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to other organizations is indicated by the appended report of the Chief Chemist. The administration of the Fertilizers Act was an important and extensive function of the Chemical Laboratory, as may be gauged from the fact that 899 brands of fertilizers were registered. A scale of fees for registration of brands was brought into operation during the year. The charging of fees seems to tend to reduce the number of brands registered. Land Development. During the year, especially in the Auckland Province, the Department has assisted considerably in the land-development activities of the Government. In this work it has been demonstrated that the class of land at Ngakuru can ■be operated satisfactorily as small dairy-farms. The results to date have been satisfactory. On the Galatea Estate, 2,700 acres were sown in permanent pasture and 650 acres in annual crops. The Lands Department is taking over the management of the block sown in permanent pasture, and the Department is released from further work at Galatea with the exception of the supervision of the Demonstration Area on the estate and the giving of advice as required relative to the general management of the sown pastures. The development of the Whangamarino Block has been brought to such a stage that the Lands Department is arranging to settle the block in 1934. In view of this, the Department will not be specially concerned further with the block. On the Pakihi area, near Westport, some attention has been given to development work, and a block sown in grass has been taken over recently by the Lands Department. Advisory and Instructional Work. The volume of the Department's activities in the sphere of instruction tends to increase steadily. This may be attributed partly to the advances in knowledge which have resulted from recent investigations and to a greater realization by the rural community that these advances have taken place and are of economic value when suitably translated into farm practice. But the increased demand for departmental advice must also be attributed partly to the financial stress which has affected the farming community : this stress has forced many farmers who previously had no active incentive to better farming to explore all possibilities of improved returns, and in this they have turned to the Department for guidance. In this connection one development has resulted in a greater proportion of requests for advice relative to the management of the whole farm as distinct from the management of specific crops. In respect to this development it is of importance that farm-management problems are as a rule of greater complexity than crop-management problems, and, possibly because of this greater complexity, they have not as yet been investigated so thoroughly as have many aspects of crop-management. The most appreciated and most efficient type of advisory service is that which involves visits to the farmers on their holdings, so that there is assurance that consideration is given to the important matter of local circumstances. As far as possible this system of advisory service is adopted. The way in which advisory officers generally have endeavoured to meet requests for their service is highly appreciated. Publications and Publicity. The New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, though reduced in size in the interests of economy, serves well as a means of recording activities and achievement in agriculture, and it also acts as a means of disseminating much advisory information. The Journal is supplemented, as in the past, by bulletins and miscellaneous other publications which are issued as occasion arises. The series of weekly radio lecturettes from Station 2YA, Wellington, has been maintained by officers of the Live-stock, Fields, and Horticulture Divisions along lines similar to those followed in previous years, and evidence continually coming to hand indicates that a large farming audience obtains contact with the Department through the lecturettes. Miscellaneous. The considerable amount of work resulting from governmental measures designed to assist the farming industry, especially in the current abnormally difficult times, has been carried out as usual. In this connection the principal measures relate to the railage subsidies on fertilizers and lime, concessions on railway transport of primary produce, and the subsidy to manufacturers of superphosphate. The purchase of seeds and manures for Government Departments in general has been carried out as formerly, and has involved considerable work, especially on the

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