The Government Poultry Station, Burnham, was founded by the Department of Agriculture in 1899, and is one of the four Government poultry stations in New Zealand, the others being situated at Auckland, Wanganui, and Milton, Otago. The object of its establishment was to raise purebred fowls, and, by disposing of these at slightly over cost price, to relieve the farmers from the expense and accompanying risk of importation, and thus give encouragement to the industry upon proper lines. The farm comprises ten acres, and was formerly in the hands of the Education Department as a portion of the Burnham Industrial School estate. It is ring-fenced with wire-netting, and is subdivided into thirty-four pens, each provided with a breeding house and other necessary appointments. There is also a large shed upon the station for the accommodation of brooders, incubators, and food-milling machinery. The brooder department, containing both hot air and hot water brooders, is capable of accommodating 600 chickens, whilst the incubators, four in number, are made to hold 120 eggs each. The machinery employed in the preparation of food consists of a bone cutter, a grit mill, a grain crusher, a clover cutter and a vegetable or root cutter; and the foods in their crude state are obtained from Christchurch. All the common species of purebred fowls, together with many rarer kinds, are bred upon the station, which now has over 150 breeding birds and 450 young stock on hand. Since its establishment the farm has been well supported, eggs and stud fowls being sent to all parts of the colony. A manager and several assistants are permanently employed at the station and the Government expert, Mr Hyde, makes periodical visits.