POLITICAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 207, 29 February 1912, Page 2

POLITICAL.

WORK OF THE AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. EXPERIMENTAL FARMS. During his address in Parliament on Monday, the Hon. T. Mackenzie, member for Egmont, said that Mr. Massey, who had always criticised the Department of Agriculture, had said that the experiment farms were the laughing stock of the country, and that it would take years to correct the mischief that the Minister (that was himself) had done. These were very serious stater ments, and unless he could prove them Mr. Massey should at once withdraw them. The fact was that the only man who had tried to raise a laugh against the work of the Minister was the gentleman responsible for the Hine charges. In regard to what had Tieen said regarding his attitude towards agricultural instruction, re declared he wanted to see a school at which any man,, however poor, could go and get instruction. For the first few months his work would go against his keep, and afterwards he could make some recompense. The Minister spoke of the manner in which the Opposition had decried the work done on the experiment farms, and denied that there had been any extravagance. PROFITABLE HERDS. Quoting Weraroa, he showed that a cow for which the Department paid £4O could be sold now for 350. gns., which, with profits already made, would mean that his department would make , £642 put of her. The milking herd at Weraroa cost less than £7OO. It was now worth £2250 and, when the value of produce and young stock was added, it meant that the Department could make £6600 out of it. He would like to see ten thousand acres of those fruit lands which the Department had created out of poor soil cut up into areas which would en-, able the city people to get out into God's fresh air. At, Wairangi, this had taken, place successfully, and the Government, by its experts, followed the fruit right into the market so as to show the best conditions. VALUABLE EXPERIMENTS: _ A million acres of splendid land lay idle in the North Island owing to the cattle disease known as bush sickness, but he was sure that Mr. Reakes, a Government officer, had almost obtained a solution of the trouble. If so it would mean an addition of five to fifteen millions sterling of wealth to this country. There v/as also go,od work to demonstrate the utility of pumice lands and the re-grass-ing of the Central Otago and Canterbury poor, lands. There were 5000 experimental plots operating in the South Island.