INCREASING DEVELOPMENT.

Matamata Record, Volume III, Issue 114, 9 January 1919, Page 3

INCREASING DEVELOPMENT.

Agricultural Development Everybody agrees with the oftrepeated dictum that it is necessary in order to avoid the financial stringency that threatens as a result of the war, to increase production from the land. There are two ways of doing so. One is to add to the number of farmers, the other to increase the average yields from the farms already producing. The demand by numbers of returned soldiers for land will certainly multiply the number of holdings if there is anything at all in the Repatriation movement, but to increase production by more efficient farming is a proposition that has not received the attention its importance demands. A great deal has certainly been said on the subject; farmers have repeatedly been counselled to produce more wealth from the soil, but very littlo serious effort has beon made in that direction. Better herds and an organised system of culling out non-pTotit-able beasts ; milk testing on a recognised basis; improved and labor-saving methods on the farm —all these things are spoken of as something to hope for in an indefinite future. Meanwhile the farmer plods along very much in the same old rut. The old generation are not easily convinced of the profit to be gained by more intense cultivation and scientific methods. Some there are, no doubt, who have tried the more enlightened ways and proved the benefits; certainly where not prevented by local difficulties, modernised methods and applied science have brought full reward. But what of the future. Instead of a sectional endeavor to increase production, should there not be a general movement amongst all farmers and directed by the G overnment towards closer settlement, more intense cultivation and greater agricultural prosperity. Now is the time to open a thorough campaign for improved farming everywhere, with a view of increasing the average yields, so that profits may not be decreased by the higher cost of working the land. That there will he greater taxation nobody doubts, and the land will have to return to the State a big proportion of the war debt. The officers of the department could do much if they were given the opportunity, but unfortunately the policy of recent years has been not to increase, but to decrease the efficiency of the department. There is plenty of evidence that the American system of appointing district instructors, or county agents, has paid for itself a hundred times over, but hore, not only are such instructors unavailable, but the assistance that farmers might get from a properly-equipped Agricultural department is denied them. It has been said that the

aim of the Government was not to starve the department, but to see that money was not wasted. That of course is a sound policy. There can be no justification for spending money for the sake of keeping up a staff of inefficients, but surely it should be recognised that of all industries agriculture is the one that most needs stimulation. So long as money is spent wisely, and results are shown, any increase in expenditure in assisting agriculture would prove a profitable investment to the State.