SEED-TESTING STATION

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 52, 24 November 1937, Page 6

SEED-TESTING STATION

Little Hope for South Island TRANSFER TO WELLINGTON? • Little hope of a seed-testing station tbeing erected in the South Island was held. out to delegates attending the Kew Zealand Grain, Seed and Produce Merchants ' Federation conference in Hastings last evening by Mr Nelson Foy, of the Plant Research Station, Palmerston , North. Mr Foy intimated that if the present station was moved from Palmerston North it would certainly go to Wellington. "To those sponsors of branch stations in the South -Island I would say that although the claims of the dis-tr-icts concerned are no doubt strong ones the ehances of the Government acceding to the requests are very small," he said. ' Seed-stations, he pointed out, are expensive to equip and .maintain, and it was considered that the present institution was now sufiieiently wellstaffed and equipped to deal with present requirements. "In the -event of the station being transferred from Palmerston North, it will unquestionably go to Wellington, the administrative centre," he said, and he went on to refer to the unfortunate delay in reporting results experienced during the past season. These delays were a matter of much concern to the department and it was apprecia,ted that they seriously affected ordinary business procedure. "Within the past few weeks four additional assistants have been appointed, and necessary new equipment ordered," he said, "so that given reasonable circumstances there should be no undue delay in the coming season." He pointed out that the southern air mails are now used wherever a saving of days can be effected so that, ai'jj thougli it ean be claimed that tbe station is not ideally geographically situated, it can be claimed that the station is doing the best to give tbe equivalent of local service to most paris of the eountry. '