AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1244, 28 September 1911, Page 8

AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT.

SOUTHERN CniTICISAT. Referring to tho need for immediate and energetic, attention being given to the pests which are playing havoc' with the winter feed in Canterbury, the Weekly Press" rcmnrks that ostensibly tho Agricultural Department has been established for the benefit of agriculture. It has a Minister at its head, and its maintenance costs the country a rery large sum of money every vear. The amount set down in the Bud'get as having btt-n expended last year on tho Department of Agriculture, Commerce and Tourists, over which the Hon. T. Mackenzie presides, was no less than •EIB4,nCO. Tho country, naturally, expects to see somo substantial return for , this expenditure. Tet it is very difficult to get the Department to movo in matters of really practical value and vital importance to the farming community. The Minister has complained that in the Clutha district it had been suggested that the whole Agricultural Department should | bo wiped out. The'farmer,'the "Press" adds, is a very practical person, who expects to get some tangible return for tho money ho is called upon to contribute to the State, and we can assure Mr. Mackenzie that unless ho and his Department wake up, and do something of real value to the farming interest in the South Island, the demand to which ho takes exception will spread far beyond the bounds of tho Clutha electorate.