MONEY NEEDED

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 670, 23 May 1929, Page 6

MONEY NEEDED

“RE SHUFFLING” VIEWS In the opinion of the conference, the Department of Agriculture should be encouraged to extend its experiment work. ■yyHILE admitting this last evening, *’ several speakers advanced the view that the department required reorganisation. The Bay of Islands sub-province subgested that the whole question of grants to as important a department as that of agriculture be reviewed and the grants increased. Mr. R. H. Hatrick mentioned the great area covered by the agricultural Instructor in the North, and said that assistance was needed. He considered that the revenue of the Department of Agriculture, which needed every support, did not go far enough. Assistance was urgently required for a department attending the wants of the farmers. Mr. Norman Taylor seconded. Mr. W. Lee Martin did not think the remit would serve a useful purpose. LAND QUALITIES | Mr. A. McL. Wright raised the question again of experimental farms, which were not dealing with every class of land. The instructor in the North was doing excellent work and, had he more money, he would be able to carry out extended experiments. Costs on experimental farms would drop. Mr. Martin could uot see that anything could come from' the remit. Combined efforts had been made in Parliament to have the grants increased, but there had been no results. Nothing would be attained unless the whole department was reorganised. “We should make strong representations, instead, for the reorganisation of the department,” Mr. Martin said. Dr. Annett menyoned his experience in agricultural supervision. “I came to New Zealand on holiday three years ago,” he said, “and I have been struck by the good class of man in the department. "ALLOWEp TO DRIFT” “Things have been allowed to drift. Someone from overseas with an established reputation should have been imported to advise. The best advice should have been support. “A thing we need is what exists in England—agricultural advisory work in the county councils. Each county had an agricultural organiser, with four instructors under him. For one man to deal with North Auckland alone is a tremendous task. I strongly support the remit, because we want to help the department. But we want to take stock of the department and reorganise it. We want to see more research work before we concentrate on agricultural education. I am not criticising the department —that is not our object.” Mr. A. E. Robinson said that more money and more organisation were wanted. He did not, however, think that the remit would achieve much. Mr. Robinson said that the department had not carried out several previous requests. Mr. F, A. Harcombe, after Mr. W. Milne had mentioned favourable treatment from the department, suggested that the remit should be passed as a sign that the conference wanted to see more support for the department. Mr. Hatrick thought that the remarks generally showed that the remit should go through. It was carried.