FARMER GOVERNOR.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18619, 15 July 1930, Page 13

FARMER GOVERNOR.

SAGE ADVICE TO AGRICULTURE STUDENTS. The Governor-General (Lord Bledisloe) gave some sound advice to the students of Lincoln College when he visited the institution on Saturday. He asked them always to try to combine theory with practice, to do their part to ensure that New Zealand produced only the best, and to give the British consumers what they wanted. This was necessary if New Zealand was to secure Britain’s market in the face of stem competition. Addressing his audience as fellow agriculturists, Lord Bledisloe reminded them that the premier agricultural college of the Empire was the Royal Agricultural College, founded nearly one hundred years ago in England on land belonging to his family. He had been a student there forty years ago, and he had later served as chairman of its Board of Governors till he joined the British Government. One of his most treasured possessions was the gold medal of the College, and he had requested that he should be allowed to present a similar medal to those exstudents of Lincoln College who, from time to time, appeared, in the opinion of the authorities, to have justified the education they had received at the College. He had made a further request: that the students should be given a half-holiday because of his visit.

“I am familiar with most of the agricultural colleges of England, Europe, and parts of America,” continued his Excellency, “and I can say that, apart from your delightful climate—which I regard as this country’s greatest asset—you have two distinct advantages. The first is that you conduct the practical work of the farm together with the theory, and I am certain no agricultural student can succeed unless he does get experience in practical work. The second is that you are in close touch with the research in progress here. You can see the experiments in wheat breeding, the attempts to improve pastures, to improve wool, and to improve pigs; further you study the economics of farm practice.

“You know we have discovered rather late in the day that scientists may teach us all we are capable of absorbing, and yet if we do not know the economic side our knowledge is of little value. Express yourself in terms of £ s d if you want to carry conviction with the farmer. Do not keep science and practice in watertight compartments and do not consider one socially superior to the other. A certain vanity on the part of those who specialise in theory has made them loath to turn their hands to farm practice; do not let that develop here. The man who works with his hand is just as useful and as dignified a labourer as he who v/orks with his head. Further, do not be slovenly either in person or surroundings.

“There is supposed to be such a thing as the law of diminishing returns, and that the commercial farmer has to take into effect. Don’t you, however, go about talking to the farmer in scientific jargon. Use the King’s English that all may understand. Clever people who specialise in get into such a habit of speaking in scientific verbiage that they find it hard to do otherwise. Further, I would say to you work in a team. In some countries much public money has been wasted because the various classes of scientists have been pushing on with their own work regardless of the other branches. The result is that they do not reach their goal, nor does the community receive the results of their labours.

“There is no occupation more worthy of pursuit than farming, and whether New Zealand can realise her destiny as the pioneer country of primary production depends on you, the younger generation of educated agriculturists. Provide what your customers want and not what you think they ought to want. Moreover, produce only the best. Two of your staples, wool and cheese, meet with formidable competition from other countries, and to get the British market you have got to satisfy the British consumer—which means the British worker. Keep your produce free from blemish and adulterants. Watch the market carefully or your competitors may prove too formidable for you. You probably know that Britain has not been altogether satisfied with some of the cheese coming from New Zealand. I have been a cheesemaker with my own factory for the last fifteen years, and I cannot say what the cause of it is. But I do know that the British housewife does not differentiate between cheese coming from Canterbury and cheese coming from the Waikato or Hawke’s Bay; all she knows is that it is New Zealand cheese, so that if one province fails the standard of the whole product falls. “I may claim the privilege of being the biggest breeder of pigs in England. For farmers who want side-lines the pig is a very natural animal to which to turn. But there again if you want the Home market you must be perfectly certain that you are producing what the British working man will eat.. The British housewife won't put up with bacon which runs away in the pan. You can’t give her too much lean. If you must have fat let it be firm, white fat and not oily. Remember, also, that a pig must be big at the right end; the type of pig is very important. “I am pleased to find myself in the oldest agricultural college in New Zealand which was founded not long after the province itself. lam only sorry I will not be able to attend your jubilee. In these days of perhaps a lesser interest in religion it is a splendid monument to those pioneers who came carrying the Bible in one hand and their courage in the other, and realised what was the prime necessity of Canterbury. You represent the oldest agricultural college in the Dominion, and for my part I wish you all possible success.”