BOYS' AGRICULTURAL CLUBS
FURTHER SUGGESTIONS HOW TO STIMULATE PRODUCTION Tho suggestion mfido by Mr, W. Stuart TVi.Von that agricultural clubs should. ho established in Now Zealand has recoived fnvonrub&e comment i'roin many, influential quarters. Speaking to 0 reporter on the subject yesterdaj, Mr. \Vij6on said that lie had. been very {{lad to notice that tho Minister for Lands, tho ex-Jlinister for Education, tho Gpuirtnan of iihe Board of Agriculture, tho Director of Agriculture", and other prominent men had expressed their approval of the- scheme. The Hon. J. A. llanan had said that ho had placed on tie draft supplementary estimates, for the consideration of Oabinot, a voto for the development of agricultural clubs. # Whatever e\un rhe Government might provide, slid Mr. could bo nsoMlt applied, and should bo suypi.emented by private effort all over the DoraJuion. He thought that to begin with a ."board should bo set up, comprising two or three of the ablest officials of the Agricultural and Education Departments, With, say, four or five men capable of riving good advice, and fonnulating a plan of campaign. To begin with, four organisers (two for the North Island and two for the South Island) should b? appointed to vofr with certain agricultural and educational ofacials. These would have to be capabfo men, who would call on municipal t\jid county coynciis, a cultural associations, trade organisations, school committees, and prominent residents, with a view of seeking their assistance financially and otherwise, and making tho scheme a biff national, movement. One or two able officials m the Department of Agriculture should bo sent to Amerioa to study tho methods adopted there. . , " "As the result of a visit to some time ago, where I mentioned wliat was being done in Olago, the Buller County Council has started a competition, offering =£10, io, i! 3, and » s prizes for a potato-grownig wmpehtion on the lines drawn' out by tho agricultural instructor for the Education Board in Otago," said Mr. Wilson. Jnst to give an idea what can bo done by people using tiieir heads, it has just been broueht to my notice that there is a man not many miles from Wellington making a year gross by the simple expedient of purchasing an old motorcar. placing on it a' certain number of beehives; and taking it into the middle of clover paddocks. The busy bees have not to fly miles backwards and forwards to .their'work, and are ab.o to concentrate on their allotted task of gathering honey. This clover individual, I ajn informed, gathers ten tons of honey this ■way in the season, worth <£60 per ton. The clover also is made more valuable by the work done by tho bees. . "There is not one branch of agriculture that cannot be enormously benefited by ingenious ideas of various hmds it due encouragement is given to stimulate keen minds in its development. The late Mr Healy, agricultural instructor to the Otago Education Board,. proved conclusively in' an address given m Dnnedin that'tho average farmer in tho Dominion has a kmentable lack of knowledge in growing potatoes. He also informed me on one occasion that, the farmers ail over Otago wero continually sending lum requests to ! visit them and impart the latest scientific knowledge to them _in connection with farming methods, whicji he had to regretfully refuse °J' in K his exacting duties wording for the jM* cation Board, which occupied all his time. This is ample evidence that the New Zealand farmer is progressive and realises the benefit of modern scaentihc tC "Anothor address given in Dttnedin by the late Mr. Healy, entitled_ 'Ihe Failing Productivity of the Land in Otago; Its Cause and Cure," was an eye-opener and is applicable to p large portion ol the lancL in New Zealand. This m g orious Otago, because it is in reality a splendid land, where a lad not working i""ler ' idoal conditions can publicly demonstrate that lie can make <<!107 profit petannum on an acre of land growing potatoes. When Mr.. Hea.y had gone West" at epidemic time, many ot us felt that the llomiitk® had lost one ot its I finest, sons, a loss that is almost ureparataJo. 'May 1 say in passing that another | f-reot loss to the country was a young man who had a scientific turn of mind nmountiiijf to genius, who was allowed to go to Flaudew and died fighting, \\ nat' i a uiroless people we are that we allow a young man to depart and die whose genius might have been worth millions tu New Zealand. _ "If this boy's schemo is properly organised, it will lie a tremendous mcen- I tive to the town and country youth, and will soon pay for alii the millions oj I pounds fejfcerling that the Libeial and lieform parties are evidently going to spend on the development of this splendid little country. Wo are apt here m New Zealand to be soothed by political enthusiasts and entirely overrate what we have accomplished in the past, lo say that we arfe really a progressive people is not stating facts when we compare our efforts with wbut has been dono in other countries. To call this God s own country comes very near being a humorous remark when you ponder over how our principal cities and towns in New Zealand have been built. Look at the conditions existing in large portions of Auckland, Wellington, Olmstchurch, and Duuedin! Will anyone dare to assert that these cities have been built on scientific lines? If they liad been laid out originate? with tho express purpose of banishing the sunshine and the .flow-era (hey could not haw'been more successful. An At population cannot be reared m conditions such as these. "Untold millions are required to reorganise tho wliolo of our national life tij, give our working citizens of all kinds eiiWr and better conditions of existence, to build and rebuild our towns, harness the water power of this Dominion, give scientific encouragement to industry, tho utilisation of our wastes products, etc. I am as confident as I am of anything that the boys' agricultural oinbs will go a long way to stimulate that sentiment vliich will eventually ™ nlfo Nw Zealand ono of tho finest countries to live in on this earth. "May I, in conclusion, appeal to every Crown Minister, member of Parliament, municipal or county councillor, and other oiected representatives of tho people, not to imagino that tlw.y possess all the brains and energy in the community, but to welcome u;*istanco from any quarter which manv of them at present turn away, 'and also to every mpn and woman, boy and girl, to help in heading the Dominion towards really progressive methods, making it an example in scientific progressive development."
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Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 283, 26 August 1919, Page 8
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1,123BOYS' AGRICULTURAL CLUBS Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 283, 26 August 1919, Page 8
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