Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 18 April 1946, page 4


PASTORAL RESEARCH

In 1932, 5,254,000 Sheep ap- proximately half the State flock, were carried on the stations of the northern and goldfields

pastoral areas. Ten years later there

were 2,582,000 sheep in the pastoral

areas, and by the end of the war these flocks had recovered only to 2,924,000. Wool production in the pastoral areas for 1944-45 was approximately 65,000 bales-less than half of what it was 10

years previously.

These figures alone are sufficient jus-

tification for the decision of the State

Government to purchase Abydos and Woodstock stations in the Pilbara dis- trict to establish a pastoral research station. In common with primary producers in other parts of the State the pastoral

industry received a severe setback by

the depression of 1931-33. With no chance to recover, the industry then had to face the worst drought period in its history, a drought so severe that in 1940 a Royal Commission was ap-

pointed to recommend measures to

save our stations from ruin. Since then pastoralists have received over £l,0O0,000's worth of relief in the form of debt adjustment and rent re-

missions. Still the position remains

serious.

Amongst the immediate problems

which research workers will have to

tackle are infertility, drought feeding, blowfly control, regeneration of native

vegetation and vermin control, and the

advantages of tackling them on the

spot are obvious. The Department of Agriculture's research stations in the agricultural areas have carried out

work of enormous value to farmers, and it is surprising that the pastoral

industry has remained so long without similar facilities.

It would appear that the Pilbara pro ject envisages the very desirable state

of affairs—a close liaison between the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, the State Department of

Agriculture and the Institute of

Agriculture at the University. Such

a set-up will give it something more than a State significance, and it is

to be hoped that after the initial

problems have been solved, something will be contributed to that vital

national question—utilisation of our empty North.