PLAINS EXPERIMENTAL FARM.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXII, Issue 4334, 26 October 1921, Page 4

PLAINS EXPERIMENTAL FARM.

establishment advocated. BY M.P. .FOR ONHINEMURL ALSO MINISTERIAL VISIT. (Special to the “ Gazette.”) WELLINGTON. Ehe following report of a discussion in the House, wherein Mr H. Poland, M.P. for Ohinemuri, advocated the establishment of an Experimental Farm on the Hauraki Plains, has come to hand : Mr Poland (Ohinemuri) referred to question No 24, with regard, tp the establishment of an experimental farm on the Hauraki Plains near Ngatea. He had asked the Minister a similar question last session when the honourable gentleman had stated that as the Department had made aU necessary experiments at Ruakura, with regard tp the treatment of peat lands, it was not necessary to establish an experimental pilot on the Hauraki Plains. He (the Minister) said : “As full information as to 1 the treatment of this class g( country has already been obtained at Ruakura, and in view of the very large number of demands for experimental areas throughout the Dominion, it 1" not necessary to conduct further experiments at Ngatea. The Department will be glad to give settlers on these lands the full benefit of the results obtained at Ruakura, upon application being made .to the Instructor, in Agriculture at Auckland/’ Tn reply to the member for Thames (Mr T. M. Rhodes) that day, the Minister said that as the “ establishment of an experimental area at Ngatea

would involve considerable expenditure, the suggestion cannot be enter-

tained at present.” The reason to-day was Quite different from that given last year, Mr Poland said, but it seemed to him that neither argument was sufficient .to. warrant the. Department in refraining from carrying out experiments in connection with this Ipnd. The peat country at Ruakura which had been experimented on by the Department Was entirely different in its character from that on the Hauraki Plains, and any experiment there could be ofi little value in connection with the Hauraki Plains peat country. r ln the Hauraki Plains at present the Lando Department were dealing almost entirely with peat country, and in the report submitted to the House on the previous day it was shown that there were about 40,000 acres of peat country there to be opened up. It was the duty of the Minister of Lands, in conjunction with the Minister, of Agriculture, to expend any reasonable sum of money necessary in establishing ah experimental station -tn the centre of the peat country of 1 the Plains, so that the settlers there now, and those who would go in the future, womd have the benefit ofi the experiments would be carried out. The Miniser must know what a tremendous saving it would be to the settlers,! and indirectly to the country if the Government would establish an ex-; perimental plot, and be able to properly advise the settlers coming on : to the-land as to the treatment of it —what to. sow, and when snd how to drain, how to prepare the land for permanent pasture, and so on. The total expenditure would be very small, and no matter what the financial stringency was to-day, this was an expenditure that would come out of the Hauraki Plains Loans Account, and was, indeed, urgent. It was a work that was as necessary as, if not more necessary than, expenditure bn the drainage of the land, and the Minister would be welll advised to consult with his colleague, the Minister of Lands, on .the matter. He strongly urged him. in the interests of i successful settlement on the. land | that he should nbt delay, owing to the financial stringency in taking the I necessary steps immediately to establish an experimental plot on the 1 Plains by utilising the section now I reserved for the purpose, or another similar one. The Hon. Mr Nosworthy (Minister of Agriculture) : I will do what I can the first opportunity I have. Mr Poland said he was glad to hear the Minister say so; he was sure if the honourable gentleman could do anything to assist the settlers he wouHd do it. He would be satisfied if the Minister would visit the Plains and see the advantages.' for himself.