H—29

1948 NEW ZEALAND

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE ANNUAL REPORT FOR YEAR 1947-48

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency

SIR,' — I have the honour to forward for your Excellency's information the report of the Department of Agriculture for the financial year ended 31st March, 1948. The origin and development of the Food and Agriculture Organization and New Zealand's place in relation to the work of that Organization are set out in the Report of the Director-General of Agriculture. A summary of the principal farming activities of the year and the work of the various Divisions of the Department in the development of the Dominion's farming industry are set out in the reports of Divisional Directors. I have, &c., Edward Cullen, Minister of Agriculture. His Excellency the Governor-General.

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL THE FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS : ITS BACKGROUND AND DEVELOPMENT In view of my close association with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations since its inception, I feel it is not inappropriate to devote my 1947-48 annual report to a short statement covering the background and development of the Organization. To understand the objectives of the Food and Agriculture Organization, some appreciation of the special background of circumstances and events which brought it into being is essential. In fact, it is probably necessary to go back a century and a half or more to the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, that epoch-making event in the world's history to which no definite beginning date can be assigned and of which no close can be foreseen. In the eighteenth century cities were small and relatively