The Daily News. MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1912. A PRACTICAL GOVERNOR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 119, 7 October 1912, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1912. A PRACTICAL GOVERNOR.

In his speech on Saturday the Governor I gave some very sound and very practical advice to the farming community. Lord Islington speaks as one-having authority, for he is himself a practical farmer, and he knows what he is talking about. He frankly admitted that the farmer in New Zealand was, generally speaking, more progressive than the farmer at Home, but added that there was no reason why this progressiveness should stop at that. He pleaded for more extensive fertilising, the closer culling of flocks and herds, and, above all, for a greater extension of the system | of co-operation. His remarks, he said, applied particularly' to the dairying industry, where it was necessary to bring science, enterprise and industry to bear if the province of Taranaki was to continue to uphold the splendid reputation 1 it had won on the markets of the world. He emphasised the value of exhaustive testing, and pointed out that what the j dairy farmer wanted was fertile beasts 'quite as much as fertile lands, and that every animal that failed to respond to a satisfactory test was simply so much drag upon the capacity of the farmer's land. ' It is impossible to attach too much weight to His Excellency's eminently practical address. We are too much in the habit of allowing the moderate to suffice, when the best should b<\ aimed at, and with land at its present value the farmer simply cannot afford to allow a leakage anywhere. As to the co-operative system, we have already proved its value in Taranaki, but it is still susceptible of extension and elaboration, and this the Governor has not beeH slow to appreciate. Co-operation goes naturally hand in hand with scientific production, and it is reasonable to assume that the farmer who has not to worry with the details of the disposal

of his produce will have more' time to spare for the perfecting of his production. This, of course, can naturally be best brought about by a federation of co-operative societies, and Lord Islington's remarks in this direction are well worth the earnest consideration of both the farmers and the merchants. It is not every Governor who takes such a keen and such a practical interest in this particular phase of our industries, and Taranaki must regret not having had the opportunity of seeing more of Lord Islington.