MAORI DAIRYMEN

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19450, 27 March 1933, Page 11

MAORI DAIRYMEN

COMPETITION FOR GOVERNORGENERAL’S PRIZES. By Telegraph—*?ress Association WELLINGTON, March 25. The following are awards made for the Ahuwhenua trophy, presented by the Governor-General for competition by qualified Maori farmers occupying land under a native development scheme administered under the Native Land Act:— William Swinton, of Raukokore .. 1 Jack Black, Ruatoki 2 Tarewa Kopae, Ruatoki 3 James Swinton, Raukokore h.c. The following received special mention:—P. Mihaere, Horohoro; Te Katene, Tikitere; and Charles Oneroa, Horohoro. Mr W. Dempster, dairy instructor and grader for the Department of Agriculture, at Hamilton, judged the entries. This was the first occasion on which the Governor-General’s cup had been competed for, and the results were announced on Saturday by the Minister of Native Affairs (Sir Apirana Ngata). The trophy was presented by His Excellency to commemorate his visit to lands in course of development by Maori settlers under various Native Land development schemes in Rotorua and {he Bay of Plenty districts. It was later agreed that the competition should be national, but that for the first year it should be confined to the Waiariki district. The cup is called the Ahuwhenua—or son-of-the-soil—-trophy, and an endowment fund of £IOO was established by His Excellency for the provision of medals for first and second prize-winners. In his report to the Director of the Dairy Division, Mr Dempster states that he visited 81 farms, from the Horohoro block at Rotorua out to Maketu block at Te Puke, and down the coast to Cape Runaway.

In judging, he states, he also took into consideration the possibility of delivering a high standard quality of milk or cream. After visiting all the farms on the Horohoro Block, he came to the conclusion that the settlers had not had sufficient time to display their initiative, and he had therefore selected three farmers on this block who had shown the most initiative and placed them in order of merit. Mr Dempster said the standard of cleanliness on concrete floors, drains, and utensils, without a single exception, on the Horohoro block was the highest he had ever seen in dairy herds. Taking the development scheme as a whole, he considered that even most adverse critics would be silenced by making personal inspection of the various localities. The efforts of William Swinton, the winner, were specially commended. It was considered that if this man could get more land he could show his undoubted ability as a farmer to greater advantage.