FARMERS’ TOURS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20962, 27 February 1930, Page 10

FARMERS’ TOURS.

It is a tribute to the importance of New Zealand as a farming centre that delegations representing practically every branch of land work in the Empire should choose to pay a visit to our shores in order to study conditions relating to their industry. Forty-seven British fanners, including several of outstanding prominence in the branch of farming in which they are interested, are at present in the Dominion, and in this country will join representative farmers from Canada and South Africa in a comprehensive tour of the country, and 56 representatives of the cooperative dairying interests in Australia have arrived in Auckland with the object of investigating New Zealand methods of dairy farming. The spokesmen for these parties have made it plain that they come not as critics of New Zealand farming practice but in order that they may study what is being done by the farming community here and derive such benefit as they may from their visit by applying . the lessons they learn to ■ the agricultural pursuits in which they are engaged elsewhere in the Empire. It may be assumed that the visitors hope to obtain much useful information. as a' result of their journey through New Zealand, but it follows naturally that the farmers in the Dominion will also derive benefit from their contact with the agriculturalists and breeders from abroad. Cultivation of the soil, and the other branches of farming, may be said to be the -oldest occupation in the world, and it is generally recognised that farming methods do. not change readily—that even in an age in which the discoveries of modern science are being applied to primary production there are many difficulties which can best be solved by the concentration of practical farmers upon them. • The mutual benefits that can be obtained from friendly gatherings of farmers from different countries can scarcely be over-estimated, but there is a, value in fanners’ tours quite apart' from their strictly practical value. The units which comprise the British .Commonwealth are widely scattered, and although many problems, especially those pertaining to every phase of primary production and the distribution of produce, are common to all parts of the Empire, misunderstandings are liable to arise owing to the comparative isolation of the several d r ' "is. Visits such as that which is being made by British farmers to New Zealand may go far towards removing misapprehensions which may exist between members of the farming communities throughout the Empire, and a similar exchange of visits between industrialists, merchants, and traders would probably have equalk good results in the increased knowledge that would be acquired of the conditions that , have to be faced by friends and competitors in other d' - —’ By the discussion of problcr” *- the friendly, unofficial atmosphere pervading an assemblage of men and women gathered for social as well as business intercourse many long-standi" - "rievances may be removed, and for this reason the principle of inter-Empire conferences of reprer— ’ - men and women deserves encouragement. Even if difficulties remain, however, the value to Empire unity of such visits as that now being paid to New Zealand by the British farmers is considerable, enabling the visitors to realise at first hand the conditions under which their compatriots in another country labour. The tour of the farmers’ delegations should serve a 'useful purpose in bringing the men on the land closer together and making them more appreciative of the advantages of Empire unity.' The delegates may be assured of a warm welcome from brother farmers, and also from the townspeople in every part of New Zealand, and the hope may be expressed that their visit will be not only enjoyable but also productive of the practical benefits for which they are seeking.