BRIEF VISIT

New Zealand Herald, Volume 80, Issue 24759, 6 December 1943, Page 4

BRIEF VISIT

PRESS DELEGATION

CANADIAN JOURNALISTS "We have come at the invitation of your Government to see your country and your \v*ar effort and intend to tell the Canadian people all we can learn during our visit," said Mr. A. 11. Ford, leader of the Canadian press delegation, which arrived in New Zealand on Saturday by Tasman Empire Airways flying-boat from Sydney. "Unfortunately, our stay will be short —only a week." * The delegation has just completed a tour of Australia, including visits to Broome and Darwin. Its other members are Messrs. B. T. Richardson and Lorenzo Pare. Editor of the London (Ontario) Free Press, Mr. Ford is also president of the Canadian Press, a cooperative news agency which serves a large number of the newspapers of Canada. Mr. Richardson is Parliamentary correspondent in Ottawa of the Winnipeg Free Press and Mr. Pare is Parliamentary correspondent in Ottawa of L'Aetion Cathohque, a daily paper in Quebec and one of the leading French language publications in the Dominion. A Trip to Rotorua On their arrival, the members of the delegation were met by Mr. A. G. Osborne, M.P., Parliamentary UnderSecretary to the Prime Minister, the lit. Hon. P. Eraser, the acting-Trade Commissioner for Canada in New Zealand, Mr. C. B. Birkett, and Mr. H. I. Eorde. of the Prime Minister's Department. Mr. Osborne extended a hearty welcome to the visitors. They will be accompanied by Mr. Eorde during their tour, which began yesterday with a visit to Rotorua, an inspection of the Tirau dairv factory being made en route. Travelling from Frankton by the limited express last night, they were to be met in Wellington by the deputy-Prime Minister, the Hon. W. Nash, and the High Commissioner for Canada, Dr. W. A. Riddell. Air Travel In South Leaving Wellington to-morrow, the visitors will fly to Dunedin and on Wednesday will travel by air to Christchurch. The delegation will return to Auckland on Thursday, making a brief stop at Wellington. It is probable that a talk to be broadcast will be recorded before they leave the Domin ion. On Saturday afternoon, the visiting pressmen were taken for a motor drive through the Domain and to the top of Mount-Eden. The Ellerslie racecourse, Orakei State suburb, the Savage Memorial and Achilles Point were also visited. The beautiful views evoked the admiration of the visitors, Mr. Ford commenting: "It is surely not fair to the rest of New Zealand to begin a tour here." After a press conference, the three Canadians were accorded an informal reception by the Mayor, Mr. J. A. C. Allum, at the Station Hotel. They were entertained later in the evening at a happy gathering of journalists, on whose behalf Mr. L. K. Munro wished them a pleasant tour. FARMING IN BRITAIN WARTIME ACHIEVEMENTS USE OF MECHANISATION The achievements of British agriculture since the war made it necessary for her to produce a much larger proportion of food for her people and feeding stuff for her livestock were outlined in a broadcast address last night by Mr. Samuel Storey, M.P., Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health, who is a member of the British newspaper proprietors' group which recently visited New Zealand. Mr Storey said that in the years before the war British agriculture was in a bad way, with much land out of cultivation. Her industry and population had been built upon cheap and abundant food which was mainly imported. Mechanisation had played a great part in achieving Britain's success in agriculture, Mr. Storey said. Whereas before the war the country had 50.000 tractors at work, she now had 120,000. The use of: combined harvester threshers and other labour-saving implements was also making rapid growth, j with the result that, though much ! skilled labour was withdrawn from the farms and had been mainly replaced bv women, the output per head had been j increased by 60 per cent. Before the war Britain had 12,000.000 acres under the plough and she now had 19.000.000. Her wheat acreage, which was 1.600.000 before the war, was now 2.750.000, while the average yield was 40 bushels instead of 33 as previously. Land under oats had increased from 2.500,000 acres to 4.000.000 acres and potatoes from 750.000 acres to 1.250,000. Britain now grew the whole of her domestic sugar ration, and her milk production had also been increased although the number of cows had fallen. Altogether, Britain now produced 70 per cent of her own foodstuffs, as against 40 per cent before the war. This result had been obtained in spite of the huge area of good agricultural land taken over for airfields and of considerable interference with farming in many areas caused by army training. Mr. Storey reaffirmed his previous statement that he did not think that in the immediate post-war period farmers in -New Zealand had any cause to worry about whether increased agricultural production in Great Britain would affect the Dominion's markets t here. DAIRY CARTAGE (0.C.) HAMILTON, Sunday A resolution proposed by Mr. W. Harhutt. Cambridge, was passed by the South Auckland Dairy Association urging that, in view of the fact that passenger transport services were now being restored in various parts of the North Island, the Government consider the restoration of milk and cream cartage services which were restricted by the Transport Emergency Regulations. Mr. Harhutt pointed out that these restrictions, while necessary during a period of emergency, were causing a hardship to dairy companies and their suppliers, and should be removed as soon as practicable.