INTERESTED IN FARMING

Opunake Times, 19 August 1947, Page 4

INTERESTED IN FARMING

SIR BERNARD FREYBERG VITAL PRODUCTION His intention to achieve greater understanding of the problems of farming in New Zealand was stated by the GovernorGeneral, Sir Bernard Freyberg, in an address to the annual conference in ‘Wellington of the Royal Agricultural Society. “I am a soldier, not a farmer, but I know enough about farming to realise my ignorance,” he said. “I have now been back for a year, and most of my time has been taken up with getting in touch with large centres and the people of the Dominion. In the next year I hope to make closer contact with the farming -community, visit your big shows and meet farmers at work on their land.” The farmers of New Zealand had played a vital part in winning the war by increasing production, despite the shortage of fertiliser and labour. „ Credit for this should, of course, be shared by .the wives and daughters of the farmers. The Dominion’s greatest contribution to the hard-pressed population of the Home Country, he added, was to maintain and even increase production. He did not wish to express his opinions on farming, not because he did not hold any, but because he felt that he wanted more experience of the subject before he spoke on it, said His Excellency. However, he could see that the work of farmers was_ two-fold—-they had to utilise soil resources and preserve the soil at the same time. He thanked the farmers for what they were doing for ex-ser-vicemen who desired to settle on the land. Sometimes he heard people asking how much this soldier settlement was costing and saying that the country could not afford to do otherwise, and tli at argument was that settling good ex-servicemen on good land was the safest investment for the nation and the individual. “This rehabilitation work is most important,” he added. “I and all my wartime comrades urge the Royal Agricultural Society to take all the interest it can in the great work the farmers of New Zealand are doing in the realm of rehabilitation.”