DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

Waikato Times, Volume 96, Issue 15035, 5 September 1922, Page 6

DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

• j; DEBATE ON REPORT. MR J. A. YOUNG'S COMMENTS. RABBIT BOARDS. ?i'v In speaking in the House of Repre-•-''■sentatives recently on the presentation f of the annual report of the Department i-MOf Agriculture, Mr J. A. Young (Wai- : Jfcato), in reply to the condemnation of ;"'ismall rabbit boards by Mr W. D. t'itysnar, member for Gisborne, said, ac£;'cording to Hansard just to hand, that f:Hhe original Rabbit Nuisance Act had rbeen on the statute book for probably ;;nore than 30 years. It provided for i the establishment of rabbit boards ! covering very large areas, but under J/lit only four or five boards were cstab- ; Wished in the whole Dominion. In 1916 '"and 1917 a very live agitation was !•' raised in the Waikato and part of- the 1 ','King Country, which he then repre- ' ft serited, because it was found that the '{.•-.'legislation of the day was of little use. .In-the greater part of the Dominion, f and over which there were no boards, ', first the Stock Department was supposed to deal with the pest, but that fc .'system did not always work satisfac'::torily in every locality. Then com--1; mittees of settlers were formed, and ■1 my co-operative aotion there would be Pjferio'dlc attempts at general poisoni'Sng. That worked well for a year or :t;two, but later when it came to the • t payment for the work, some settlers !' would claim that there had been no L rabbits on their properties, and would '[■refuse to pay.. In 1918 an amending |: Act was passed as a result of the cam..fi'paign in the Waikato.. In certain parts . l'".of '.the country it was not found prac- : [ ticable, or at any. rate convenient, .to {■establish bo,ards over such a wide area . i' as originally prescribed, but the new " 'Act provided that a board might be ;('constituted over an area of not less : j[';lh&n 2000 acres. Prior to that the area, had been 200,000 acres. I'Under the Act'of 1918 boards for small ' ['.'districts were formed, and were able s,tb meet the difficult situation. It also § 'improved the rating system, increasI.ihgthe power to rate from 3-16 d in ■■ <,lhe £ to Id in the £, provided that {'the total did not exceed Is per acre - |-:in the district rated. That was not f;fpund altogether effective, and a furV'the'r amendment was made in 1920, ' : penablmg the settlers in a rabbit dis- ■ trict to have a flat rate levied on the ,*. acreage basis provided that it did not j- exceed Is per acre. He wished to [assure the hon. member for .Gisborne pthat' the system was proving very sat- : |,isfactory and that the small area boards [ilwere a 'success. All districts could - f.jnot: deal with the rabbit question on .'Hope plan.; It was necessary to dis- ; cover what was the most efficient for a given district and apply (fine remedy accordingly. The legis- - ; lation now on the" statute book was •".fi effective in that it allowed the settlers Ijp'X? each district to decide for them- ■ |;splves as to the methods to be applied. ";' '- ,' Ruakura. .;'.'■ in regard to the report he must .i'thank the hon. member for Rotorua on 'behalf of those who were interested ;. Mn Ruakura Experimental Farm for the .': '!:viery well-deserved tribute which he j;;h'ad paid to the work that the manager Yr;.(Mr Green) of that institution had I \;;performed. He (Mr Young) might '■ : ; explain that the Ruakura Farm was in the district represented by fine- hon. member for Raglan (Mr Bol-•r-lard). In looking over this report he :,twas-very interested in the paragraph ;. tnat'wasVde'voted to the Ruakura Ex- "."■'|: perlmental Farm under the heading !' |jj,!