STATE EXPERIMENTAL STATIONS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2812, 5 February 1908, Page 11

STATE EXPERIMENTAL STATIONS.

SOME VALUABLE INFORMATION. (Feoji Om Own Cohkespondext.) AUCKLAND, January 29. The Hon. Mr M'Nab has made it very filear to an interviewer that the Government does not intend to compete in wineproducing- with the trade. Questioned as ijo why portions of the grape vines ac Wafiirettg-a had been rooted up, the Minister replied : " When I became Minister of Agriculture and looked into the work of the experimental stations I found that Waerenga was developing into a wine-pro-ducing station. The question then arose as io whether the Government was to become a wine-produoer or to confine itself to the experimental -work for which the station was primarily established. I considered the _ question carefully, and I decided that in connection with the experimental stations the Government was not going to run cheep farms, dairy farms, dairy factories, market ga'-dens, poultr;, farms, or wine-producing businesses, buu that the stations should bo worked, as wae intended from the outset, for experimental purposes. I found that the work et Waerenga had passed that stage, and *hat it was being run on a calculation of the receipt of a large revenue from the Tegular sale of wine. Th© work wa6 accordingly cut down to the eperimental ptage, and the proposed addition to the plant was not carried out, that already -existing being of course retained for the experimental work qf the station." The Minister further said he found that the station at Arataka, in the Hawke's Bay district, was also developing a wine-pro-ducing policy, and this was altered to a general fruit station. " The scheme of wine-producing in connection with out stations," added Mr M'Nab, "some people appear to have thought was opposed only by the temperance people, but really its jrreatest enemies are those in the ' trade,' and they were horrified at the idea of the Government entering into competition with them. We have no objection, of course, to having- the value of wine for wine purposes ascertained, but we are not going into business as wine-producers." Tho Minister stated that the fruitgrowing portion of Waerenga was likely to become an important feature of the work of this station. When the orchards were in full bearing it wae proposed to lease some of them to private growers in blocks of, say. 26 acres each. A portion of the land ■would be devoted to grapes, and the remainder would be planted with fruit trees, principally apples, pears, peaches, nectarines, and plums. The first orchards available for leasing would probably be ready in about 12 months' time. In speaking of the; removal of the embargo on the importation of Australian grapes, Mr M'Nab said that grapes were 1 the best of all fruit, Jbut' hitherto a great many people had been unable to get even a emell, let alone a taste, of them. The Government had decided to admit • the grapes at a duty of Id a pound. He did not think thai the New Zealand growers .would be unable to compete with the Australian article, as he had seen grapes grown at Hokianga cold for -3d a* pound. On the subject of State experimental farms generally. Mr M'Nab said that whilst " experiment " would always flbe the watchword of the department in regurd to the farms in future, everything produced! in connection with those experiments would be turned to the fullest account. "Hitherto," he said, "we have been too much inclined to pay heed to the cry that in selling the products of the farms we ■were competing with private enterprise, but lienceforth we intend to sell all we have to spare, and thus assist in making the farms as remunerative as possible." As an instance of what is already being done in -this direction, Mr M'Nab referred to the Government poultry farm at Milton, in Otago. From this farm, he said, tho management had been for some time supplying the Dunedin market with ec"^. "We get," he added, "from id to Id per dozen more for our eggs than the prices gained by private people. The eggs are nrodueed at our farms under the most favourable conditions, and the State brand appears to earrv with it to most people a certain guarantee cf ' freshness.' The rune," he added, "were now being extended with the object of raising the number of layiner hens for regular sale supnly to 1000." "Is there any outcry of undue competition with private enterprise? " the Minister was asked. " No. there is none *The small farmers, with whom it might be said we are competing-, show no hostility towards -what we are doing; in fact, they often come to us for advice, which is veiv useful to them. We hope by the end of another year or two to make the farm absolutely pay its own way without in any way losing sight of the fact that the mai.i object is that of experimental work." The j •Milton farm. Mr M'Nab went on to say, was rearing hens for 6ale for brood, laying, and table purposes. In addition to the production of fowls, ducks, geese, and turkeys experiments were ako being ' carried on in the rearing of pheasants and native ducks, the latter being crossed with j the domestic varieties. As showing the extent of the work at this station, th^ Minister mentioned that it took 10,000 rabbit*! a year to supply the proportion of in eat food necessary for the birds.