DOMINION'S PROGRESS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18180, 28 August 1922, Page 9

DOMINION'S PROGRESS.

EXPANSION OF INDUSTRY. INTERESTING COMPARISONS MAJOR BELCHER'S IMPRESSIONS. Since the arrival of the British Empire Exhibition Mission in the Dominion two months ago Major E. A. Belcher and his colleagues have travelled between 3000 and. 4000 miles throughout New Zealand. They have thus had a special opportunity of seeing something of its primary production, its secondary industries, and its undeveloped resources. \ Major Belcher's impressions of his tour are of special interest. His previous knowledge of the Dominion has enabled him to note the measure of development in some directions, and to 1 make some shrewd comparisons with what he has observed in other parts of the Empire. So far as primary production was concerned, Major Belcher stated on Saturday that it was obvious that during the past decade New Zealand had advanced both in the quality and quantity of its staple products of meat and dairy produce. It seemed to him that attention should now be concentrated on the conditions of marketing at the other side of the world, Despite the rise, for example, both in the quantity and price of butter the plain fact remained that the whole of the New Zea- I land exports would not suffice to feed the population for six months, and there were i therefore something over 40,000,000 peo- j pie in Great Britain alone who either did not nso or did not know of New Zealand butter. In this respect Great Britain might be regarded still as a virgin market, j Nor did this necessarily mean" that the I quantity of dairy cattle in New Zealand most be increased materially. It was probably easy for a casual visitor to criticise any industry, and ho hoped, therefore, that he would cause no offence by saying that while Now Zealand, of course, could furnish both dairy farmers and dairy herds which could stand comparison with any other part of the world, there was room for great improvement in the lovelling-up /of the dairy cattle, par-' ticularly of tho small farmer. Need for Testing of Herds. Major Belcher said he had been struck in Now Zealand, as in Australia and South Africa, with the elaborate arrangements for herd-testing and milk-recording, and the very general neglect of making use of those arrangements on the part of the smaller farmer. The average production per dairy cow in New Zealand was certainly less than 1851b., and there was no reason in the world why it should not be* 2801b. Probably in the history of the dairy industry there was never such an opportunity for improving the breed of cattle at a low capital cost as presented itself to-day, but if the cost appeared to the individual prohibitive he suggested the extension of bull societies on the part of co-operative concerns. It had been* proposed in other Dominions that there should be a. definite and intensive campaign against the " scrub" While he had every sympathy with the proposal, there weremany practical difficulties, in the way, and hs very much doubted whether the general breed of dairy cattle could be improved j without legislation. On the other hand, j if legislation were introduced compelling ! every farmer to dispose of for destruction every bull calf not of pedigree strain the matter would right itself in five years. Meanwhile the Empire Exhibition offered an unrivalled opportunity both for the meat and dairy producer to come into their own. He hoped that au an adjunct to .the New Zealand pavilion there would be a New Zealand restaurant, run at cost price for the sole purpose of advertising New Zealand products. Growth of Secondary Industries,, The most remarkable development in New Zealand during the past ten years was in the rise of her secondary industries, continued Major Belcher. New Zealand had at leaat four woollen mills which could compare with anything in the Old World, and ho had little doubt that the output, of these mills ana ot other ones might be multiplied, four or five times without any difficulty in finding markets. That was more or less common knowledge, bat it was_ not equally common knowledge that New Zealand possessed a really remarkable tannery in the South Island and some really remarkable fertiliser works in the North Island- j Quite apart from the value of their out- j put these two factories in design and management were I better than he had seen m any other part of the Empire. j In relation to its undeveloped resources the greatest need of New Zealand was a • large influx of capital and skilled labour of the foreman class. One of tho principal purposes of the exhibition was to attract British capital to the Dominion, j and it was therefore of extraordinary im- " : portance th.it the secondary industries of the Dominion, whether in an experimental or developed stage, should be adequately represented in order that financial groups in Great Britain might have their attention drawn to the investment attractions of New Zealand.