£xpeximenlai. Earms." It was com- -.:.'.'■ plained generally amongst the mem- ' ,;'bers of the House that in regard to -..-.-•! these Parliamentary reports they were .'■not in a', position to discuss them fairly ; i\ when they oame before the House, as t they were afforded no opportunity of J. ;.j' perusing them before they came down. the discussion, however, it ; usually happened that one or two .: members were permitted to have a .■'■■ I brief glance through a report before „..'|it was actually laid on the table, and '-■". •' they picked out a point or two. Since ; ;looking at<ithis particular report it ./■struck him that perhaps it was just ' r '\\ as well to put oh record the paragraph I '. :dealing with the RuakuraFarm of In- .';] j struction. It read as follows: — ■'■':;} "This farm has been maintained at - • |a high all-round level of excellence. [During the year the trainees consisted . ■.■■;': f.bf 101 returned soldiers, 8 returned I army nurses, 15 farm learners | and 10 other persons. In i j addition, two .farmers' sohools of a ; i week's duration were conducted, also .;■ various short-course-classes for tech--;J inica.l and high.school students. The :-.- general 'farm operations were of sub- [ -:■ the same character as in pre- :; jylous recent years. A further area of ,"" : ;38 acres lof rough swamp land was :'"reclaimed and "brought under the ■lplough. The' two breeds of cattle j (kept-—Jer'sey3 and milking Shorthorns || j—have been'well maintained, and.the ,-. Idemand for young stock has been ~' fgreater than the supply. The South- .-.'; | down'stud flock was increased on the ifemale side; all available surplus rams 'were sold at satisfactory prices. The . -demand for pigs from the Berkshire •' 'stud kept fairly steady in spite of the p. depressed conditions of the market : ! during the period. The annual sale f'l of surplus pedigree cattle and . pigs ;' was held with satisfactory results. 'The apiary and poultry sections were j 'largely availed of by the returned sol- ; ;dier trainees. An up-to-date and coni'mqdious honey-house was erected dur- . 'ing the year, greatly adding to the of the apiary plant. These ; together with that of horticulture, continue very popular with to the farm, who continue to (increase in numbers." . ) . Well 'that was satisfactory as a jbrief review of the work that had been ■done at Ruakura last year. ' j H Butterfat Yield. j .. Mention had been made thai afternoon of the average butter-fat yield from, the cows, of this Dominion, which .'average was in the vicinity of 1651 b per annum. They had, of course, to take into consideration the fact that the Department, in making up these returns and working out the average - for the year, had to include not only Well-settled'dairying districts, but also the backblocks and bush farms —-districts, in short, where no particularly reliable record would be kept of the ' actual results. The figures he had quoted showed a very low average, : and the settlers should be encouraged to aim at getting as near as possible ■ to an average yield of 3001 b of butterfat per cow. Where the State could \ eorne' in and lend very considerable assistance was In the Improvement of : the dairy herds. It takes a certain amount of time and observation to separate the dud from the first-class cow. The good cows required no more expense in the farm management in the matters of'labour or food than the •~duds, and if the waste can be eliminated and the cows culled to give a j larger production of butter-fat in the wear, it was a good thing for the whole | ( bomininn. | Woreroa Experiment Farm, | He noticed that at Wereroa they a considerable increase over Ittie, average in the butter-fat produc-

