BOOK REVIEW: “FARMING IN NEW ZEALAND”

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 81, Issue 2, 15 August 1950, Page 127

BOOK REVIEW: “FARMING IN NEW ZEALAND”

Valuable Documentation of Primary Industry

Reviewed by

Mr. W. N. Perry,

President,

Federated Farmers of New Zealand

pROBABLY because their achieve- . ments are unspectacular and the

evidence is difficult to document, the great farmers of the world have received scant, recognition from historians. Signal work done by British livestock breeders and agronomists during the 18th and early 19th century ■went almost unheralded, and the remarkable contribution made, by British farmers generally in better usage of land'has received little recognition. . It is unfortunately true that the greatest of them is less well known than contemporaries who were secondary figures in political, military, and other spheres. And though New Zealand’s chief claim to distinction lies in her exceedingly efficient use of her farming lands, the record of achievement in that field has been dealt with only in piecemeal fashion. To expand the history a great deal of research and a pooling of contributions from experts in many fields is necessary. That the Department of Agriculture has undertaken this work is most gratifying. The result is the first volume of “Farming in New Zealand"

TN producing this well-illustrated A book the Department has taken a step which was long overdue. It is well that the work has been undertaken before some of the early history becomes obscure and before the firsthand knowledge of men who had much to do with the accelerated development of the last half century is no longer available.

“Farming in New Zealand” is a not too technical history of our agriculture from the first days of European settlement and it should prove equally as interesting to the working farmer as to the student or the economist. It deals with all the main phases of the development of the various types of farming land and the ways in which an industry has been geared deliberately to meet the exacting demands of a principal market 12,000 miles away.

Though the farmer’s chief preoccupation is with the day-to-day management of his land and stock, experience has taught him that he must be informed on changing conditions. Organisations such as Federated Farmers of New Zealand have assisted the primary producer to broaden his sphere of activity and to influence the forces which affect his immediate livelihood and conditions within the industry as a whole. Farmers have always recog-

nised the value of the work done at research establishments, and their outstanding success in the production of meat, wool, and dairy produce has in part been due to their willingness to accept technical assistance and to the practical approach of research workers to farm problems. Two notable contributors to volume 1 of “Farming in New Zealand” are P. W. Smallfield, Director of the Extension Division of the Department of Agriculture, and S. H. Saxby, Agrostologist of the Department. The sound practical knowledge and the outstanding contributions made by these officers in guiding farming technique are well known. The several other contributors to the book are recognised authorities in their respective spheres. A study of this type would be incomplete without detailed statistical information and there is a wealth of data in the volume. In fact, on this score alone it is a handy reference work.

As a chronicle of New Zealand’s agricultural progress of interest to the general reader the book can be highly recommended. Its value will undoubtedly increase with the years and this permanent record of the Dominion’s principal industry may well be most appreciated in the future by historians of our agricultural development.

I would recommend this book, too, to the student of our history. The tending of land, livestock, and crops has figured so prominently in the lives of New Zealanders will continue to do so despite the growth of secondary industriesthat no useful study of events of the past 100 years can ignore the rise of our great farming industry. And it is by no means a dull page of our history; the record shows a host of difficulties surmounted, courage in accepting risks inevitably associated with radical change, and the building up of a reputation for products unsurpassed in the world’s markets. Most New Zealanders know something of the story; many have been authors of it, but it is important that the facts should be set down. That is what has been attempted in volume 1 of “Farming in New Zealand”, and it is to' the credit of the Department of Agriculture that it should have added this work to its already useful endeavours in the publication field.

I - "1 "Farming in New Zealand" | vol. I: 340 pp.; illustrated; I coloured dust jacket. Available from main . |||| offices of the Department of Agriculture. ||||J (post free) and all branches of ||||| Whitcombe and Tombs Ltd. Price: Bs. 6d.