The Perfect Farmer.

A wonderful testimony to the capacity of our Maori fellow-New Zealanders as workers on the land is contained in the report of the pakeha expert who judged the entries for the Ahuwhenua Trophy, presented by His Excellency the Governor for competition among those occupying farms under the new Native Land Development Scheme. The winner, James Swinton, of Raukokore, East Coast, was so good a farmer that the judge, Mr. Dempster, of the Agricultural Department, considered he should have more land. The second prize-winner was a dairy farmer of Ruatoki, where the Urewera Maoris have become industrious and successful suppliers of a dairy factory.

But the highest praise, following on the prize awards, was given to the native settlers on the Horohoro block, which is on the Rotorua-Atiamuri road. The standard of cleanliness in these Maoris' milking sheds was the highest the judge had ever seen on dairy farms. That such warm commendation should have been won by the newly-settled Maoris is splendid proof of the ability of the people to adapt themselves to the conditions and needs of modern farming life and production for the pakeha market.