189 



the ftnj^rpT of suspicion on this 

 account can be pointfd. It 

 is in a case lii<e this that 

 the need of a central Austra- 

 lasian authority is felt. The posi- 

 tion to US appears to be (l) that 

 the present standard, in so far as 

 it encourages double niatinjif, is in- 

 jurious to certain breeds ; (2) that 

 * IS a live breed is cortainlv more 

 important than a dead standard, 

 if anvthinrr has to ffo it should be 

 the standard ; (3") that as there is 

 no constituted authority to which 

 thv matter can be deleonted, it is 

 up to each club and individual to 

 do what he can to l)rin!j about a 

 sreneral discussion and decision on 

 the subject ; (4) that as the Aus- 

 tralian neople trusted themselves 

 to manwfactnre a national consti- 

 tution, some small portion of them 

 mav be trusted to evolve a S^ye- 

 'cm-all-a -chance standard." 



4 



Parafield. 



Commenting on Parafield com- 

 petition and the somewhat imex- 

 pected decision to confine the birds, 

 \TC wrote some time ajjo, that it 

 was possible that some competi- 

 tors might have reason to reioice 

 because birds reared on the confine- 

 ment system would be less likelv 

 to be adversely affected by the 

 change to Parafield. Now at the 

 end of the winter laving it appears 

 more than possible that the non- 

 confined birds ■ were somewhat han- 

 dicapped, at least the position of 

 the Victorian contingent, some at 

 least of whom are converts to Mr. 

 Hart's theory, is suggestive. On 

 the other hand it is quite possible 

 that the Victo'Han birds are bet- 

 ter than otirs under any conditions 

 for when discussing Parafield pos- 

 .sibilities wth Mr. Hart, when he 

 was over here in March last, he 

 was verv emphatic about the 

 c;ualitv of the Victorian contingent. 

 " Right ahead of the bulk of your 

 5rtock. Hard as nails. The best 

 lot we ever sent over and bound 

 to be handv at the finish," was 

 about how he summ-ed up the situ- 

 ation. Mr. Hart of course acknow- 

 ledged that the Victorian success 

 was largely built up on S.A. foun- 

 dation. " We have eood birds all 

 right but we didn't buy all vour 

 good ones bv any means, we made 

 better use of them and that's all 

 there is in it." There is probably 

 somethine and perhaps a prettv 

 big something in the theorv of cli- 

 matic outcrossing as it is some- 

 times called. South Australia eot 

 a pull in early competition days 

 bv using N.S.W. and Victorian 



stock and now Vic. appears to be 

 getting a bit back. Quite pos- 

 .sibly and quite apart fronv consti- 

 tut.»inai vigour the Victorian lot 

 at I'rvrrvfield owe a lot to change 

 of air, which in poultry, as well as 

 mankind, has the effect of tenipor- 

 arilly at least speeding things up- 

 This Victorian rivalry has cer- 

 tainly added to the interest of the 

 competition, and Mr. Hart, who* is 

 credited with being the man be^ 

 hind the show, is probably carry- 

 ing around a ]iarticularlv " happy 

 smile. It's a long way from the 

 finish, of course, but we rather 

 fancy the smile will be permanent. 



4 



Costs of Laying Competitions 



A correspondent, whose opinion 

 we value, writes :— Much interested 

 in what you wrote about Dr. 

 Pearl's discovery. I cannot say 

 that I am in any way convinced 

 but shall certainly appreciate more 

 information on the subject. With 

 regard to vour estimate of costs 

 of running a competition I think 

 you are all astray. Labour at so/- 

 a week is ridiculous. Mr. Day 

 alone gets twice as much as that 

 and there are assistants, also there 

 are visitors who have to be taken 

 round and that takes times. I like 

 a fair deal and what you wrote 

 did not seem to me to put the case 

 quite fairly." 



Our correspondent is not alone 

 in doubting the " Pearl " discov- 

 e'ry. There are probably thou- 

 sands of people in all parts of the 

 world who are doing precisely the 

 same thing. To those who have 

 not read of the many extraordin- 

 ary successes which have been re- 

 corded of the application of Men- 

 del's law, the theory naturally 

 sounds like a fairy tale. Still facts 

 are prettv solid things to bump 

 against . 



With respect to the competition 

 costs we can say that we also 

 like a fair deal. It was because 

 we thonght that each party was 

 already doing a reasonably fair 

 thing that we mentioned the mat- 

 ter. There is no need to refer to 

 the Superintendent in the matter. 

 What he may g>et, we do not 

 know, hut whatever it is, there is 

 not the least doubt that it is well 

 earned. We also know that if the 

 added charge is to be made to give 

 him a bit extra, ninety per cent, 

 of the competitors would say, 

 "Take it and welcome." Mr. Day 

 is, as we understand it, superinten- 

 dent of all the poultry at Rose- 



worthy, now Parafield, and nattir 

 ally has and i.s paid for other 

 work than that connected with the 

 competition. 'In passing wc mav 

 mention that in addition to the 

 .so/- a week, which e.x cites our cor- 

 respondent's sen.se of of the ridi- 

 culous, a proportion of the f^iSs 

 would go to labour. However, le.st 

 there were any other ridiiculopis es- 

 timates and j)ecause the question 

 of costs in poultry keeping is in 

 our opinion a matter of import- 

 ance, too often overlooked, we have 

 looked up one or two points. Per- 

 haps the following will noti be with- 

 out interest. 



Interest.— The original 78 pens 

 and yards cost just prnder £4 each, 

 but 'were purchased by the Govern- 

 , ment for £'2~,o. Allow 25 per cent, 

 increase in cost of the remaining 

 56 hou.s'is and yards, £280, add 

 £70 for food storage and mixing 

 room, bins, etc., and we g-et £600. 

 As the Government g^et money at 

 under 4 per cent, and do not be- 

 long to the hou.se of Israel, we 

 can put interest down at £124. 



Depreciation— As the materials, 

 galvanized iron, wire nee ting, and 

 jarrah, are practically i.ndestruct- 

 able, it is diffictilt to fairly esti- 

 mate this. Probably the pens 

 and houses are worth more to-day 

 because of the increased cost of 

 materials than they cost, but we 

 will allow 5 per cent, depreciation, 

 £30. 



Rent— Each pen was 140 by to ft., 

 134 of them cover just over an 

 acre, with roadways, etc., call it 

 two acres. The land cannot be 

 more than £10 per acre and cost 

 much less. Most people would be 

 glad to g-et 10 per cent., £2. 



Cases— We do not know what 

 cases are used but 100 of the old 

 egg circle design would be ample 

 to move the 146.326 eg-gs laid. 

 They cost, with fillers and packing, 

 iust abaut 3/6 each, £17 to/. Al- 

 low 33 per cent, for interest on 

 purchase money and depreciation 

 and we get cost of cases, £5 16/8. , 



Cartaee of birds — Averag-e weight 

 of coops would be about % cwt., 

 call it I cwt., sav seven tons to 

 be shifted eight miles. Four pounds 

 for the job would suit any carrier, 

 but call it £5. 



Cartaee of eegs — Four himd'red 

 and ei<rhty-ei<rht cases at 5' cwt. 

 per case weitrhs 12 tons 4 cwt., 

 with returrted emipties, call it 15 

 tons to be carted four miles. One 

 shilling per ton per mile ought to 

 cover that, £3. 



Food — The report savs, that this 

 is charg>ed at average wholesale 



