BEE FARMING IN WESTUNB.

Hokitika Guardian, 13 September 1919, Page 4

BEE FARMING IN WESTUNB.

A PLEA FOR ACTION. At the meeting of the Westland Chamber of Commerce last night, Mr John Murdoch of Ross, forwarded the following letter received from the Minister of Agriculture regarding bee keeping in Westland With reference to the statement you submitted to me in Hokitika recently regarding bee keeping on the West Coast, aud the appointment of an Apiary Instructor for the district, 1 beg to inform you that I have had the matter gone into, I regret that I am unable, at the present time, to appoint an Instructor, as requested, but I may inform you that it is proposed to go into the question of the establishment of an Apiary in connection with the instructional and demonstration station which the Department is going to establish in Westland, This will enable that station to become an instructional centre in bee-keeping, and further, provide an opportunity for giving 'another practical test to this industry in the Westland district. (Signed) W. D. S. MacDonald, Minister of Agriculture. With regard to the foregoing, Mr Murdoch wrote- the Chamber as follows :

Gentleman, - You will see by the enclosed letter from the Hon W. D. S. MacDonald that he is unable ai the present time to appoint an Apiary Instructor for Westland as he promised during his recent visit to Hokitika. It is proposed to go into the question of an Apiary section’in connection with the instructional station which the Department is going to establish in Westland. llow much is this worth ? He has had the matter gone into. By whom ? Let us hope it is no prejudiced official like the one who gives us credit for 70/b wet and sunless days instead of therefore he could give no official recommenda-. tion to assist the bee-keeping industry in Westland. He finishes up by saying, “ This will enable that station to become an instructional centre in' bee-keeping, and give another practical test to this industry in Westland.”

No wonder the National bee keepers of N.Z. at the last Conference in Wellington again pressed for the appointment of a Chief Apiarist who would organise honey production throughout the whole Dominion. _ I have not the slightest hesitation in repeating that it is within the power of the Government to assist this industry (just as the dairying industry has been helped along) in Westland, so that with a scheme extending over a period of five years we could then export honey to the value of £40,000 per annum. Practical beekeepers recognise that in Westland the commercial side of bee-keeping is in its infancy. The only Westland returns avail-; able for last season are as follows : No. of Hives, 8 ; increased to 21 ; Crop, 4 cwt; Season, poor. No. of Hives, ll; increased to 17; Crop, 6 cwt; Season, poor. No. of Hives, 6; increased to 22 > Crop, 2| cwt; Season, fair, No. of Hives, 50; increased to 85 ; Crop, 1 ton 8 cwt; Season, poor. No, of Hives, 14; increased to 25 ; Crop, 1 ton 4 cwt; Season, very good. Average yield per hive, 42.491b5.

When you consider that the most of the above returns are from beekeepers who have had very little help from any of the Apiary Instructors (for the simple reason that we have had only two Instructors visit us for many years devoting a day to each place) it compares very favourably (showing that our location balances their experience) with other districts as the following will show. The average yield per' hive for Auckland is 53.64 lbs; Wellington, 42.04 lbs ; Canterbury, 82.71 lbs ; Otago, 50.91 lbs ; Southland 26 lbs ; Nelson 47.76 lbs; Marlborough, 70.83 Westland, 42.49 lbs. Please bear in mind that these returns (bar Westland ) are from experienced bee-keepers who have the advantage of the Apiary Instructors in their districts.

lh looking through the official, returns I find that for individual Apiaries my average return of nearly 200 lbs per colony was only beaten by one man in the whole Dominion.

Number of hives in Otago, 9; increased to 16; crop, 1 ton 3 cwt; season, very good. Number of hives in Westland, 14; increased to 25; crop, 1 ton 4 cwt; season, very good. Don’t you think it is time Westland had a change P We have a location 8 from Reef ton to the glacier as good as in any part of New Zealand. Last season we had rain up to the end of January, and in spite of this we got an average of nearly 200 lbs per colony. Only two miles from Hokitika we have an ideal spot for an instructional centre in bee-keeping. What a boon this would bo for any returned soldier or a lady who could only attend once or twice a week as trains from Ross or Greymouth on Wednesdays and Saturdays would enable' anyone to spend the day amongst the bets and return home the same night.

During their course of instruction, queen rearing and building up Nuclei hives could be carried on by the Instructor. The following season a limited number of Nuclei hives could be sold to students and they would have the satisfaction of knowing they were tree from foul brood.

The President of the N,Z. Beekeepers’ Association was asked what he valued a hive of bees at. He said that with his experience it would be a better business proposition for him to buy (if he could) 100 colonies of bees at £1 each, during the month of October, provided they were free from foul brood ; than it would be to buy three or four frame hives and breed up. Several reputable beekeepers quote four frame biyes from 25/to 40/, ! according to the value of the selected queen. j At Ruakura last season a record

number of cadets—forty-seven in all—attended the Apiary courses. Of these twenty-four were women, seventeen returned soldiers, and six others. With very few exceptions the cadets displayed keen interest in the work. The majority of them will take up commercial beekeeping and so become producers. This Apiary has been very much overtaxed owing to the number of students in attendance for instruction, and it is quite apparent that some other arrangement will have to be made in the near future.

Here is your chance. Where is that ideal spot within two miles of Hokitika ? Ask the President. A resolution was carried at last conference pressing on the Government, the necessity of establishing a State Apiary for instructional purposes in the South Island and that the Department of Agriculture be asked to appoint four more permanent Apiary Inspectors for the Dominion. This month, September, is the best month for an Apiary Instructor to commence operations so as to get the benefit of a full season. , , I trust this Chamber will do its best to further the interests of the district and urge the present Minister ot Agriculture to send au Instructor this month to develop onr dormant industry. A specialist in beekeeping, with British and. Dominion experience, at present living in Canterbury, I believe, could be iuduced to organise a campaign on the Coast to develop the honey industry in the event of the Department replying that they had no suitable man available at present, It was suggested that the foregoing correspondence be published for general information. Instances were given of the success of bee-keeping in Westland, -and it was resolved to support Mr Murdoch’s request for a visit of an Instructor as early as possible, to go into the question of the expansion of bee-keeping in Westland. i