H.—29.

Exportation of Stock. During the year under review the following animals were exported : Cattle, 30 ; sheep, 17,016 ; pigs, 31 ; horses, 47. There was the usual movement of thoroughbred horses to and from Australia. Dairy Inspection. The supervision of the production of milk for consumption in the cities and towns of the Dominion is an important part of the work of officers of this Division. This class of production requires constant supervision to ensure a safe, clean, and wholesome article of diet. In the main, no serious problems were met with during the year, although in some districts it was difficult to maintain an adequate supply during the winter months. Arrangements were made to overcome such local difficulties. The co-operation afforded by the Health Department in the examination of milk samples as to bacterial counts and keeping-quality of the milk is much appreciated. Many composite milk samples have been submitted to the biological test at the Animal Research Station, Wallaceville. The results have been very satisfactory. The general standard of hygiene in production has been maintained, but this requires constant and regular supervision. Poultry. The instructional staff of the Department has continued to carry out a service of great value to poultrymen throughout the Dominion, and during the year this staff has been strengthened by the appointment of Messrs. Haddon, who is stationed in Auckland as Assistant Instructor, and Jourdain, who is stationed at Dunedin. The appointment of these officers should allow of more extended work of an advisory nature being available than formerly. It is known that the service being given by the instructional staff is appreciated and that poultry-men value the advice that they are able to offer. Some two thousand five hundred visits were made during the year, and in addition many requests for advice were answered by letter. Disease troubles throughout the year were principally connected with coccidiosis, leukemia, pullorum, tuberculosis, fowl-pox, and black head, but in no case was there any serious trouble, and the application of better management and feeding, combined with early detection and elimination of affected birds, prevented further spread of the trouble. A number of flocks were blood tested for pullorum disease, and some vaccination against fowl-pox was carried out by poultry-men in the Auckland district as a precautionary measure. Reports indicate that more attention is being paid to the importance of selection of the breedingstock and that this is reflected in the improved quality of the young stock to be seen on many plants. A considerable amount of selection of breeding-stock is carried out by the Instructors on request, and it cannot be too strongly emphasized that the future prospects of any plant depend on a realization of this principle in breeding. The Poultry-Station at Wallaceville continues to render a good service to poultrymen in supplying fresh stock or eggs for hatching, and in carrying out trials in feeding, &c., the results of which are made available through the Department's Journal of Agriculture and also through the Poultry World published by the Poultry Board. This section of the report cannot be closed without a reference to the deaths during the year of two well-known pioneers in the poultry development of this Dominion. I refer to Messrs. F. C. Brown and C. J. 0. Cussen. Mr. Brown for many years occupied the position of Chief Poultry Instructor, from which position he retired in 1935. Mr. Cussen, who succeeded Mr. Brown, died suddenly while still in harness after a period of over forty years official connection with the poultry industry. His death, together with that of Mr. Brown, removed two personalities who were held in the highest respect and esteem by all poultrymen in the Dominion. To their relatives I extend the Department's sympathy. Wool. The report of Mr. J. P. E. Duncan, Wool Instructor, is submitted herewith :— " The outbreak of war brought immediate and far-reaching changes in the methods of disposal of our wool-clip, the whole of which was bought by the British Government at a fixed average price of 9-Bd. sterling per pound over all. This means that after deducting certain handling and appraisement charges the farmer receives an average price of 12-188 d. in New Zealand currency for his wool. In the putting into operation of the ' commandeer,' as the appraisement scheme is popularly known, there was the previous experience of the Great War to draw upon, and for appraisement purposes the New Zealand clip was divided into well over eight hundred different ' types ' of wool each valued according to its own characteristics such as count, length, condition, soundness, colour, &c. It would be out of place here to discuss in any detail the operation of the scheme, but it means in effect that the farmer receives a ' guaranteed price ' for his wool for the duration of the war and one season thereafter. " One of the results of the present conditions is that the problem of wool's competitors, the artificial fibres, has temporarily faded into the background. It would be a grave mistake, however, to forget about them, as without a doubt Germany must be striving to the utmost, cut off as she is from virtually the whole of her wool-supplies, to improve existing types of synthetic fibres and perfect new ones. This must also be the case to a lesser degree in other countries which are finding difficulty in securing their normal wool-supplies. It will be pretty safe to hazard a guess that after the war the question of competition with substitutes will loom even larger as one of the major problems in woolproduction. For this reason the decision of the International Wool Secretariat to carry on with their

13