FARM INSTRUCTION

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 136, 25 June 1937, Page 13

FARM INSTRUCTION

-Pre83 Association. )

Cabinet Alive to Value oi Training MINISTER'S VIEWS

(By Teiegraph—

HAMILTON, June 23. "I noticed in tlie annual report of your association that emphasis is laid on the importance of a system of universal dairy farm instruction. The subject'will shortly be placed before Cabinet, and I can assure you that the Government will give careful considera"tion to the wishes of the industry." This statement was made by Hon. W. Lee Martin, Minister of Agricult" e, in his address at the opening of the National Dairy Association 's conference. "Farm dairy instruction on the b'a'sis of the appbintment of men with officialj status to carry out the work for individual or collective groups of dairy • companies was started at Kaupokonui . in 1912)" the Minister recalled. "The • number of men engaged in the work has • varied from tir:? to time, but at present there are 39 instructors of this type, and two further appointments have been approved. Of the 363 dairy com- ■ panies in the Dominion, 85 have the services of an instructor. Instructors are at the service of practically all the more i'mportant • dairy companies. The total number of suppliers to dairy factories . in New Zealand is 70,258, and of these 36,284 enjoy the benefits of an instructor. Let me put it another way. The .amount of butter made for the year ended July 31, 1936, was 146,687 tons, and of this quality 103,180 tons, or 70 , per cent., was made by creameries, having instructors, leaving 43,507 tons .without this service. However, the cheese manufacturers are not so fortumate.1 There were 85,555 tons of cheese made in the same period, and of this ' volume 34,356- tons, or 40 per cent., were .made under inst'ructiqn, leaving a bal- • ance of 51,199 tons without that supervisipn. "In. 1913, before the present system of farm instruction was established, an inspection qf 600 milking plants showed that 23 per cent. were in good condition, "27 per cent. iair, and 50 per cqnt."wete'bad. 'In 1935; of the ma- • .ehines inspected 50 per \ cent. were igopd, 41 per cent. fair, and 9 per cent. bad. Experienee shows that in districts .where the work has been undertaken : for the first time the conditions are ' similar to those found- by the -pioneer •instructors in 1913. , "Those figures provide concrete evidcnce of the service which is being • rendcred by the instructors, who are tackling the problem'at'the root. Un- ■ less the raw material for the manu- • facture of butter. and cheese ia'.of a ; high quality, the efforts in the fac- : tories themselves will be largely frus- ; trated. ■ Allocating the Cost. 1 "The conditions under. which these 'oiiicers have been appointed in the t ; past have been that the Governmeiit pays half their salaries and the dairy companies the other half, ,plus the cost of transport. .The minimum number of suppliers required to qualify . for the f ull subsidy is. 500. It has been estiniated that an . additional 38 tnen Avould.be required to cover those districts which "are not fully served, .and a -total cost to the Dominion would be .0266d per lb. of butterfat. ■ "In . allocating the cost as between .dairy companies, the. praetice followed in the past' ha's been- to base it on butterfat in some cases and on the number of suppliers in others, as it "has been xecognised that circuinstances var'y. In some districts the number of

suppliers per ton of butter or cheese is very much greater than in others," and ;the • allocation is nbt always equitable when based on either fat or suppliers alone.' It has been suggested that if the contribution from the daiTy companies '.wede based equally on the weight of r butterfat and the number of suppliers to the eompany this inequality would be jreduced, and some consideration will be .given to this point in the event of the 'Dominion scheme being established. "A feature of recent appointments has been the number made at the re.quest of dairy • companies which had dropped out and had later asked for the re-appointment of officers, while correspondence has been recently reiceived from others who have the parfcitime serA'ice of an officer and who are asking for his whole-time service," the •Minister concluded. "It must be kept -in mind that the farm dairy instruction service is primarily one of instruction, although it is necessary in exceptional cases to make it one of inspection. The number of cases in which this attitude must be taken is fortunately few. Combined with the milk and cream grading system, it has been responsible for a definite improvement in the standard of the raw material being delivered to our dairy factories."