MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2151, 18 May 1914, Page 8

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE

DAIRY ASSOCIATION. Tho South Island Dairy Association make it clear in their annual report that thoy expect the present Minister of Agriculture (tho lliglit Hon. \V. F. Mussoy) to do tilings. I''ollo\ving is an extract from the report:— Tho Minister of Agriculture is as good as any other Minister of Agriculture, hut wo have no Agricultural College in tho Dominion and no .experimental farms in tlio South Island as in the North Island, as yet. In New Zealand wo lag far behind Canada in tho education provided by the Agricultural Department of that great Dominion. We hopo to see this present Government do more in these directions than merely keep tilings steadily in view. Hie importance and value of tho agricultural interests in Now Zealand demand a much more liberal Parliamentary voto for the Department of Agriculture than, lias ever been given in tho past.

Ministers of Agriculture, either past or present, cannot bo blamed for Parliamentary parsimony in this matter. Our members should, one and all, let the members for their particular districts understand that a more liberal vote of money is required, and they should be got to interest themselves in these matters more than some have hitherto done. It is not a political question and never was, but that wo should bo as advanced in agricultural education and science as other colonics and countries is imperative for the proper development of that ono great industry in New Zealand —"the Agricultural Industry."