EXPERIMENTAL STATIONS WANTED.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 76, 26 March 1912, Page 4

EXPERIMENTAL STATIONS WANTED.

In his address at the annual meeting of the Canterbury A. and P. Association Sir Geo. Clifford (the president) said the Department of Agriculture should he under the management of non-political commissioners who could devote trained intelligence to the work whose whole abilities should be at the service of the agricultural community, and who should be responsible for the wise expenditure of the sum which Parliament might entrust to them for their almost paramount purpose, but who above all should be independent of the political wrangles which are part of our constitutional system. They had had recently an example which illustrated his observation. The Farmers’ Union had invited the association to co-operate with them in obtaining experimental stations in North Canterbury with the object of fighting the' ravages of the grub. A deputation had waited on t)ie'Minister and had been courteously received. They had been assured that their representations would be considered, but so far they had been treated with contemptous inattention. It was important that Canterbury should be in receipt of information which the Government could obtain. Private enterprise would never compensate for the absence of organised research. Lincoln College was as good in its class as anything in the Southern Hemisphere. At the same time, it had its special purpose, the education of the youth of the country, that way; but beyond that they wanted experimental stations throughout the country in many places, and with different soils. He thought that these should be carried out on the Canadian system under which farmers placed plots of ground at the disposal of agricultural inspectors, who ■were men of experience and scientific attainment. These men taught the farmers in their varied ways and under varied conditions which to avoid and what to do in the growth of their crops, and the extirpation of particular pests. Until that was clone they would not have completed their sys-

tom for the best utilisation of the land.