The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXX, Issue 2455, 5 April 1888, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

t>l .vii.it .r,,-., r ~Mti- or j.-u.-suasion, religious (•• TllUllbDAY, A ('ML J, IHBS. O Of tho advantages which a Board of Agriuulturo would bo to such i\ country district as this of Waikato there cau be no second opinion, but ive doubt very much if tlio mootiiis , of yesterday lias advanced tho movement in tho slightest degree. Nor do we see the necessity of :i coinuiittoo being appointed to draft a Bill to enable Parliament to establish Boards of Agriculture iu New Zealand. "What special knowledge such eonimittoo would possess which the Legislature or tho Attorney-General are not likely to have, we fail to see. What we would have liked to have seen was that the promoters of the movement present at the meeting, .should have stated somewhat morn broadly, what functions and powers it was desirable that such hoards should exercise and possess, and by what means it was intended they should subsist and administer such functions. Boards of Agriculture cannot lie run without funds, and whether such boards are assisted from comity funds or have vested in them wives the power of t,:ixi'i'.' tii ■ iv'-iiivvis for the necps\-:iry -\-•■■.•-. ■>.•-..■! nr.ni.-:, i' simply in t.j-, !.'\t''i'i tixatiou for th'.i ra ■•■|>ayi , i>;. Now this, we do jio iii.'sKaie k> s y, will not bi! uuxTpt-ilile to the people of Waikato at the present time. .It was the certainty that this must be the case that induced Mr Chcpmcll, and those with him, to vote against tlm iirst resolution : and doubtless public opinion will go with him. We doubt very much, too, if the. (loverntnent, or the l.egiskture will support a measure of this kind, an.i invest a local body, ■which woni i be tho nucleus of every political agitation, with powers to tax the public for that object,

i.E is ; ii.n such :i bolv would ixi t> tho f;r. in'i , wliiit" tli" (.'UainliiM , of (AiiniiKM-cn is to tlio iucreliant an 1 tho klovp], O'pfi'; but tho ens:' siiiiivfly analogous when we »'o t) thn (iovornmeiit to orentrc covpomfe iiO;lics with powers of lovying , rates to carry on their functions. Chambers of Oommerco are supported by Iho voliintiiiy contributions of their members, and are not corporate, bodies exercising admiviistrativu ['mictions. These are diliieul(ie.> which staro the present movement in the face. On the other hand it i;- argued that the p-)\vi:r to cllVut all that is needed i:i i;ontained in the '!'.)[ clause of (hr.i (Joimtii s \ct, ISS!>, wliich provides that " i'lie council may, from time to time, apply any portion of the county funds to the establishment, and maintenance of Agricultural (Schools or model farms, and to the purchase, and construction of the necessary lands, buildings, implements of all sorts, and live stock, to be used for,oriu connection therewith." Now this is gooi so far as it goes, but it does not go far enough to secure the object sought for by th" promoters of the present movement. They look to the Board of Agriculture as a bureau which shall acquire general and statistical information necessary to the successful carrying out of agriculture as a business, as a body which would collect and disseminate information regarding extent and locality of soils suitable for particular crops, and generally promote the settlement of the waste lands and the interests of agriculture—and. if needs be, on the occasion, s-iy if a new tariff being proposed, becoming the mouthpiece of the farming community, or such portions of it as affected their interests. These, we take it, are what is really required from a Board of Agriculture, but the 291 clause of the Act stops far short of this, nor does it even provide for united action between several counties. Nevertheless, if the •natter is to go before Parliament for legislation, by far the simplest plan would be to seek for an amendment of this clause giving increased powers. This would be far better than drafting an Act, and more likely to meet with tho favour of the Legislature. In any case wo "would counsel those to whom the work has been committed to avoid as much as possible giving extonsivo powor of taxation to any new local body, or oven to existing ones for the proposed object. None of tho counties, except that, perhaps, of Waikato, have the means to incur expenditure for the maintenance of such boards from ordinary revonuo, and if an additional rate has to bo struck it should only be on the jiiino conditions that a special rate is levied, by the oonsont of the ratepayers taken by a poll for that purpose, if properly and carefully worked the expenses of a Board of .Agriculture need not he large. Its functions at first may be kept within μ-htow limits, -rowing as the capabilities of the district for supporting it increased. its usefulness at first might not be quite equal to the expectations or wishes of its, at present, most sanguine advocates, but those enterprises and those, institutions succeed best wliich commence with small beginnings, and gradually grow as they acquire strength, and their administrators icquire experience.