H.—29.

The work of the agricultural clubs, in which the Department collaborates with the communities concerned and with officers of the Department of Education, was again characterized by success approximating that attaching to the work in recent previous years. The movement relative to young farmers' clubs, which gives promise of future importance and value, and which was initiated by the Fields Division, is extending rapidly, and officers of the Department are fostering the movement as far as possible by assisting in respect to lectures and demonstrations, while suitable co-operative trials are being undertaken in collaboration with the clubs. Conclusion. The normal advisory research and regulatory functions of the Department have been supplemented during the year by considerable services, in co-operation with the Meat Board, relative to the quota and other problems in connection with meat. And as was the case with the previous Dairy Produce Control Board, the Department has been in close contact with the Dairy Board appointed under the 1934 legislation in regard to various matters affecting dairying. The aim of the Department as a whole has been to render highly efficient services at the lowest possible cost, and I desire to record my appreciation of the assistance I have had in doing this from the Assistant Director-General, the Secretary, the Directors of the Divisions, and of other units, together with members of the staff generally, all of whom, during a year of special stress in connection with the Department's responsibilities, have given consistently of their best, and thereby enabled these responsibilities to be carried through. C. J. Reakes, D.V.Sc., M.R.C.V.S., Director-General.

NAURU AND OCEAN ISLANDS PHOSPHATE. Report op A. F. Ellis, C.M.G., New Zealand Commissioner, British Phosphate Commission. Details are supplied herewith as to the fifteenth year of operations under Government ownership at Nauru and Ocean Island. The year terminated on 30th June last, and the shipments compare with the two previous vears as follows : — 1932-33. 1933-34. 1934-35. Tons. Tons. Tons. Nauru .. .. •• ..436,100 379,100 457,900 Ocean .. ... • • • • 224,200 177,489 237,982 Total .. .. .. ..660,300 556,589 695,882 A substantial increase of 35,582 tons over the previous highest total will be noted, and in view of the exDanding demand for phosphatic fertilizers, a further increase in output from the two islands is being aimed at for the current year. Distribution of the output was as follows : Australia, 422,861 tons ; New Zealand, 214,621 tons ; other countries, 58,400 tons. The proportion of the output which came to New Zealand was 30-84 per cent., as compared with 26-95 per cent, for 1932-33 and 26-76 per cent, for 1933-34. Importations to New Zealand compared with the two previous years are — 1932-33. 1933-34. 1934-35. Tons. Tons. Tons. Nauru-Ocean 184,388 149,805 201,665 Outside phosphate .. • • • • 13,963 198,351 149,805 201,665 Favourable weather and good health conditions prevailed at the islands during the period under review ; labour conditions were also satisfactory. The Nauru loading cantilever continues to give excellent results, and it is now a frequent occurrence for vessels to arrive in the early morning and leave the same evening with a cargo of from 8,000 to 9,000 tons. In New Zealand ports there have been further improvements in the rate of discharge, favourably influencing our tonnage arrangements. The Commission's new motor vessel " Triaster " has entered the trade, and, similarly to the " Triona," is fitted with special equipment for lifting and relaying the deep-sea moorings at the islands, on which the success of our operations depends. The " Triaster" has a carrying-capacity of 7,900 tons of phosphate, and the " Triona " 6,550 tons ; the latter vessel has now delivered forty-one phosphate cargoes in Australia and New Zealand.

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