CAWTHRON INSTITUTE

Taranaki Daily News, 26 September 1933, Page 8

CAWTHRON INSTITUTE

FRUIT RESEARCH WORK. REPLY TO CRITICISM. A reply to certain comments made by Mr. J. Campbell, Director of Horticulture, at the recent Dominion conference of fruitgrowers, has been made by Mr. W. J. Moffatt, chairman of the Cawthron Institute Trust Board.

In his reply Mr. Moffatt states that Mr. Campbell ’ed the fruitgrowers to infer that the Cawthron Institute was not in close touch with the fruit industry, that its work had little practical value and that there was a lack of continuity in its investigations. Furthermore, as a reason apparently for the withholding of financial support to the institute, he stated that the Cawthron Institute was not under the control of any central authority and that there were difficulties over which the institute had no control. “The statements made by Mr. Campbell are so misleading and so inimical to the welfare of the institute that the trust board has deemed it advisable to refute them and to give a brief resume of the more important contributions made by the Cawthron Institute in the development of the fruit, tomato and tobacco industries,” Mr. Moffatt states. “It is very difficult to assess in monetary terms the value of the institute’s work, but it cannot be disputed that it represents many thousands of pounds yearly to these industries. The investigations have not only had a great practical bearing on the welfare of the industries, but the very diversity of the problems successfully attacked by workers at the institute shows conclusively that the officers of the institute have been in close touch with orchardists, fruit and tomato growers.” Explaining the desire of the board to co-operate and prevent overlapping in fruit research work, Mr. Moffatt said that it was largely as a result of the representations made by the Cawthron Institute and its willingness to cooperate in the establishment of a fruit research station t’ it the Research Council was successful in obtaining a grant from the Empire Marketing Board for fruit research in New Zealand. The Fruit Committee established by the Research Council to co-ordinate research activities under this scheme had representatives from the New Zealand Research Council, the fruitgrowers, the Department of Agriculture (Mr. Campbell) and from the Cawthron Institute.

Mr. Moffatt Said it was admitted that the institute was not under the control of the Department of Horticulture, and suggestions of control by any Government department would be resisted to the utmost. In view of the large area devoted to fruit, tomatoes, small fruits and tobacco at Nelson, it was inevitable that many investigations must be conducted in the Nelson district. This, however, did not prevent the application of information so gained to similar problems in other parts of New Zealand. The board had in the past taken no parochial view concerning the relation of the institute to New Zealand as a whole, and several officers were co-operating with the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research in New Zealand-wide researches.