AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS. 34 1 



of a country's activity and vitality. The matter is a serious one, 

 and we cannot afford to trifle with it. The idea that a good statis- 

 tician can sit in his office, and, by conjuring with and manipulating 

 figures, can give reliable forecasts and yields of crops, is idiotic, 

 to say the least of it. And yet there are people who have that 

 idea. 



There was once a man, with a scientific and statistical mind, 

 who maintained that by taking the dimensions of a cow and by 

 taking x as the unknown quantity of milk, one could by a simple 

 algebraical equation calculate what the yield of milk would be 

 •after the cow had calved. I am afraid that it will take some time 

 yet before science shall have reached such a wonderful stage of 

 evolution. For the present we are compelled to apply ourselves 

 to present-day realities. 



Legislation. 



Proper and reliable statistics are most essential in connection 

 with the carrying on and the development of the farming 

 industry. Considering the great value attaching to these figures — 

 a value which is becoming more apparent as time goes on — we feel 

 the great necessity of proper legislation in order to facilitate 

 matters — legislation compelling everybody to give correct informa- 

 tion of the nature required. This is especially the case with the 

 Natives. 



As far as secrecy is concerned legislation would prove a 

 safeguard to the public. 



The Statistician. 



The last, but not least, is the statistician. As a statistician 

 I do not wish to express my own opinion of what a statistician is 

 or ought to be; I will let another, more capable than myself, 

 speak. Mr. Arthur L. Bowley, M.A., F.S.S., -says : — 



The statistician furnishes the political economist with the facts, by 

 which he tests his theories or on which he bases them. Since the economist 

 deals chiefly with phenomena relating to groups, and regards the indivi- 

 dual only as a member of a group ; it is to statistics as the science of 

 averages that he looks for his information. When he is dealing with 

 national economy with the volume of trade, for instance, or the purchasing 

 power of money, he is limited to pure theory,' till the statistician has pro- 

 vided the facts. The chemist experimenting in his laboratory is like the 

 statistician : the chemist theorising in his study is like the economist. 

 Because of this relation it may be held to be the business of the statistician 

 to collect, arrange, and describe, like a careful experimentist, but to draw 

 no deductions ; even in an investigation relating to cause and effect, to 

 present evidence, but no conclusions. 



The statistician investigates and gives evidence, but is not the 

 judge to draw conclusions. He ought to be not only an educated 

 man, but at the same time must know the country and local condi- 

 tions, the people and the manners and customs. He is the con- 

 troller of the work executed by the men under him, and for Jfe&p 

 reason these qualifications are essential. 



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