AGRICULTURAL INSTRUCTION.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 10240, 1 September 1909, Page 4

AGRICULTURAL INSTRUCTION.

AN OFFER BY MR AY. C BUCHANAN.

STATEMENT BY THE HON. T. MACKENKIE.

(Feb Press Association.] Wellington, August 31. Some interesting remarks on the subject of agricultural development were made at a deputation which waited on the Hon. T. M'Kenzie, Minister of Agriculture, this afternoon. The deputation represented the local bodies and Agricultural and Pastoral Association of South AVairarapa, and was concerned about an offer by Mr AY. C. Buchanan, member for the district, co give a large sum of money towards the establishment in AA'airarapa of an experimental faun. Mr D. P. Loasby, Mayor of Greymouth, apologised for the absence of Mr Buchanan, who considered that as the. person making the offer lie should not be present on such an occasion. Mr Hogg, M.P., was also unavoidably absent. The main question the deputation liad to bring forward was, said Mr Loasby, a most liberal offer, made by Mr Buchanan to the Government of a sum- of £SOOO to buy land - and £IOOO for stocking an experimental station in AA'airarapa on one condition, that a farm should be established in Mr Buchanan's electorate, south of the AA r anganui River. "AA 7 e look upon this," said Mr Loasby, "as a most generous offer, and one which, if possible, should be acted upon, for this reason: we feel that it is to the moneyed people of New Zealand we must look for help over our difficulties, and if they are encouraged to give us of their wealth for the benefit of the district ii\ which they live and the Dominion . generally, it is a step in the right direction." They understood, lie added, that this was the first offer of the kind which had been made to the Government, and' they hoped the Government would be able to see its way to accept it and establish a farm in the AA'airarapa. Mr H. R. Bunny pointed out that this was an offer of £6OOO to establish an experimental farm. The land purchased need not be very expensive. It would need to be second class land so as to show those who took up that class of land the best way to work it. Ho believed that the purchase might be so made. that half the area could be set aside for experimental purposes and the other half utilised so as to provide against the loss on the experimental portion. Money would be well spent by the Government in showing the small farmer h6w to work his land to the best advantage. He felt sure that if the offer made by Mr Buchanan was accepted, a great deal of benefit would accrue to the small farmer.

"I recognise," said the Minister in reply, "that the offer made by Mr -Buchanan is a most generous one. It has been said that the matter is one of pounds, shillings, and pence. That is the case. 1 -' It was, he remarked, pointed out that they would require an area of about 400 acres,- which, it was estimated, would cost about £ls an acre. Buildings and stocking would "bring the total cost up to about £12,500. The cost of up-keep, deducting credits, would be about £2225 a year. At the prese'nt time the Government had no money to spare. The offer was a splendid one, but it only covered half the initial "cost. The object was to help the small/farmers, who, he agreed, were largely/ the backlxme of the country.; At any rate they assisted materially' what was being-done in.connection with; the mutton industry,' and cnablfcd the country to carry a large population;, but the establishment of a dairying experimental farm in the looked like what the Government had al-. ready established not far away;- They; had at. Weraroa:- an establishment tha't was now doing good work, and ; the, 00-, vernment was, adding considerable stb.c'k ' at its. own cost, and was ■ also increasing its stud . stock. Within - the last

few weeks the Department .had purchased ten Holsteiu cows and ten heifers and eight Jersey cows, all of high reputation, and it was also about 'to. purchase a number of bulls of reliable milking strains. The Department had also a herd ,at B.uakura, and it seemed to him. that tliey had reached the time when .they should go in for specialisation. If they established another farm of the same description in the Wairarapa it would mean, .perhaps, 110 widening of experience, and a large expenditure in addition to Mr Buchanan's generous offer! They coukl not help feeling that in making such a generpus offer Mr Buchanan had the right to stipulate his terms, but one could not help feeling that it would have been of much wider usefulness if he had given the Government the money, or even half of it, for specialising purposes. They had erected splendid appliances at Weraroa for carrying on dairying work, and to establish another similar institution would look like neglecting their opportunities. Of course, if the- offer could be accepted without a great sacrifice of money, he should be glad to recommend that it should be accepted, but he knew that the responsible officers of the- Depart- 1 ment did not favor that view. It was regrettable that the Department had not sufficient money to buy stock. He (the Minister) was doing all he could with the money at his disposal, and adding to the herd at Weraroa, but it took a long time to furnish bulls that the dairy farmers required. It would bs a great help if they could get money for that uprpose. They were told that in the dairying herds of the Dominion one-quarter of thp cows did not pay for their feed. Only about half the cows showed a profit. If the Government had more money to carry out a system of testing and to give small farmers the use "of reliable bulls from milking strains, it would b<s greatly to their benefit. "Even if we, .only had £1000," said the Minister, "I am sure we would do wider good than by establishing a State farm in the Wairarapa, whatever might bo done later oil." Another tiling that he thought might be the subject, of experiment was the growing and testing of grasses and cereals. Good work had been done in this respect in Canada and America, and excellent results had been obtained. Then there was the question of growing seeds for their own people. That had been almost absolutely neglected. He had had tests made of seeds procured by the Department from merchants in New Zealand, and compared the prices charged. There was one sample germinated 93 per cent, and another 92 per cent., but the price charged for the former was over 100 per cent, greater than that charged for the latter. It would be a good thing if Mr Buchanan would entertain the idea of establishing a farm for the purposes of seed culture and testing. "It is a coming problem," Mr Mackenzie added. "They have done so much in older countries

and we are so far behind." Another idea of his was in connection with agricultural instruction. "We have no money/' he remarked, "to send competent teachers abroad to Jind out what other countries have discovered, and wo are fumbling away here probably twenty-five years behind tlicm. If we had money to send some of these good mpn to these up-to-date institutions in other countries to study there for two or three years, and then come back - with that accumulated knowledge .and instruct others, I am sure an enormous amount of good would be done. Time is so valuable in these matters. We . have not time to wait to foozle along for years and years and find out what has been found out in other countries or how to breed the best stock." There was also the question of providing accommodation at some of the State farms for instructing the young men of the Dominion in farming. It was the great industryo f the country, and yet, as everyone knew, there was no place that a young man could go to work with any certainty of being instructed in farming.

"What about the Lincoln College?" asked a member of the deputation. "The young men get a lot of theory there, and no doubt they do their best," said Mr Mackenzie. "I want to see far more practical work done. I want to see a farm of thousands of acres under a practical man, and the young men turned out practical farmers, besides getting the lectures as at present.". The scientific instruction at Lincoln College at present overrode the practical, he continued. He was endeavoring to have established some institution to which young fellows (many of whom arc now looking for Government. billets) could bo sent to be trained as practical farmers. At present the Government had not money enough to establish such an institution. He thoroughly appreciated Mr Buchanan's offer and he would place the matter before his colleagues