DEPARTMENT OF ACRICULTURE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11842, 4 May 1909, Page 2

DEPARTMENT OF ACRICULTURE.

REORGANISATION SCHEME.

STATEMENT lIV PRIME MINISTER

"< I'ho Prihie Minister (Sir J. G. Ward) has given the following particulars regarding the re-organisation of the Department of Agriculture: — "The organisation of the Department of Agriculture, so far as the head officers is concerned has now been completed, and instead of the Department being split up into various divisions, as at present, there will, m future, be only five divisions. Mr Pope, who hus heen appointed to the position of head of the Department, . under the designation of Secretary of Agriculture, takes up the general executive administration of the Department. This appointment will date front November Ist, 1909, but he takes charge of the Department as acting secretary from May Ist. His appointment as acting secretary is necessary, because the promotion of Mr J. D. Ritchie, the present Secretary of Agriculture, to the position of chairmall and inspector of the Land Purchase \Board dates rfrom November Ist; m the meantime he will be absent from the Dominion. Mr Pope's salary has been fixed at £500 per annum as* from November Ist.

"It ife intended to attach the Tourist and Commerce Departments to the Departhient of Agriculture as soon us possible.

,- ; "1 consider it is necessary that the designation of the officers of the different divisions should be changed, m order to prevent confusion and m order *o have uniformity of terms. Consequently the designations 'Chief. Injector* of Stock,' 'Chief Veterinary Officer,' and so forth, will disappear, and the term 'Director' will be substituted.

"Mv E. Clifion, who has been for some years! Chief Inspector of Stock, will now be known as Director bf Famis, and he will be promoted to the position of Director of Fields and Experimental Farms us from May Ist, at a salary of £600 per annum. His principal duties will be the direction of the following matters : Field crops (including New Zealand hemp), pastures, ensilage, rabbits, noxious^ weeds, • injuripus weeds, injurious turds, control} yoi sale of fertilisers/ hemp grading, hemp mill instruction, experimental farms ahd field experiments on other lands. ■ "Mr C. J. Reakes has been appointed to the position of Director of Live Stock and Meat Division, as frcrm May Ist' at his present salary— £s6oo per annum. His principal duties will be the, direction, of the following matters.: Liye stock generally,' veterinary, laboratory, health and. disease of live stock, quarantine of imported^ live stock, sterilisation of manure, meat inspection, slaughterhouses, dairy farms (other than those supplying factories), live stock, poultry, and bacteriological specimens. "Mr J. L. Bruce, Inspector of Stock, Dunedin, has been promoted to the position of Assistant Director of the Live Stock and Meat Division as from. May, Ist, at a salary of £400 per annum, wjth headquarters at Wellington. He-will assist' Mi* Reakes m the duties enumerated . above.

"Mr P. Cuddies the Chief Dairy., Commissioner, will be 'director of the Dairy Produce . Department, a,t a salary of J3450 per annum, as from May Ist. His principal duties will .be : Tbe direction of milk, and dairy .produce generally, inspection of dairy farms, .supplying factories, ■ instruction m milk production, instruction m and inspection of dairy factories and dairy produce grad^ ing. "Mv T. W. Kirk has been promoted to> the position of Director of the Orchards and Apiaries Division; at a salary of .£sso^ per annum, from May Ist. Has principal duties will be the direction of fruit and vegetables ; generally, plantations generally, instruction m orchards, vineyards,., garden' and. plantation work, inspection of orchards; vineyards/ gardensj' nurseries, and fruit and vegetable shops; Inspection ; of imported fruit and plants, instruction iii. .fruit preserving, m wine generally', jn beeSfgen-i erally, orchards,,* Vineyards, gardens, plantations, asiasep, * vfnfirieis, and ex-j perimental ; farms, and expeuments with lruit trees on other lands.

"It will thus be seen,*" continued Sir Joseph, "that the whole of the existing divisions will bo /jonjoenitrated under the directors mentioned above. The reorganisation of the Department has been carried out on these lines, and great economies— the details of which are to be announced shortly— liave been effected. As the outcome of these alterations the over-lapping which has taken place m district work/ m various portions; of the Dominion will be abolished. On examination, it will be seen that the reorganisation has been on; methodical lines j for instance, everything connected -with stock, whether relating to liye^or, dead stock, will, m the future; be Tmder the direction of one officer. An effort lias been made* to group all those divisions of the Department which have a community of class or interest. Tlie \vhole of theee alterations have been carried out by myself, as Minister of Agriculture, prior to' the new Minister, the Hon. T. Mackenzie, taking up his' duties. The work, has been of a far-reaching kind, and it wAs only fair that the alterations should be made before ,tho rtew Minister undertook the, control of the Department. I aiii fully cognisant of the value of the Department," Sir Joseph continued, "and whilst the alterations liave been material and the reductions considerably, the efficiency of the Department as an educator and as an assistant to the producing community will be maintained at Os high a -standard before — ind^edj^ I believe tliat the standard of efficiency will be higher than was the case undeK the former system." .