OVERSEAS FARMERS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20961, 26 February 1930, Page 10

OVERSEAS FARMERS.

THE BRITISH DELEGATION. ; ARRIVAL AT AUCKLAND. ARABLE LAND GOING BACK IN ■v - ■ . ENGLAND. (Special to Daily Times.) AUCKLAND, February 25. Forty-seven of Britain’s most representative farmers, whose interests cover almost every branch of farming in the British Isles, arrived by the Remuera to- ' day to join the South African and Canadian farmers in a comprehensive tour ofthe Dominion. The party includes two practical women farmers, one 1 of whom owns a ranch of 20,000" acres in Rhodesia, and the other a dairy farm of 130 acres in Scotland. The visitors were met by the Minister of" Public Works (Mr E.i A. Ransom), who represented the Government, and bjN Mr W. J. Poison, M.P., president of tbe New Zealand Farmers’ Union, and Mr J. Pow, Dominion secretary. - , “We set out with our eyes open to see the world, and New Zealand and New Zealand agriculture in particular,” raid Mr S. R. Whitley, the distinguished English agriculturist, who leads the delegation. ‘“Although to a considerable extent New Zealand’s farmers are in. competition with our's, we cannot escape the fact that both they and we have the good . of the Empire at heart. Your farmers are our brothers and, cousins, and for mutual good we want to think of our work as Empire agriculture ratheS than British, or New Zealand agriculture. We 1 have .come here to get a broader outlook. • ; ■ “We are not very happy in'England, 1 where agriculture is concerned,” said Mr -v. > Whitley, referring to the problems confronting the British farmer at the present day. The chief source of difficulty is the high cost of production, which is , two or three times what it was before the war. The prices of commodities pro- '■ duced oh the land,, on the other band, ' have not risen in anything like the same ■ proportion. Labour conditions make it, .: --very difficult to keep arable land in eul- . tivation. There is. little doubt, I am ■ afraid, that arable/land is going back. Of course, the outlook is not so bad for ‘ the paatoralists, whose labour is; smaller in quantity ; than that required 1 by the owners of arable land.” • Asked what hope of advancement there. ; . was for British agriculture, Mr Whitley V said that outside the realm of political aid valuable work was being done in the i /direction of scientific farming and improvements in organisation., He paid a tribute to the work of the Eiqpire Mar- ; ' keting Boardj which was Very .active in effecting improvements in distribution. ; Mr, J. J. Cridlan, who is a, leading . breeder of Aberdeen-Angus cattle in Eng- ‘ land, is a prominent member of the party, Sir Richard Winfrey, another member of ■ the party, was*parliamentary secretary, to the Ministry of Agriculture from 1916 ‘ to 1918, and has been a member of the House of Commons for -20 years. The visitors were entertained on their arrival at,'a luncheon, and 1 later an op- ' portunity was given to them to inspect ' the methods of loading produce at the export wharves. The party left by train - to-night for Hamilton and a tour of the : Waikato. ■S-.I , ~ AUSTRALIAN DAIRYMEN. . STUDY- OF -DOMINION CONDITIONS. • , 1 (Special to Daily Times.) , - * AUCKLAND, February. 25. ; VWith the object of investigating fully ■.■■■■ the conditions of dairy farming in New * " Zealand, a party of 56 representatives oi the . co-operative dairying interests in ; Australia arrived at Auckland by the Maunganui to-day. .Tire leader of- the? ’ 1 party is Mr George Stening, dairy expert to the Producers’ Co-operative Distributing Society, and other noted members iri--1 elude Mr J. Rankin (chairman of : the Australian Dairy; Council) and, Mr A,.T. - . Owens- (secretary of the Australian Dairy •’ Produce Export Board). 1 Speaking on behalf of the party, Mr Stening said it was matter, for congratulation that through the co-operation of Amalgamated Dairies, Ltd., of New Zealand \ and' the Australian ' Producers’ " ' Wholesale Co-operative. Federation, Ltd., 1 the tour had been made possible. The ■dairy farmers in Australia realised that they could learn much from New Zealand, ■dnd although the present tour would be somewhat short it was hoped nevertheless v that it would'give representative Australians, an opportunity to see for themselves , the progress made by the Dominion dairy farmers and manufacturers in the dev ' development of a great primary industry. “We are very Ireen to see the practical results of top-dressing/’ Mr .Stening said. "We have been told that large .areas in New Zealand, which previously ■ were not suitable for' dairy'faming, have ‘ been transformed into first-class postures by extensive top-dressing, and we know . that much more could be done in this direction in Australia. We also desire to see ks much as possible of your system . . of herd. testing. We have heard much , 1 of the grading of dairy produce, and hope , to. see it in operation as soon as possible.” Mr Stening said that, various committees had been formed in the. party, and they would each investigate special branches of dairying. Inquiries would be made specially into such phases of the industry as farm management/ Government instruction arid supervision, research . activities, and_ manufacturing processes. At the conclusion of the tour a eompre- , hensive report would be drawn up and circulated to all those - engaged in the dairying industry-in Australia. .Suggestions would be made fob the improvement of dairy farming in the Commonwealth in the light of the experience in New Zealand, and it was thought that much good , would result; ' ■ . , The party was tendered a civic recep- ‘ tion, the Deputy Mayor (Cr A. J; Entrican) officiating ,in the absence of the . Mayor.

A visit was paid to the grading store at the Southdown freezing works, and the delegation was taken for a motor tour of the city in the afternoon, paying a visit to the Challenge Phosphate Company’sworks at Otahuhu. The visitors were’en- ■ tertained at the theatre to-night. They Will leave Auckland to-morrow on a visit to _the -Pukekohe and Waiuku districts, / J- n route for Hamilton, will inspect the Rnakura experimental farm. In company' with the party of British ; farmerß- there will follow a tour of the Waikato and Rotorua districts before the party leaves for Taranaki, Wanganui, and Wellington. Most of the party will Leave - Wellington for Sydney on March 7.