NOTES AND COMMENTS

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 291, 7 September 1942, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS

Some very pointed comment lias been made by the managing director of a seed firm in Auckland regarding the policy of the Department of Agriculture “in forcing fertilizer companies to mix one-part of serpentine with three of superphosphate.” He based his criticism on the bulking-out and increasing weight of supplies' at a time when economy of labour, trucks, tyres, petrol and sacks was vital. It is essential to effect all possible economies in these items, but the really vital aspect is the maintenance of production. It would be wasteful to add anything to the materials used for topdressing if it served no purpose, or if there were a more efficient and cheaper substitute. And these things, fortunately, are not matters of opinion or conjecture. They can be ascertained definitely, and the Department of Agriculture should have the data. In Its report in 1941 the department stated that "114 new experiments with serpentine superphosphate have been laid down during the year,” and that was only a part of the work undertaken by the Fields Division. Altogether 140 experiments on grasslands were related to wartime fertilizer problems, and the report added-. “It win be obvious that investigational work is being directed toward the solving of urgent problems brought about by the difficulty of importing either raw material or processed fertilizer." It may be a little too soon to expect final results from these experiments, for evidently the division works on a three-yeav basis, but to the results already Obtained can be added the practical experience of farmers who have used the mixed fertilizer so that it should be possible to base decisions on data provided In part by experiment and in part by farming practice.

As we have seen from' experience of its results modern warfare in three dimensions—sea, land and air—involves the utmost perfection in co-operation between the three services. This principle, it is satisfactory to learn, is now being applied in the training of the armed forces in New Zealand. As the Minister of Defence, Mr. Jones, emphasizes in an explanatory statement referring to the expansion of the Royal New Zealand Air Force, "troops must learn not only to defend themselves against aerial attack, but also to take advantage of aerial support.” From this it follows that officers in each of the respective arms must have more than n cursory knowledge of the others if effective co-operation is to be achieved. Most careful and systematic training will be needed, and this cannot be hurried. The task has not been begun.any i ,,toojqpn.