NEW ZEALAND AND DENMARK.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 348, 29 March 1911, Page 6

NEW ZEALAND AND DENMARK.

A QUESTION OF STATE AID. A statement has been made in public print by a gentleman who poses as an authority on the dairying industry that "the Agricultural Department should be abolished and dairy and fruit farmers rest entirely upon their own resources, as the Government only exploits them for its own purposes. The Danish farmers do everything for themselves, and until the New Zealand farmers follow suit they will never reach the Danbsh perfection." As usual, the "authority" in question is sadly astray in regard to his facts. The sums granted for the encouragement of agriculture in Denmark in 1910 (says a Consular report) amounted in all to £283,313, or about a twentieth of the whole national annual expenditure. On that basis, this is equal to an annual grant of £8,000,000 for agriculture in the United Kingdom. The total vote for the Agricultural and Commerce Department of this country for 1909-10 was 139,182. The subvention to the local argicultural Societies amounts to £10,900. There are 115 of these societies, with 84,500 members, and in addition the State pays a good deal for lectures and the travelling expenses of small holders and pig breeders, and provides prizes at local shows. Some 2(H) horse-breeding, 1310 cattlebreeding, 250 pig-breeing, and 90 sheep-breeding aissociations also receive State aid towards the improvement of stock.

Fifteen hundred dairies, practically all of them co-operative, go without direct aid, but £6GGG is given to the Control Societies which give subsidies for the education of dairy managers and for experiments in cheese, etc. The sum of £222,222 is at the disposal of the Parish Councils through the District Commission each year for five years, for the purpose of assisting peasants to purchase holdings. The Heath Society, which exists for the planting of heath lands with forest, receives a subvention of £30,355. Many argicultural high schools, veterinary schols, experimental laboratories, etc., are also maintained or subsidised by the State. Students from the peasant schools make a general use of these technical colleges. And, saya the New Zealand authority, "the Danish farmers do everything for themselves!"