HORTICULTURAL TRADERS’ CONFERENCE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20612, 10 January 1929, Page 7

HORTICULTURAL TRADERS’ CONFERENCE.

SEVERAL REMITS CARRIED. (Per United Press Association.. CHRISTCHURCH, January 9. Fifty nurserymen from all parts of. New Zealand gathered at the twentysecond conference of the New Zealand Horticultural Traders’ Association. ' The president (Mr T. Waugh, of Wellington) presided. The visitors were welcomed to the city by the Deputy Mayor (Mr D. G. Sullivan). The conference was opened for business by the Minister of Agriculture (Mr Q W. Forbes), who assured the gathering that the association would have a sympathetic hearing from the Government. The following were elected a Landscape Gardens Committee:—Messrs ,C. D. Taylor, J. W. M'Leod. A. W. Buxton, and E. Taylor. The financial statement showed a credit balance of £l3l. Outstanding subscrip tions, which amounted to £274 6s lOd, were estimated to produce £l5O. Officers for the coming year were elected as follows:—President, Mr V. O. Davies (New Plymouth): vice-presidents Messrs W. Edgington (Christchurch) and W. V. Kingsbeer (Palmerston North). A remit from Christchurch urging that a protest be entered to the Government against a duty on standard and novelty roses, and asking for the speedy removal of it, was lost It was decided to urge the Government to develop a botanic gardens scheme, as outlined by the Department of Horticulture.

The following remits from Auckland were passed:— r “ That a committee be set up to deal in co-operation with the New Zealand Institute of Horticulture in all matters relative to nomenclature of nursery stock, and that, to. assist this committee, committees be sot UP' wherever practicable by district councils to co-operate in the work.”

‘'•That the conference heartily approves of the work of the Institute of Horticulture’s Citrus Committee in its efforts to improve the types of oranges and lemons by the introduction of the best selected types of pedigree trees available.” The next meeting will be held in Wellington. LACK OF TRAINED MEN. (Special to Daily Times.) CHRISTCHURCH. January 9. The nursery business offers a good opening for well-trained young men, according to opinions expressed at to-clay’s conference of the Horticultural Traders’ Association. It was elicited that very few young men were learning the craft as apprentices to nurserymen, while about 70 were taking the diploma of the horticulture course. Leading nurserymen complained that they had constantly tried to get men properly qualified for the work, but unsuccessfully, though they were prepared to pay good wages. They made_ it plain that the man must know his job or he would be of no use. One speaker argued that brawn and muscle were the main adjuncts of the nursei'yman, but his comrades took him seriously to task, saying, that brain was triumphant over brawn in the craft, and that a judicious mixture of both was the best. Other speakers contrasted the lot of the nurseryman to-day with that of 20 years ago, and maintained that it held a bright future if men trained in the craft could be found to enter it.