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Agriculture Remains Great Basic Industry, States Hon. ]..S. Martin Minister of Agriculture Makes Vigorous Defense of Work Done by In- quiry Committee, and Stresses Value of Co- operalive Farming ACHIEVE ECONOMY. WITHOUT STINTING | A vigorous defense of the work of | the Agricultural Inquiry Committee was made in the Legislature terday afternoon by Martin, Minister of when, speaking in the completion of mates, he reviewed his department. yes- Hon. John 8. Agriculture, connection with agricultural esti- the activities of It Was suggested that the departe- | ment might have itself supplied the farmers of the Province with the information acquired by the commit- tee and that the gepartment officials might have accomplished the re- sults brought about by the commit- | tee. Mr. Martin admitted that department might have obtained the information given to the Commission. but mnainfained that the committee's the | work had resulted in distinct bene- | fits to the agricultural industry in the Province, and that all expendi- tures in conreection with its activity were fully justified. An Extended Address. Speaking for an hour and a half, the Minister dealt with the problems faced by farmers, outlined the edu- cational work being carried on in connection with the agricultural in- dustry, explained the advantages of co-operative marketing, and detailed research work being done by his de- partment in connection with the fer- tilizing of the farm lands of On- tario. At 6 o'clock he adjourned, to complete his review today. In his opening remarks Mr. Mar- tin pointed out that a comparison of revenue showed that agriculture was still the great basic industry of the Province, “The revenue from dairy cows alone,” said he, “equals the revenue from kinds and forests, even including all lumber, paper and pulp operations. And it far exceeds the mining revenue.” In mining operations, said he, the mineral wealth of the Provinee was being used up. But proper agricultur- al operations did not use up the Proy- ince’s agricultural wealth. “Last year,” said he, “there was $250,000,- 000 in revenue in field crops. This year we will no doubt exceed thai, With proper farming, our revenues is continuous. There is no reason why in a 100 years from now we should not repeat and exceed each yearly crop, increasing the returns from the land each year.” Practiced Economy. His department, he went on, had tried to practice economy without 6tinting. Every branch had _ gone ahead during the past year. Progress in certain branches had been accen- a a ; make just as good a living on | farm “Is there any reason,” s : inquired L. W. Oke (U.F.0O., East Lambton), w hy your department couldn’t have got that information ‘and brought about the results without the efforts of the committee? seems to me that in your denart- ment all the information should be available without the help of a committee. It seems an extraordi- nary expenditure, I want your can- did opinion in this matter.” An Impartial Committec. “Possibly we could have obtained the information that the committee obtained,” replied the Minister, “But this was an impartial commit- tee appointed by the Legislature, members of this House. Our of- ficers haven't the prestige of mem- bers of this House, and the mem- bers of the committee ficials,”’ “Is it Lethbridge (Progressive, West Middlesex), “that there was a re- quest from the organized farmers of the Province for a Commission?” “Yes,” said Mr. Martin, “the Com- mission was asked for by the U.I°.O.” “The economic side of the agri- cultural industry,” said Mr. Martin, continuing, “is of supreme impor- tance, The farmer faces the ques- tion of making a living, of provid- ing for a family. Not only of mak- ing a living, but having a standard of living equal to that of other people, “To induce boy on the farm to be a farmer,’ he declared, ‘‘we must be able to prove that he can the the the city.’ Two factors in the progress of the agricultural industry, said he, were increased production and mar- as in keting. “We are doing everything we can to assist in co-operative marketing,” said he. Benefits of Co-Operation, Illustrating what mignt be done in a co-operative movement for the marketing of apples, he referred to the Norfolk Fruit Growers’ <As- sociation, which celebrated its ' twenty-first birthday last week. Be- than the year before. While the ex- | penditures showed quite an increase | ‘ures, he said, had been made in the | of | ' grain grown shall fore the association was organized apples brought a dollar a_ barrel. Last year the growers received from $2.50 to $5 a barrel, depending-.on the various grades and types of the apples, The association, literature, urged the high-grade apples, and gave tech- nieal advice to the growers. And the cost for having “all this work done,” said Mr, Martin, was only 25 cents a barrel. : Outlining the increases in prices of farm products during the last 5 vears, the Minister referred to reports of the markets in Simcoe. In 1902 chickens brought 7 cents a pound; now 40 cents a pound. In 1902 turkeys were 9 cents a pound; now 47 cents. Increases in Live Stock. “But,” he said, “the big increases were in live stock.” He to give costs for 1902 and the pres- ent, as follows: Bacon, 12 to 14 cents, 30 to 34 cents; butter, 16 to 18 cents, 45 to 50 cents; live hogs, $4,50, $10.50; dressed hogs, $6.75, $15 to $16. ‘ “The big money today,” said he, “is not so much in planting and Sell- by growing of » ing grain. That is rudimentary farming. We recommend: that be fed on the farm and turned into whatever prod- ucts you are interested in.” He felt that the agricultural courses carried on by the depart~- ment did much to keep young peo- ple on the farm and interested in farming. Last year in Ontario there were 41 one-month courses, with a total attendance of 1,362, and 7 three-month courses attended by 366 boys and 460 girls. ; \Vwuvsda y, Marve 3) sy It | ; received aj better reception than would our of-! not a fact,” asked J, as campaign | continued | - a. ——— — = Soil Surveys. . Se Next he dealt with the “soil sur- veys”’ being made in various parts of the Province. The demand for such surveys had really come from the tobacco industry, and in Kent and Essex, where. many farmers wondered if their land was suitable for tobacco growing, the surveys had been completed. Elgin was one of the next counties to be surveyed, he said, adding: ‘‘We intend to expand, and undertake this work on a larger scale.” He referred to experiments car- ried on in 24 counties in connec- tion with the fertilization of soil. The findings were just made public, de- scribing the best methods of fertil- izing. It had been found that when land had been fertilized the results did not wear out in one season, but went on year after year. In outlining work at the Ontario Ag- ricultural College, Mr. Martin paid high tribute to Prof. Zavitz. Dr. Zavitz, he said, had labored ener- getically, until now he was in poor jhealth ‘He is,” said the Minister, “a martyr in the service of the Proy- i ince. Just before adjourning Mr. Mar- ,tin pointed out that research work had resulted in farm production that ‘had meant some $200,000,000 &> the Province. GOVERNMENT DENIES BLAME FOR CALLING COMMITTEE, $0 LATE But Liberal Leader Sinclair Attributes to It All Responsibility RESOLUTIONS HELD OVER Liberal Leader William E. N. Sinclair has seven resolutions con- cerning the public accounts of 1925- 26 which he intends moving for pur- Poses of investigation, but he will not move them until the Public Ac- counts Committee of the 1928 ses- sion of the Legislature convenes. Mr. Sinclair was unprepared to go on yesterday when the committee of this session expressed itself in un- mistakable terms as ready to hear evidence and to sit as long as re- quired for that purpose, and conse- quently he had to rest his case with the generosity of the committee that will be appointed next session. Mr. Sinclair declined, when chal-, lenged by Conservative members of | the committee, to divulge the iden-,| tity of parties whose names are con-! nected with resolutions, on the. ground that the names might be} “bandied about’ during the year, | with the possibility of injustice being done. Yesterday’s committee sitting— the first and only one of the pres- ent session—proved to be a pyro- technical affair, that was ‘‘touched off’ the moment Mr, Sinclair, reit- erating that the Government, and it alone, was responsible for the late calling of the committee, and that it would be “impossible to conduct a probe at such a late hour,” proposed in a motion, seconded by Alex. Me- whinney, member for North Bruce, that the public accounts for the year ended be referred to the, 1928 com- mittee. Ready to Go Home. “We have discharged our duties as’members of the Legislature,” said Mr. Sinclair. “The opportunity to go into the accounts has gone by. Members have made arrangements to go back to their businesses. With the Assizes coming. on at Whitby, it is practically impossible for me to stay-here beyond the date at which we hope to close the House. The solution is that the public accounts be open fcr investigation next year. Under the strict rules, that is not possible, but if the committee says so it can be done.”