THE POULTRY INDUSTRY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2883, 23 June 1909, Page 35

TH E POULTRY IN DUSTRY .

MR . HYDE'S RETIREMENT. (Fkou Ouh. Own Corkespootmcnt.)

j CHRISTCHURCff, Jnne J1.6. Speaking at the Ashburton winter show, -Mr D. , Hyde, the Government poultry exper-t, announced his impending "'retirement from ■ that position, he being one of the victims of the Government retrenchment policy. Mr Hyde said he would have liked to have had another two or three years in order to show further what could Be done, and that poultry-raising could be made to pay. It was, however, his intention to start a poultry farm on his own account, and to show that he had not been preaching to the country what he was not prepared to tackle and pra«tise himself. He felt sure that the poultry farms could now be made to pay. During the past five years more had been accomplished in the direction of putting the poultry industry on a satisfactory footing than had been done during the previous 50 years, and New Zealand could now give many other parts of the world a lead. The value of the poultry industry to this country was now much greater than many people were aware of, and was quite double the value of the iruit industry. Fancy breeding would not make a man financially, but on the utility side he had no doubt whatever that the industry could be made to pay. Mr Hyde quoted the instance o.t a Wellington poultry farmer who was carrying on the industry on less than five acres of land, and yet last year he made a clear profit of £350. That man had been a dairyman, but had given up that occupation in favour of poultry farming, and he had found that the latter industry paid him best. Mr Hyde added that one unsatisfactory feature in the past in connection with the Government poultry farms had been the erection of buildings which were of far too costly a nature. This drawback would be remedied in future. He had at the show a n:odel of a new and impioved house to accommodate 40 birds, which could be erected at a cost of not more than £3 ss, as compared with houses which had been erected in the past at a cost of something like £40. The new model house was in every way superior to the more costly structure.