H.—29.

1936. NEW ZEALAND.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. ANNUAL REPORT FOR 1935-36.

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

Wellington, 13th August, 1936. Sir — I have the honour to forward herewith, for your Excellency's information, the report of the Department of Agriculture for the financial yea,r ended 31st March, 1936. The report continues the record of the extensive and varied operations of the Department in its work of furthering the efficiency and development of rural industries in fullest compatability with the national welfare. It shows that during the first part of the year under review the advisory, research, and regulatory activities have been carried out broadly in the manner and to the extent that have obtained in recent years, and these activities have been productive of quite satisfactory results in "that our growing knowledge about the improvement of our farming and the results of research are being reflected in practice. However, it may be questioned whether these are being reflected in practice as completely and as rapidly as is both possible and desirable. This is a question which has been receiving considerable attention since I took office. The work of the Department is now being organized on certain basic conceptions, the application of which, it is considered, will lead to more fruitful exploitation of both our current considerable store of knowledge and of future additions to it. It is realized firstly that complete co-operation and co-ordination within the Department itself is desirable. This arises because of the innate complexity of farming, taken in conjunction with the fact that the farm is the business unit in our rural industries, and advisory work to be fully effective must pay strict attention to this fact. While within the Department there must continue to be much specialized endeavour, the fruit of this endeavour must be welded into a complex but unified whole for use in advisory work. Co-operation of the type that is desirable within the Department is desirable also in respect to the relations of the Department with all organizations concerned in the proper advancement of farming, and this is especially true of those who are most directly concerned — i.e., the farmers themselves and their organizations. In short, co-operated effort is being made a keynote of the policy of the Department. A development that may be expected to follow naturally from the unified thought and co-operative effort that are considered desirable in the work of the Department is a trend towards standardized practice, which, reflecting the best knowledge available, should lead to greater general efficiency, begetting both increased production and improved quality in our farm-products.

I—H. 29.