THE DEPARTMENT'S REPORT.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1488, 10 July 1912, Page 8

THE DEPARTMENT'S REPORT.

, MINISTERIAL REVIEW. The annual report of the Department of Agriculture and Industries and Commerce was presented to Parliament yesterday. Tlio Minister refers to the year as a period of gratifying development in the primal industries of the Dominion. The returns of' the sheep fanning industry show a decline owing to unfavourable weather, but in milk production exceptional results have been realised, oven though the amount of raw material produced has not been as great as it would have been had the spring and early summer been more favourable. Generally, agricultural operations have been attended with au exceptional degree of success. ; ■ A solid advance is being made in the methods of farming in vogue. The absence of harassing methods of. inspection, combined with 'lie rapid development of co-operative experiments and herd testing work, is bringing the farmer to realise as never before that the Department is solely . concerned in advancing an industry of which he is a component part, and which is the mainstay of the conntry's prosperity. The most notable achievement in the past year's work has been the expansion of the activities of the experiment farms to include the practical training of the sons of farmers in the most modern, methods of farming. This scheme of farm instruction, the Minister thinks, will have a far-reaching influence on our primary industries.