Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE,THURSDAY, MAY 9, 1907. AGRICULTURAL MUSEUM.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10967, 9 May 1907, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, THURSDAY, MAY 9, 1907. AGRICULTURAL MUSEUM.

Doubtless there were many amongst, the crowds of visitors to Christchurch Exhibition who were impressed with the- remarkable display of the products of the soil of the colony, which was to be found m the Agricultural Department's court, and the thought must have occurred that it would be a good thing to establish m some central" locality, "or. as a travelling exlubition, for the benefit of the" farming "community/ a ' permanent exhibition ot these, the best Of the colony's products. We are glad> note ythat Mr TV W. Kirk chief of tlie Biological 'Department, who was responsible for the display, is pressed with the same idea, and lias been advocating that 'it 'be given effect; £o. Speaking at a social tendered to him at Christchurch, Mr Kirk, after referring to the splendid work that had heen accomplished at the Exhibition, made sonic remarks on the general aspects of-agricul-ture. He reminded, those present" that of worth of the country's exports, over £12,000,000 came from tbe agricultural and pastoral industries. Of the remaining £3,000,000 about--£2,000,---000 came from mining industries. Agriculture was, therefore, the mainstay of the country. He did not wish to depreciate the work of those engaged, m otber industries, but he felt impelled to point out that the amount spent publicly and privately -on mining as compared _ with agriculture, was entirely disproportionate when the results were considered. He was forced also to protest against the manner m which some of the best land m the colony was being ruined by hydraulic mining. Tliey should remember that mining gave only one crop and ruined the land for a century. Land m Central jpjtago .that- was capable, with the assistance of the water used m mining, of supporting a family for every twenty -five acres, was ruined by mining. Considering that the land might be utilised for agricultural crops and pastures for all time, it seemed- to -him that we were doing wrong to future generations m allowing it to he ruinea.' The action of mining was also' having the effect of filling up the Gtutha river, and it was not pleasant .to conJtempJ'afe J .the' possible results m that Bonne~Gtidri if "present" methods were continued. Referring to the Department's exhibit at the Exhibition, he said that a large portion had already been removed, and v few days would see tlie last of it. A large portion of the exhibit had oome from a small' museum m Wellington, and owing to; pressure of office space; i-hat museum had been abandoned by the.Government. Tliis meant tlmt the exhibits lygvild have to go back to Wellington and i>e stored _for some time, and he thought tliis Was a y.&ry r.egretta'ble proceeding. As a result of the keen appreciation shown by visitors to the j£xhisitisp pf the educational value of the collection, several Chumbei's of Commerce had made representations to the Government tliat adequate provision should be made for these exhibits, and he was yet hopeful tluit ferine satisfactory arrangements would be made. Of course, if tliis were not found I possible, he would see that they were

stored; witli the Utmost care, so as to guard against deterioration, and periodical inspections would bo made, but the packing and unpacking would necessitate an immense amount of work. His idea of what sliould be done was the establishment of a permanent museum, whicli should contain everything of interest to farmers that [could be housed m a building. Attached to the museum should be a system of travelling cases, m which sections of exhibits from tlie museum would be taken throughout the colony. Thus, one set of cases should have samples of various classes di soils with full particulars of their characteristics and their suitability for various crops, These would be taken right through tne colony, m charge of an expert. Following them would be a set of cases containing samples of various fertilisers, then collections of seeds, then collections of noxious weeds, and so on. In this way the Department would, as far as was possible, give to those farmers "who were unable to visit the museum m Wellington an opportunity to see it m sections brought to their respective districts. There might be some delay m this, matter, but fie was hopeful of seeing it carried out. Touching on Uie question of experiment stations, Mr Kirk said these had been making very great strides during the past few years. As m other countries, experiment stations were first scoffed at m New Zealand, but it was not safe nowadays to say very much against the Government experiment stations. First there had been tlie stage of ridicule, next the stage of tolerance, and. now luid arrived the stage of appreciation. A vistor to any of the Government experiment stations nowadays would always find on any. day of the year a few farmers looking over the station, and this took no account of the periodical exaumions when perhaps a hundred at a time made a combined visit to learn the latest that could be learned at these stations. As an adjunct to the valuable work done at the State agricultural and horticultural farms-, we have no doubt that a travelling exhibit such as Mr K : rk suggests would prove of very great value and interest to farmers, and would give a great impetus to the cause of rural technical education amongst our young people. The United States Agricultural, Department^ the best organised Jej^rtrnent^ .tb^Jtuui. 4 n . «i6^w^rjdphar gone in- very extensively for this system, sending out railway cars fitted with ex-hibita-to all parts of the country, and the results; are declared to have been highly beneficial to the fanning industry. v-M___m-_a-______