FARM AND DAIRY

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume XXXVII, Issue 9206, 7 April 1938, Page 4

FARM AND DAIRY

•‘SONS OF THE SOIL” END OF SOUTHERN TOUR MINISTERIAL WELCOME On Saturday morning fifty young “sons of the soil” from South Taranaki left by train for their homes after a most interesting and instructive tour of the South Island. Their tour, as will be the purpose of others in the near future, was organised to bring farmers from the north and south in better touch with each other. The boys—their ages ranged from about IS to 2, r > —had had a wonderful time and were full of enthusiasm for the value of their sojourn in the south, and agreed that they had learnt a very great deal by association with young farmers in country which differed materially from their own. Mr Hugh Lambie, representing the South Taranaki Farmers’ Union, was the leader, Mr J. E. Davies, of the Department of Agriculture, the organiser, and Mr S. Freeman, the New Zealand organiser, travelled with the party. They were met by Mr A. 11. Cockayne, Director of the Department of Agriculture, and taken to Parliament Puildings, where a welcome from the Government was given by the Hon. F. j Langstone. Minister of Lands. Mr Cockayne said that the objects of the movement were to give the young farmers a fuller and freer life, because they were the backbone ol the country as well as citizens of the Dominion. They wished that the clubs should be fostered by the Government and in this the officers were giving all the help possible so that the move to make farming more popular should be extended widely. On the motion of two members, Messrs Gane (Normanby) and Washer (Manaia), the Hon. F. Langstone was made an honorary member of the association and the badge was pinned on his coat.

EXCHANGE OE IDEAS In acknowledging the compliment. Mr Langstone said nothing was move important than such a movement among the junior farmers and the Dominion, because a knowledge of the land and of its scientific improvement was most essential, so that their work might he of the greatest possible value to the primary production of the Dominion. The young farmers had gone to see different methods in the south and he felt sure this would lie a great help. Taranaki bad pioneered the movement and now there were 110 clubs in the Dominion with a membership of 4000, and it was still spreading rapidly. The “swapping” of ideas was a matter of the greatest value and he knew Ihe young men of South Taranaki would use what v tliey had learnt to improve their own methods of farming. In this way, said Mr Langstone in conclusion, young men would learn to do things that would make their industry of greater use to the “other man,” and so increase its usefulness. He wished them all good health, success and prosperity in the future. Mr Langstone also gave the party a special message of good cheer from the Prime Minister, the Rt. lion. M. J. Savage.

IRRIGATION WORK In a happy speech, Mr Hugh Lambic (Mangatoki) thanked Mr Cockayne and Mr Langstone for their cordial welcome, and assured them that (lie boys of South Taranaki would apply what they had learnt from the south to their own country. He referred specially to the irrigation schemes in Otago, where land that would previously carry only one sheep to the acre would now carry up to twelve, and said that they were all much struck with the resources of Southland in the matter'of crops. He gave the Government great credit for their good work and said that the irrigation work was one of the high lights of the tour.

The party was photographed on the steps of Parliament Buildings and later taken over the various parts, including a session in the Chamber of the Mouse, where the procedure of Parliament was briefly explained by Mr Langstone. Afterwards they joined their special carriages on the mail train, speeded by (be good wishes of friends who went to see them off, on the hist stage of an auspicious trip.