tlon on that particular farm. The report stated: — "The Friesian herd has maintained Its high standard, and the average butter-fat yield is now some 4501 b on twice-a-day milking." That was a very satisfactory result indeed, and showed what could be done by selection and feeding. The increased production of butter-fat'was not only a matter of the breed of the slock, but what with all breeds was a most important factor was the feeding of the stock. It did not matter how highly bred the stock might be, unless the right kind of food was taken down the throat iii sufficient qquantity the beast oould not produce the butterfat. That fact was proved in every department of work. He. noticed also the following reference regarding the Red Poll at Weraroa: —

"The Red Poll herd has increased considerably. The average yield during the past year was 3301 b of butterfat. The herd continues to demonstrate the wonderful constitution possessed by this breed." Stato Farms. Verv good work was done at those institutions, and the money expended by the country was well spent, contrary to the opinion of some farmers, and "some critics of the policy pursued in connection with the State Experimental Farms. .They seemed to hold the idea that the balance-sheet of a farm on the year's operations should show a credit. That might be so, or not; but it was a false view to take, as the credit balance must be assessed not on the cash returns, but on the amount of exact, knowledge which the farmer gained, and was available to all farmers, and which enabled them to get a greater product from their herds and flocks, and from the, farm generally. While one could sympathise with the South Island representatives because they had not in that Island the same modern experimental institutions that the North Island possessed, they must realise that in the aggregate the results of the tests, and of the demonstrations carried out on the various experimental farms, were available equally to the member for Hurunui and his friends as to settlers in the North Island, and therefore the expenditure.in question could be well justified. An hon. member: They have an agricultural college in the South Island, and there is not one in the North. Mr Young said lie did not overlook the fact that the South Island people had a great advantage in Lincoln College, and the time had arrived when one on somewhat different lines perhaps was required in the North Island. An Agricultural College. He did not think there was any institution at present carrying on the work of agriculture under the authority of the State that was better suited for such a purpose than the Ruakura State Farm of Instruction. That institution possessed every kind of facility for'the purpose; plenty of, housing accommodation was available, and that farm possessed a staff that was capable of giving theoretical instruction as well as doing all the practical work that was necessary, to keep such an institution up,to a high standard of efficiency. The aim of the Government should be to aid the producer in every possible way in- every branch of agriculture. Mr Wilford: You ought to try and draw the hon. member for Otaki on the subject. Mr Young thought the Ruakura Farm was better suited in every possible way than any other institution to take in hand, on a well-organised plan, the higher instruction in agriculture and farm science, and thus aid the producers and the farming industry generally. A Complaint. He wanted in connection with this report to take the opportunity to make a small ; complaint. Connected with the operations of the N.Z. Co-operative Dairy Company at Frankton Junction were very large butter, cheese, and casein factories. That company had laid dowi' a railway siding in connection with its business, which was an up-to-date concern. It hal recently Installed for shunting operations on that siding an electric locomotive, which was ic.-idy for work. The company had been in communication with the Railway Department about Hie contemplated use of that locomotive on and off since the beginning of the year, but the Department would not allow them to put it into work, but compelled 1b em to go on doins Ino shunting oy three d: aught horses and three men. If the electric locomotive were employed to shunt the waggons backwards end forwards the work would be done more efficiently in j quicker. But now and then large heavily loaded trucks had to be pulled, about by draught horses, and time after lime extra.men w-ere required, and had to be taken off their regular wjrk to help in the £hur.ting.

Mr Wilford: I do not suppos-3 that the Department has heard of the locomotive in question.

Mr Young said that he had a file of correspondence on the subject, and he could not understand why the request had not been granted, or permitted under some reasonable form of working control. This was the sort of thing which irritated the community, and especially the farmer. The layman was not able to understand the ■vagaries of the highly technical experts of the railways and other departments. It should be the business of those gentlemen, to help the. producer to produce efficiently and cheaply. If those in authority in the State departments could assist to reduce the cost of handling and transport in connection with tlie dairy industry and the agricultural enterprises generally of the Dominion, they would I hen help towards improving the economic position of the people of . the country, and particularly the consumer. He (Mr Young) had taken the opportunity of emphasising this point, and hoped that as a result of the remarks that had been made the company in. question would be permitted to use their electric locomotive for the shunting of trucks. It might be that the Department did not look with favour on-the presence of an electric locomotive alongside their steam locomotives. He did not know whether that was so; but some day he believed that on the Main Trunk line steam locomotives would be displaced by electric locomotives. The smoke nuisance in the tunnels and the presence of available electric power would help to bring about the change. Over-run. There was just one other matter he wished to mention, and he believed the Minister was sympathetic regarding it. It was the over-run which all manufacturers of butter iiad. This over-run was the difference between the quantity of butter-fat supplied to the factory and the quantity of butler which was produced for sale to the consumer. That difference should not exceed more than, he understood, 20.fi per cent. It seemed to him UmL in Hie best interests of the country, and particularly the suppliers of cream to ;il" butter factories, whether co-operal.lvr or proprietary, the State should nia'ie it compulsory that there should 1* published every year an audited statement of the over-run. The fnrnni; would then know whether he had been

paid for Spf.the butter-fat in his milk and suppnfa to the factory. There was reason' to believe, if some of the reports current concerning over-run were true, that at the present time he was not so paid, but that large profits were made out of the so-called overrun. What was wanted was legislation that would compel all manufacturers of butter who bought cream from the settlers to publish a true statement of their over-run every year, so that the settlers might see whether they were being paid for all the butter fat they supplied, and not defrauded out of any part of what they had a right to be paid for.