33 



Early in 1906 I had the pleasure of 

 assisting in the formation of the first 

 one — "The Southland Beekeepers' As- 

 sociation" — (all previous associations 

 being defunct), with my friend, Mr. 

 James Allen, as president, an office he 

 recently relinquished. This association 

 has done excellent work all through its 

 career, and it is worthy of mention that 

 it was the first association to give unani- 

 mous support to the amen\,lments to the 

 Apiaries Act, which have since been 

 adopted by Parliament. The Waikato, 

 Hawke's Bay, Canterbury, and Poverty 

 Bay Beekeepers' Associations were 

 formed not long after. These associa- 

 tions, by giving their unanimous support 

 in favour of legislation, strengthened the 

 hands of the Department, and made it 

 comparatively easy to bring about the 

 desired result. 



The formation of the South Taranaki, 

 North Otago, Pahiatua, South Canter- 

 bury, and Marlborough Associations fol- 

 lowed in point of time, and these in their 

 turn have added fresh strength to all 

 movements in the interests of commer- 

 cial beekeeping in Xew Zealand. 



STARTING THE FIRST STATE 



APIARY. 



Some attempt had been made to start 



an apiary at the Ruakura Government 



Earm before I joined the Department, 



but as there was no one on the farm 

 who understood the management of bees, 

 nothing beyond purchasing some colonies 

 and hives and placing them on the farm 

 had been done. In September, 1905, I 

 was requested to start a permanent 

 model apiary with the fifteen colonies of 

 bees already on the farm. A site was 

 chosen, an extracting-house built on 

 cheap but efficient lines, as a model for 

 beekeepers with little capital, and 

 everything was done that could in any 

 way assist beginners by example. 



It was decided to increase our opera- 

 tions up to a;bout 100 colonies, so as to 

 provide sufficient work during the busy 

 season to keep two or three cadets going. 

 As my duties required my travelling all 

 over the Dominion, someone had to be 

 appointed to take charge, and in 

 January, 1906, Miss Lena Livesay was 

 appointed to the position as manageress 

 of the apiarj', a position she filled in a 

 most efficient manner until she retired 

 in May, 1909, to go to her people in Eng- 

 land. She has now a large apiary in 

 Canada, where, according to recent ad- 

 vice, she is doing well. 



If we may judge of the usefulness of 

 the Ruakura State apiary by the many 

 hundreds, I may say thousands, of pro- 

 spective beekeepers who have visited it 

 to glean information how to start to the 

 best advantage, and the successful train- 



A CORNER OF THE RUAKURA STATE APIARY. 



