DAILY NOTES FROM WANGANUI.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 679, 2 December 1909, Page 5

DAILY NOTES FROM WANGANUI.

:'■' ."'- . ■■" .'*■ \' '" -'' -V.'' .•• CUTTING DOWN FAEir.';.; SEVERE' COMMENT ON GOVERNMENT.' • Illy TclcErapb.-Spoclal dot'rMDclndea't.r'' ! ■' "■ Wanganui, December 1. The' rainfall. recorded at; Wanganui for -November was-2.4-iin. 'The greatest fall occurred, on',November 21, when .75in. was:recorded. ''"■ . ,A contract' of.. .£26oo..has' been', let -for".the. erection of a.large new hall for the local lodge of. Druids. The hall, which will be finished in March, is the lodge's twenty-fifth birthday, gift-to itself., • ' ■■■■ ■■'■ ■ The .building;, trade- continues active hero, and, besides many residences in the town and, suburbs, several largo new buildings are in course, of erection, or-just about to start;' in the business area. , ■'■.": ■■;'•. ■•■■'■ <■■ ■ v

Much concern is felt here, especially' amor&J the farming community,■, at the retrenchments" at Moumahaki Experiment : .Farm; l 'It is'con-, sidered 'that these will make, it impossible to. carry out tho work of that farm-in-such'a way as to be'of benefit to farmers or,-others' interested. A Wanganui pressman, who visited the was refused all' information un account of the "gag" circular recently'issued by the Government. Being a visitor,, however, he was at liberty to walk round and observe for himself, and, as'several jiher visitors were ■ there, who,- strangely enough/ were allowed. to. receive'' information, ho was able to gather that'the Government's action was regarded with'much dis'favo'niyaricl' considered short-sighted'to a ; degree. c The-local evening paper, dealing with tho subject, points out that no: sane man'cohld expect 1 an "experimental" farm to "pay" in 'a"commercial sense, but it. • seems to be the general • opinion that the. motive' prompting the.Government is the .'fact thatthe revenue does, not'show an excess over expenditure. The "paper points 'out that, in ."some" instances, one man. in future will be expected to do'the .work which formerly ■ took three men all their time to' attend' to. Experiments are being made with' 150 varieties of and "the question, is: How "is it possible for one man to spray, take periodical notes, dig, weigh, test, calculate' the'acreage yield,' and : write reports. -Trials aro; also being made with mangolds and turnips, and these, and the trials 'for the. effects of different.fertilisers on.pasture, are-all likely to, prove abortive.ihrough,-want. .of.'.a sufficient number of-hands to attend'to -them. , It' is further stated that,, as the number • left cannot possibly keep the place in order, it must become untidy and weed-growrii and suffer in reputation, and ,this, may : lead to .the Government finally closing it.on the score of it.being no good. -The..above:only refersrtp a small portion of;the. farm's activities, concerning which'much .'more could be said. The folly is'more apparent, from the fact that the Government retrenched the hands after- the seeds wore in the ground,: and the exDefiments well on the way, instead of- before. The farm has been of the greatest benefit, not only to farmers, but to many classes of the'community lon this coast, 1 and it-seems'fairly certain that' before, long, p. large i•■;number', of •'protests' couched. in firm words.' will, be sent-"to '" thb Government on the.matter. "' w,,.,...., ::-,-.,„;.