AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15055, 26 July 1912, Page 11

AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT.

LOCKING UP REPORTS.

TBS Agricultural Department of New Zealand has for many years assisted in' a- very practical manner the great farming industries cf the Dominion. Its influence, on dairying, fruit-growing, and other branches has been exceptionally beneficial, and it has helped the individual settler in innumerable ways. * Its officers, almost universally speaking, have been ardent in the performance of their ditties, and have in many v-asea gone out of their official routine to help the public. But the great usefulness of the Department has been to a large extent curtailed, its benefits have been frequently wasted, and the whole purpose of its organisation lias been warped and distorted by the political Bumbleism ot those who have been responsible for its control. ~ 'mo Agricultural Department costs the State somewhere about _14U,000 . annually, the bulk of which goes in salaries to skilled officials. These allied oilicials include dairying instructors, veterinary surgeons, hortifiummats, chemists, biologists, paiaoJogists. .No one has suggested that these omcials are too highly paid, no one inters thattueir number is too great} a# a matte* fact, the real expert* in the employ xoi the Department aro among the mostiuselul men in the State, anu the wof|e;tbey do is oi incalculable value. What weiiskve to complain of is this—that the work' of these Government experts is largely wasted through tho blindness of those in political charge of the Department's affairs. It can be readily seen that if the knowledge gathered by our various agricultural experts were made available to tne farming public it would act as a groat; educational influence, and the farming public would largely benefit. The press oi New Zealand has always recognised this, and has always been ready to publish such information as these highly-qualified gentle-men-con give; but recent Ministers of Agriculture, in their lack of wisdom, havo seen fit to close the months of its experts, and to make their reports a narrow political monopoly. Wo give a copy of the instructions issued -to the officers of the Department of Agriculture by the Minister on October 18, lyt)9, and these instructions ' are still in force:—".To the staff: Information not, to be given to the press without authority. With reference to No. 20 of the Civil Service Regulations, I am directed by the Hon. Minister for Agriculture, Industries, and Commerce and Tourist and Health Resorts to inform the staff that as frequent breaches of this rule have been committed, in defiance of the regulations and Cabinet instructions, any further breach will be visited with dismissal.— S. Porn, Acting-Secretary." _ Hero is ti copy of Xo. 20 of tho Civil Service regulations: — "No officer shall mako any communication, directly or indirectly, to tho press, upon any matter affecting tho Department in winch he servos, or tho business of the officers thereof, or relating to the public service, or his own official position or acts, or upon any political subject or question connected with New Zealand, without tho express permission or authority of a responsible -Minister." No doubt there are some matters connected even with the working of the Agriurn! Department which it would not bo advisable to wake public, though, considering tho purely practical or scientific character of the officials' work, it would seem that they might with advantage talk freely to all _ concerned, and make tho result of their investigations as widely public as possible. Unfortunately, that spirit of officialdom which seems inseparable from those clad with political power has carried these regulations to an extravagant length. Instead of being used merely to prevent the publication of office details, or matters cf business which might injure tho Department, they have been used, to close tho mouths of every export in the Dominion , on mat tors where the Dublic havo every right to information, and on matters which tho experts were specially appointed by the State to make public. Tho past Minister? for Agriculture havo evidently taken up the attitude that the whole organisation of the Agricultural Department was to bo used exclusively for their benefit, that the skill and knowledge of its experts was their own particular monopoly. What wo wish to make plain is tho simple fact that the Agricultural Department was not created as a prerogative of somo favoured politician. It was created for tho benefit of the nation at, larg<.<_ and for the farmers in particular. Any information, obtained by any officer of tho Agricultural Department, likely to bo of use to the public, should not, 'be kept as » State secret by the Minister in power, or to be published at his discretion in sorno belated issue of the Agricultural Journal or still ' more belated Agricultural Report. It should be made available to every newspaper in the Dominion, and through them should and would receive tho widest circulation.

Tho Agricultural Department, in the past has been •> fine organisation for obtaining' very valuable information, and the Ministers in power have done their best to keep this information locked up as long as possible. In r];o future we desire to see every useful report. 1-v <••■.•■,•;,- official of tho Department mack- uvai!aM'..'"lo the press of the. country as scon as copies of it can bo circulated. If thi.i were done tho usefulness of the Agricultural Department would be very widely extended and the value of the exports much more generally recognised.