OBITUARY

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 67, Issue 1, 15 July 1943, Page 41

OBITUARY

Mr. M. J. Scott, B.A.

(Cantab.), B.Sc.

(N.Z.), A.I.C.

IT is with regret that we have to record the presumed death of Mr. M. J. Scott who was a passenger on a plane which disappeared during a flight between the Pacific Islands and New Zealand.

Mr. Scott was born in South Canterbury, where he received his early education. In 1914 he entered Canterbury University College and had completed the first professional section of the B.E. degree before enlisting in the New

Zealand forces in 1915. He held a commission, and saw service until severely wounded in France in 1917. After the war he entered Cambridge University as a war bursar and took his B.A. degree. in Agriculture before returning to New Zealand to occupy the position of Agricultural Chemist at Canterbury Agricultural College, where he was active in teaching and in research for which work his broad practical background and his sound academic training fitted him admirably. His research interests developed in two stages. From 1922-34 he carried out extensive studies of the influence of different manurial treatments on farm crops and pastures. He made many contributions to the knowledge of the influence of concentrated fer-

Baconer Prices

The price for baconers from November 1 will be 6|d. a lb. —not 6|d. a lb., heads off, as stated on Page 349 of the July issue of the Journal.

tilisers on pastures, and to many phases of pasture management. As a keen mathematician Mr. Scott was one of the pioneers in New Zealand of present field experiment technique and of the statistical interpretations of results. He was also keenly interested in the production and utilisation of animal foods and carried out many practical feeding trials and metabolism experiments. Outstanding in this field was his work on the utilisation of meat bye-products of the meat packing industry, the results of which are reported in one of the early bulletins issued by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. In this work he concentrated largely on pigs and his research contributions to the pig industry were so widely appreciated that in 1936 he was appointed to the Department of Agriculture as Superinten-

dent of the Pig Industry, the position which he held until the time of his death. In recent months he held, in addition, the post of Supervising Organiser of Primary Production Councils. He published many articles on his work in the Journal of Agriculture and in the papers of Canterbury Agricultural College. He was for . several years a member of the council of the Grasslands Conference. As a man of wide interests and with a deep sense of duty, an able lecturer and a sound administrator, Mr. Scott’s disappearance while engaged on essential work will be a shock to his many friends and a severe loss to New Zealand. His loss will be felt by the primary producers of the Dominion, and the sympathy of the Department and Primary Production Councils is extended to his widow and family.

Farm Gates

WITH bolts in short supply, and with nails proving unsatisfactory, an alternative medium for constructing farm gates is available on most farms. Short pieces of No. 8 galvanised fencing wire can be utilised, and its use has proved quite efficient and permanent, though slightly slower in applying than either nails or bolts. When joining the timber, two J in. holes are bored through the pieces to be fastened together, usually on the diagonal, and each end of the wire threaded through the respective holes. With a wire twister, one end is

twisted around the other and cut off short so that no protruding points are left. The other end, usually left about 3 in. long, is then kinked into a right angle half an inch from its end, and this point is later driven into the timber. The accompanying illustration shows, on the upper joint, the wire twisted and kinked ready for driving into the timber, and on the lower, joint, the completed fastening. Gates so constructed have already given years of service at little cost, while the diagonal nature of the fastening acts also as a stay, and reduces the strain on this member of the gate.

—G. A. BLAKE, Instructor in Agriculture, Hastings.

Correction

READERS are asked to note two corrections in the article “Improving Nelson Pastures” in the June issue of the Journal. Line 3 in the third column of page 359 appears as “warning, heavy inclusion of ryegrass”; this should read “warning, heavy inclusion of cowgrass” In the section “Surface renovation” in the first column on page 361, the 4th line reading “terranean clover, surface sown, in im-” should read “terranean clover, white clover, rye-”. .