NURSERYMEN’S CONFERENCE.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XLII, Issue 11444, 25 January 1918, Page 7

NURSERYMEN’S CONFERENCE.

(For Pros* Association.) Christchurch, Jan. 33. Tho annual conference of the New Zealand Nurserymen's Association opened to-day. There is a very largo attendance, including delegates from all parts of the Dominion. Mr Thomas Waugh, Wellington, presided. The delegates • were accorded a civic welcome by the Mayor. The conference then opened with an"address by the Hon. W. D. S. Macdonald, the ; Minister of Agriculture, after which Mr Waugh delivered the presidential address. The following motion was carried: —“That the New Zealand Association of Nurserymen, in conference assembled, place on record their unabated faith in tho righteousness and justice of the cause for which the British people and their Allies are fighting, and their confidence in the final triumph of tho principle of moral right over brute force and military despotism. And they hereby pledge themselves to assist the Government to prosecute the war to a successful issue. And, further, they desire to place upon record their thankfulness to Almighty God for the comparative success so far achieved, and for the peace and immunity from the devastating ravages o F war that has been enjoyed by the Emp re as a whole and by this Dominion in particular.”

In tho course of his address to the Conferencethe Hon. MacDonald, referring to the groat advance of the fruit industry, said that at the present time the markets were affected, owing to the want-of shipping facilities; but the introduction of adequate cool storage would solve many problems. Inside the Dominion the industry had increased by leaps and bounds, and it promised to be a source of great wealth to the country when the conditions b came normal again.

The President in his a'dnress strongly urged nurserymen to pay attention to the propagation of Native trees, as New Zealand hid one of tho finest floras of any country. Officers were elected as follows; — President, Mr T. Waugh, Wellington ; vice-presidents, Messrs H. a. Hay (Nortli Island), \V. A. Buxton (South Island); secretary and treasurer, Mr G. A. Green; committee— Nortli Island, Messrs C. J. McKay, A. McDonald, and W. S. Johnston; South Island, Messrs G. W. Ivory, J. Millichamp and W. L. Grant.