BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 February 1917, Page 7

BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

STRONG CRITICISM. THE "DEAD HAND" RULING, NEED FOR NEW BLOOD. At the conference of delegates of tlife Taranaki A. and P. Associations held at Hawera on Monday to appoint a member to the Board of Agriculture, some criticism of the Board of Agriculture was voiced.

Mr. Dingle, of Stratford, has represented Taranaki for the past three years on the Board, and before calling on him for a brief account of his stewardship the chairman pointed out that the Boara had been working under great disabilities during the war, and allowances must be made for that fact, but he would point out that no report- had been made by the Board, and the public knew very little of what they had done. No doubt a great deal of their work was of a private nature, but the A. and i*. Associations should have been taken into their confidence to some extent. Unless they could work more in unison in future it would be difficult to knew whe- [ ther all were working along the best lines to achieve the objects they weiv striving for. Mr. Dingle reminded them that thtt Agricultural Board was appointed in 1!>14, and he had the honor of being chosen to represent Taranaki on that Board. Ho was then of the opinion that he would get information from time to time which he could placs before members of the A. and P. Associations at their annual meetiligs and would then be able to give an outline of the work th»t the Board was doing. But lie might now say that the Board of Agriculture was only an Advisory Board and the greater part of their work was of a confidential nature. They could carry out nothing; they could only give advice to the Minister, and it rested entirely with him or his officers whether they approved of the suggestions made. The public would naturally expect that the Minister of Agriculture would have closely interested himself with the work of the Board; that- they would have seen him occasionally, or that he would have come to their meetings now and again to ask what was wanted. When the Beard first met, Mr. Massey gave thorn an address, but from that time tliey rarely saw a Minister, and were never in touch with him unless they wc-nt to see him. The Minister of Agriculture did not sit at the Board meetings, or assist them in any way. Mr. Massey promised to appoint a Minister who would be able to give a considerable, amount of time, not only to the Board, but to going throughout the country to ascertain its needs, but Mr. Mac Donald was now in the same position as Mr. Massey was when he was Minister of Agriculture; the work of the war had imposed other duties which more than occupied the time of Ministers. As to the functions of the Board, he considered that primarily they were to make recommendations and have them carried out if possible, for greater production in the country. It was most important that they should endeavor to increase the production of the land—in butter-fat, wool, beef and fruit; they wanted to make two blades of grass grow where one only grew now, and they wanted to improve their herds of sheep and cattle awl bring them to maturity sooner and so get more and more out of the land. The members of the Board lmd visited the State farms as individuals, but not as a Board, and this he considered was a mistake. They should have gone to these farms officially as a Board, and enquired. into their operations, because, in their opinion the farms were not doing as much good as they should do, considering that they were costing £20,000 ,» .year. The officials were trying to make a commercial success of them, and failing. Then again in regard to the matter of noxious weeds. County Councils, the Department, and Board of Agriculture had had this matter before them from time to time, but they did not appear to get any further ahead, and he regretted that in some parts of Taranaki the blackberry and ragwort were on the increase. The trouble was that they were living in one of the finest producing countries in the world, and that people apparently troubled very little about these matters. If their country had been poorer they would have been compelled to give them proper attention.

Coming to tho question of the appointment of a representative to the Board for the coming period, he (Mr. Dmgle) would like, to say that he was not seeking re-election. He had had .three years, and he would like to se>i the appointment passed 011. He would like tcj point out here that the other members of the Board regarded tho Taranaki representative 'as the dairy should be borne in mind in appointing a Taranaki member.

Before concluding, he would like to say further that ho was desirous of seeing a small farm established in Taranaki where farmers could go and see experiments carried out. Such a farm might bo worked in conjunction with rlie Education Board, the A. and P. Associations, and even the dairy companies and loeal bodies. New Zealand was a long way behind Ireland in this respect; there they had little farms started by the local bodies and it would be worth while if the dairy companies supported something of this kind in New Zealand. He did not believe in leaning on the country too much, and it would not be a great deal to a'sk the dairy companies and the local bodies to co-operate for this purpose, The Moumahaki farm was out of the question, so far, at all events as the northern part of Taranaki was concerned; a farmer wanted to see a crop more than once; he wanted ti. watch it through its development and that was why they required some central place where their operations could be constantly before the dairy farmer. He trusted this would be kept in view, as the time was coming when they must have an exp< imeulal farm carrying out practical experiments which would be a commercial success.

