wrong; something earnest should really be done to make the people love the land. (Applauds.)

THE MINISTER'S VIEW. hi the course of an address at Ohingaiti, the Hon. R. MoNab deplored the fact that there was a growing tendency in New Zealand to-day for the young men of the cities : ' to stay in the cities wihilo the young men. r :of 'the. country also flocked to the cities. It was the Agricultural Department's endeavour so to school the young in pastoral pursuits that they would go on the land, arid be believed that it would be found ne- . cessary to establish institutions that would take a lad when he left school to a university, where ho _ could learn to carry out • agricultural duties, and so qualify him for i-i'' the work, just 33 it was necessary to qualify ■ ' for the position of a doctor, a lawyer,, or c ■-■"■an"";engineer. That, time; would not,''.be v«ry .loßg coniing- - '.; ; " .