Thursday, ‘March‘7 5196.8,

radius of ten miles. This pasture comprises 1,450 acres and from 500 to 600 cattle were pastured there at all times during the past season. Pasture programs carried on in other areas included the Green Acres Pasture Co-op in the O’Leary area the East Queens pasture in the Vernon-Orwell area, the Central Prince Pasture Cb-op. in the Northam area and the Skinners Pond Community pasture. During the past

year we have worked on twenty-four dams. We now have a dam constructer, by the way, too.

M. Alban Farmer: What did you say? Hon. Daniel J. MacDonald: We have a dam constructer. M. Alban Farmer: Oh, is that what it is.

Hon. Daniel J. MacDonald: This work merely involves solidifying our present struc- tures. They have a tendency to break away, especially last spring when there was quite a thrust to break away, especially last spring when there was quite a thrust of water and a great number of them are by the road side and we figure they have a value. They certainly contribute to the water table and they make a lot of recrea- tion for our own Island people, youngsters that go trouting and so on and they have many other uses. Some new work was done in three areas and plans are under way for construction of two or three more dams in 1968. 1967 was a very busy year for the Farm Improvement Service program. Each farmer required work done in this arrangement was allowed up to sixty hours. This was aimed at helping to spread the assistance over a larger area, Mr. Speaker. 955 projects involving 21,000 hrs. were completed during the year. These included land clearing, disking, raking, grading and leveling, ditching farm ponds and watering holes and woodrows. The total cost of this program, including the farmers’ share, amounted to $340,000.

Henry W. Wedge: Mr. Speaker, I wonder if a question could be asked at the present time. I understand that a group of men. . ..

Hon. Daniel J. MacDonald: A little louder, please. I can’t hear you.

Henry Wedge: I understand a group of men from Western Canada have been in this Province for some time now administering artificial insemination. I was won- dering whether this was interfering with the set-up that the Province has here. I understand that they have semen which comes from Charlebois cattle which is pro- ducing a much larger beef carcass. I was wondering if this is taking our worthy set-up that the Province had here. . ..

Hon. Daniel J. MacDonald: Where did you get insemination out of this land clear- ing anyway?

Henry Wedge: What’s that?

Hon. Daniel J. MacDonald: I don‘t see where you got insemination involved in this land clearing.

Hon. Alexander B. Campbell: No, he’s talking about the cement.

Henry W. Wedge: I was wondering if the Government were sponsoring these people from Western Canada who are taking care of the artificial insemination in the cattle in this Province. They’ve been here for some time.

Hon. Daniel J. MacDonald: They’re down in your part of the Province are they? Henry W. Wedge: Yes.

Hon. Daniel J. MacDonald: Well, it’s news to me, Sir, and if they’re here, we’re not sponsoring them. “’0 have our own artificial insemination program in conjunction with the one in Fredericton, in the co-op at Fredericton and this is going along. It’s been very successful and, no, Mr. Speaker, we’re not sponsoring this at all. They must be down here on an investigation tour.

Henry W. Wedge: They’re making a charge of some ten or fifteen dollars for in- semination and I was wondering whether the Department had this Charlebois semen available here for the farmers.

Unknown Voice: It’s available, yes. —-193—