Mr. Morrison was convinced, after hearing Mr. Dingle, that ihe work of the Agricultural Board was only at its beginning and would accomplish much good. Although they might not see a great deal of direct result, the bringing together of the representatives of tho various industries, together with the heads of Government. Departments and the Ministers might result in a great, deal being accomplished.Up»n being elected to a scat on the Board of Agriculture in Mr. Dingle's place Mr. 0. Hawkcn remarked that his association had considered tliis question from a broad point of view, and although when nominating him they had thought that Mr. Dingle would be renominated, considered it would be a good thing to have an election. They were not in any way dissatisfied wit's

Mr. Dingle's representation, hut as a body of farmers they realised that farmers as a rule did not take sufficient interest in the sending of representatives who would voice their opinions as they should bo voiced. There were men representing the farming opinion to-day who were representing it twenty years ago, and there seemed to be in the farm.ing business methods of representation and consertatism that were difficult to get rid of. lie contended, and lmd contended for a long time past, that many men who were representing the farming opinion of New Zealand to-day were out of touch to a very large extent with modern farming opinion. The voice of the farmers in New Zealand had for a gcod many years been ultra-conserva-tive. He had hoped that when this Board was formed, a body representing, as it did, the whole of the farmers in New Zealand, that there would ..avc been a voice entitled to conside/anon art<r puulicity, but after hearing Mr. Dingle's remarks it was clear that some alteration iu the powers of that Board were necessary. A public body whose deliberations were not given publicity was looked upon as a weak body, but the opinions of the gentlemen who composed the Board of Agriculture were worthy of publicity, throughout the country, and anything which blopkcd that publicity should be anjended. ' He had thought this matter out a great deal, and considered that it would be a great pity if the agricultural and pastoral,community in New Zealand were not represented in the future as they should be. They would have noticed for some time past that public opinion was becoming firmly fixed that the farmer was the wealthy man and ! therefore the one who should pay. And in this he agreed with public opinion. If the farmers were wise they would try to get part of the management of their wealth when it comes to be distributed, as the public would ask to see it distributed. To do this they must have men in the lead of farming opinion who will advance with the times. Political economy and all that kind of thing was going to change with the war more than any of them dreamed of. They would have noticed the modern and extraordinary methods adopted by the British Governments in working the country during the war, and they must realise that after the war these things would never go back to the old condition. Things they never dreamed of in political economy would take place after the war, and it was very necessary that the farming community should now wake up. It is they who will have to find the money for New Zealand; taxation must come from them, because it is a now country and other industries arc not yet developed, and taxation must come from the products of the land. Farmers should therefore see that they have a voice in the new arrangement of schemes .which will be put into force. It was unfortunate that the Government, in appointing an official body such as this Board' of Agriculture undoubtedly should have been, should lmve taken away a great proportion of tiieir power. Mr. Dingle: They have no power. Continuing, Mr. Hawken said they sl.-ould have power to nave their opinion? and deliberations made public. It was not only his opinion, but the opinion of many farmers also, that they were dissatisfied with the men who were at present leading them. There was not sufficient new blood coming into the head of the farming community. They had men at their head holding various positions: Sir James Wilson, for example, held many positions, and whilst freely admitting his abilities and many great qualifications, it was weakening their position to have only one representative, where they should have half a dozen representing their opinions. Ho had attended many conferences and one fact was very noticeable. He had seen men get up to speak who were comparatively unknown; they might make good speeches and offer good suggestions, but the reporters dashed off a lino or two anil then put down their pencils and took no further notice of them. When some other had got up to speak every word was recorded, and how, he asked', under those conditions, were the public to get a proper knowledge of the farming opinion when only the utterances of the same men were recorded year after year. After all it was the farmers' own fault-. They must take the matter in hand and send new blood to the head of their affairs i Mr. J. Blair endorsed Mr. Hawken's remarks and the necessity for new blood. At a council of war, ho reminded them, the first man to speak was the youngest member; his opinion was taken first, and so in the fanners' afl'airs they should put in and lis!en to young men with initiative. Mr. Hawken would fill the position on the Board of Agriculture admirably. He knew agricultural and pastoral farming thoroughly, was a sound thinker, and had initiative.

As the outcome of remarks made by Messrs Dingle and Hawken, the following resoluticvi was carried: "That in the opinion of this meeting of delegates of the A. and P. Associations of Taranaki, sufficient publicity is .not given to the deliberations of the Board, and that in consequence their work, to a considerable extent, i 3 nullified, and this meeting gives it as an instruction to its delegates to bring before the first meeting of the Board that in future proper publicity should be given to their deliberations and thereby give the farming community some evidence of its activities and inspire confidence in the re; piesentatives."—Star.