POULTRY EXPERT

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 20104, 10 May 1935, Page 3

POULTRY EXPERT

A PIONEER WORKER MR BROWN’S RETIREMENT Probably no one is better known in the poultry industry in New Zealand than Mr F. C. Brown, chief poultry instructor of the Department of Agriculture. who retired on April 30 after long service. Mr Brown is one of the pioneers in the industry. He is to be succeeded by Mr Cussen, who also has had long experience of poultry keeping and in the industry. Mr Brown was in charge of the poultry section at the Seacliff Mental Hospital in the eighties under Dr. Truby King, now Sir Truby King, under whom he received a good training in practical poultry keeping and he considers that Sir Truby is one of the greatest poultry pioneers in New Zealand. He feels that he owes a great deal to Sir Truby’s kenness and thoroughness. Mr Brown joined the Department of Agriculture in 1902, and his first position was the temporary management of the Department's poultry station at Milton, Otago. He was then loaned to the Mental Hospitals Department and spent some time at the Porirua Mental Hospital. His duties took him to the Moumahaki, Burnham, and Ruakura poultry stations. After being placed in charge of the Milton poultry station again, he was appointed as assistant poultry expert under Mr D. D. Hyde, who was then chief poultry expert and is still living in Wellington. In 1904 Mr Brown was loaned by the Department to an association at Blenheim, who controlled the first egg-laying competition in the Dominion. This consisted of 100 pens of six birds each. All this was pioneer work. In the same year a competition was established in Christchurch of about 30 pens. This formed the basis of the present noted New Zealand Utility Poultry Club, which conducts extensive competitions at Papanui. Christchurch. In 1906 Mr Brown took charge of an extensive poultry exhibit at the Christchurch Exhibition. Two years later he visited Australia and brought back over 100 utility fowls of various breeds and varieties for the Department. Later he revisited Australia and brought back to New Zealand a large consignment of birds, the progeny of which were distributed throughout the Dominion. When Mr Hyde retired Mr Brown was made poultry instructor. In 1915, as the work had increased beyond his capacity to deal with it, Mr Cussen was appointed his assist - and, and Mr Brown was appointed chief poultry instructor, which position he has held ever since. The new T chief instructor joined the Department of Agriculture in June, 1899. when he went as a cadet to the poultry station at the Moumahaki experimental farm. After spending some months there, he was transferred to Burnham. Canterbury, where he was overseer of the Department’s poultry station until February, 1902. In that year he was transferred to the Ruakura farm of instruction, near Hamilton. where he w’as overseer of the poultry section until March. 1915. He was then promoted to the position of poultry instructor for the South Island, with headquarters at Christchurch. This position he retained until his recent appointment as chief poultry instructor.