STUDY OF PASTURES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19959, 30 May 1928, Page 12

STUDY OF PASTURES.

♦ CURE OF DEFICIENCIES. VISIT OF BRITISH EXPERT. ADVICE TO RESEARCH BOARD. [BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT. J WELLINGTON. Tuesday. Dr. J. B. Orr, of the Rowett Institute, Aberdeen, arrivod in Wellington from Melbourne to-day. He has come to New Zealand under an arrangement with the Government to confer with those members of the Scientific Research Board who are engaged 011 work in connection with the health of pastures. In this connection, Dr: Orr says New Zealand has dou's excellently. The Rowett Institute is devoted to the study of animal nutrition and all that applies to it, in other words, the study of pastures and all that affects them. The object is to make the most of the glorious heritage of pastoral lands that are contained within the Empire. Dr. Orr, who has been in Australia for the last two months, can only spare a week for New Zealand. He was met yesterday by Mr. B. C. Aston, chief chemist of the Department of Agriculture, Professor J. B. Easterfield, director of the Cawthron Institute, Nelson, and Dr. C. J. Reakes, Director-General of the Agricultural Department, who will make the most of Dr. Orr's brief visit to the Dominion. Empire Marketing Board Interested. Dr. Orr stated that the Empire Marketing Board, which was doing fine work, was immediately interested in the work of ascertaining the reason for, and the cure of, deficiencies in some of the pastures of the Dominions overseas. Apart from being almost directly concerned with the work of the Rowett Institute, that board made grants to various parts of the Empire to foster scientific research, and just as New Zealand had made discoveries which had benefited other parts of the Empire, so he hoped the work done in the Rowett Institute would help to solve some of the problems met with in this country. The idea behind all this was the pooling of all scientific information for the solution of the pastoral problems of the Empire. This was an immensely important function, as England was the greatest pastoral nation of the world. It held within its bounds two-fifths of the pastoral lands of the world. Australia and New Zealand together produced approximately one-half of the wool of the world. While the Empire had this great advantage on the production side, there was the advantage on the other side that in Britain the Empire had the greatest market in the world. In proof of that Dr. Orr said that Britain consumed 60 per cent, of the dairy product exports of the entire world, so it could be seen at once why the Empire Marketing Board was so vitally interested in the pastures of the Empire, for it was upon those pastures that the British market so largely depended. Value of Home Market. At the present time Britain was spending £400,000,000 annually upon animal products, about half of which came to her from foreign countries. The aim of the board was to help the Dominions overseas to get a larger share than they were getting at present, and the best way to do it was to look after the pastures, which were the raw material for the products wanted by the Home market. To that end an effort was being made to correlate all scientific knowledge that was likely to be of use in curing the deficiencies in pastures. As a result of the Imperial Research Conference held in London in October last year, it was decided to establish an Imperial Bureau of Animal Nutrition, that would serve as a clearing house for the rapid exchange of all scientific knowledge bearing on pastures.