YOUNG FARMERS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 67, 29 April 1946, Page 8

YOUNG FARMERS

DOMINION WIDE ORGANISATION

Some six months ago, Messrs. A. H. Adams and S. H. G. Jackson convened a meeting with a view to forming a branch of the Young Farmers’ Club, the Dominion-wide organisation educating New Zealand youth to the land, at Thornton. Delegates from Waimana, Te Puke and Paengaroa Clubs were present, and after the aims and objects of the organisation had been explained, it was decided to form a club in the Thornton district. Twenty-two members were enrolled at this meeting, and after a certain amount of expected fluctuation, the present membership stands at thirty-two. Generally speaking, the Y.F.C. is a Dominion-wide organisation which brings together young men of rural districts. At meetings, members receive lectures and talks on agricultural subects, and also take part in impromptu and prepared speeches and debates. Numerous field days are devoted to subjects of farming interest.

The programme being carried out by the Thornton Club, follows generally that of other clubs throughout New Zealand. Lectures and talks which have been held include impromptu and prepared speeches, two debates, and a lantern lecture by Mr E. R. Marryatt, Fields Instructor, Department of Agriculture, on ‘Feed Flavour in Milk and its Control.’ Field days held covered shearing, stock-judging and an inspection of Mr W. Arbuckle’s piggeries. Mr A. F. Barwell, Supervisor for the Bay of Plenty Pig Council, also .contributed talks on the History of Pigs, the Baconer Pig and the Boar, and included a post mortem examination on a diseased pig. On the social side, members have made a picnic trip to Whale Island, whilst the Social Committee recently sponsored a dance at which the sum of £l4 was raised and donated to the R.S.A. Welfare Memorial Appeal. A trophy in the form of a Maori carving which was presented by the club is competed for by Scout troops in the Whakatane County.

At the next monthly meeting, a debate will be held, the subject be-

ing “Is a Forty Hour Week Applicable to Farms.” Future activities include more debates and lectures, together with talks by Mr A. F. Barwell, and also Mr Horn, Manager, Whakatane Branch, R. B. Swann and Co., on Farm Book-keeping, Pruning and Orchard Work. A field day to be held in the near future will be devoted to an inspection of bulldozers and other heavy farm implements on the farm of Messrs. Gough, Gough and Hamer, on the Matata Road.