WORK FOR FARMING

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20786, 22 April 1939, Page 26 (Supplement)

WORK FOR FARMING

SIR DORMAN-SMITH’S RECORD Much has been said and written of the effect that the appointment of the new British Minister of Agriculture, Colonel Sir Reginald Dorman-Smith, is likely to have on the imports of the Dominion’s dairy produce into the United Kingdom, and, therefore, a short sketch of his career should not be without interest. Sir Dorman-Smith’s work as president of the British Farmers’ Union is well-known to every British farmer. His appointment to the most responsible position in agriculture came as a complete surprise to most people. Many must have thought of him as a future Minister, but few could have anticipated such rapid promotion. At the age of 37 he was the youngest president in the history of the Farmers’ Union. He was the first president of the union to sit in the House of Commons and the first to receive a knighthood. So successful was his presidency in 1936 that the union paid him the compliment of suspending one of its rules to enable him to continue as president for a further year. In his ten years’ association with the work of the union, Sir Dorman-Smith acheived a great reputation as an enthusiastic and indefatigable advocate of the interests of the land. Those who have been his colleagues, states a British exchange, speak of his friendliness and his readiness to discuss any problem. He ha entered upon his new task with the goodwill of all the farming community.