Naval Officers as Pig-Raisers

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 68, 11 June 1927, Page 21 (Supplement)

Naval Officers as Pig-Raisers

War on Foreign Pork

A new colony of landworkers is , springing up at the village of Hawkinge, in the Alkham Valley, between Deal and Folkestone. For some time past Commander Temple-West. R.N., has been rearing thousands of pigs annually on his extensive farm there. Now, owing to his knowledge of intensive breeding and his ability to work on a commercial basis, he considers that the time has arrived to augment the industry by the addition of small holdings. Already a number of up-to-date bungalows are being erected there. Two are occupied by ex-naval officers —Commander Phillimore and Lieut. Wise —with their wives and families. Every member of this rapidly rising colony has, in addition to his bungalow, a large piggery shed, properly drained and equipped, and capable of accommodating 30 pens of pigs. Each settler supervises the rearing of his own stock, and when the pigs reach a certain age they are transferred to Commander Temple-West’s home farm for fattening. Commander Temple - West said: "Years ago this idea was started by the Dutch and the Danes, and they made good business out of it. Yet we, who have been here only a short time, arp already beating them “Very soon, I think, we shall be able to supply the requirements of Smithfield, and we hope gradually to kill tb~ foreign monopoly.” Commander Temple-West said his colony contemplated sausage production on a gigantic scale in the neajr future. Commander Phillimore added that there was no reason why the colony should not be able to supply all the pork that the country required.