AGRICULTURE IN SOUTH TARANAKI.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 4 November 1915, Page 5

AGRICULTURE IN SOUTH TARANAKI.

THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION - IMPRESSED.

The deputation which waited on the Minister for Education on Tuesday night laid such evidence before him in regard to the most important agricultural instruction work being carried on by the Wanganui Education Board in this district, and the desirability of its being carried on uninterruptedly that his legal mind could not fail to tuliy appreciate it and to value it at its true worth. It was the testimony oi keen, intelligent and sucessful farmers, who, from close observation and experience, had now come to fully realise the importance of this technical instruction, and for the sake of the whole district, and for the sake of the whole Dominion, pleaded that there should be no risk of its interruption, lnese farmers stated their case clearly and concisely, and with an unmistakeable conviction, and their evidence was supported in a most remarkable manner during the Minister's brief motor run through the district yesterday. Everywhere he went there were spontaneous and enthusiastic statements made by farmers as to the great value to the district of the work being carried on by the Wanganui Education Boards instructor. They were proud to show the Minister pastures which now carried twice the stock they were TJa }£ ° P' af?Z a ye.ar or two ago, and they frankly admitted that tne change was due to their adoption of the methods laid down by the Board's expert. At Kapuni the Minister was shown some paddocks belonging to Mr Stevenson -There," said the oSn«£ • s a thirty-acre paddock which yielded a very heavy crop of swedes, up to 90 tons to the acre, followed by a ?£P k£ a ape J barle7' which turQed out 102 bushels to the acre of 'firsts' laat paddock was then laid down in pasture in April, and from the following September right on till January it carried 120 yearlings-four to the acre. Proceeding a little further the Minister was shown another paddock. That paddock," said Mr Stevenson, was full of logs two years ago 1 • cleared it up put in a crop of swedes, and in April last it was sown down in grass, and There it is to-day " (The paddock, it may be said, is just now carrying a luxuriant growth of western worths and cow grass.) Between Kaponga and Mangatoki a halt was made at Mr Tait's place. Mr lait formally welcomed the Minister, and showed him some paddocks which had greatly improved under the Wanganui Education Board's instructor's directions. The Minister expressed his gratification at the opportunity afforded him of seeing for himself some of the results of this system of agricultural education, and of noting features introduced which were calculated to help the young people in acquirinit particularly a. technical knowledge o? the work they would be called upon toPerform later on. He was gratified, too, to notice the interest which the tanners themselves took in agricultural instruction. They now evidently recognised that they required the knowledge to enable them to specialise in agricultural methods. Science was coming to. the front. It was going to unlock the mysteries of nature; to show soil qualities, and what was necessary for soil conservation. In America they had realised that they had been taking too much out of the soil, and they were now closely studying the conservation of the natural resources of their country. It must be realised by farmers that they must study the natural resources of their country, not for their owa benefit only; they had a duty to those, coming after, and they must see thatthe natural resources were not impoverished. Hence the necessity fo— scientific instruction, and the information he had gained in Taranaki wonldassist him in emphasising the fact that similar work should be done in other parts of New Zealand, no? only for the* present day farmers, but for the young tanners of the future. He would now be able to speak with first-hand knowledge and of what he himself had seen or the improvements made in South Taranaki as the direct result of technical knowledge and skill brought to bear on agricultural methods. The result of this would be a higher standard ot quality of their produce, an increase in volume, an increase in the wealth of ISew Zealand, which would benefit ultimately not only the farmer, but also the business man in town, the worker in the factory, and the girl behind the counter.

In a conversational discussion, th» Minister suggestd that it had been argued that educationalists should not go on to the land in regard to instruction work. That should be handed over to the Agricultural Department. The educationalists' work should end with the children. How did the farmers regard it? In reply to this, Mr Tait pointed out that the Wanganui Education Board was doing splendid work. They started with the schoolboys and then carried the work right on. The work of the Agricultural Department did not appear to meet the case. He had carefully studied the Agricutlural Journal, but the difficulty was that the same treatment did not suit every locality. Taranaki soil and conditions required special treatment, and results obtained under certain conditions and methods at Moumahaki and experiments carried on. there would probably not be of any practical use to this part of Taranaki. Mr Jacob Marx thought the two departments—i Agriculture and Education -—should work together in these matters for the good of the whole. Youngsters received technical instruction at school, and they were applying that knowledge on their parents' farm** far better than their parents ever did. It would simply be a disaster to the district to cease the present system. Mr Tait: I think 60, too. The Minister: Where should the instruction given by the Education Board cease and where should the Agricultural Department take it up? Mr Marx: It would be difficult to> say iust where the line should bo drawn.

Mr Pirani: Supposing one department, either the Education Depart^ ment or the Agricultural Department, had to be dropped. From your experience as farmers which would you say it should be?

Mr Marx: With regard to the system of using fertilisers on the soil and improved agricultural methods, etc., thati is very well in the hands of the Education Department. The position summarised was that the experimental work was the main sphere of the Agricultural Department, while the teaching; of farmers pertained more to the> Education Board.

At Mangatoki the Minister visited, for a very brief space of time, the farm of Mr J. P. Marx, and noted the luxuriant pasture and the great depth of coior. A brother of this farmer who happened to be present,volunteered one little scrap from his own experience after working under the improved methods. He said that for a. period of three months he had been able to carry nine yearlings, one two-year-old, and one cow on three acrea of land.

At the Mangatoki school Mr C. K. McGuinness gave the Minister the tory of the Mangatoki farmers in regard to this technical instructions Like farmers they were at first seep-

tical*, fey degrees they were convttfcjd, *nd now so satisfied were they of the cooti work being done and great benefits resulting to the farmers by following the expert's directions that they subscribed £40, and thus enabled jW every farmer in the district to partici- it pate in the instruction, advice, and w privileges extended ig> agricultural J> classes. At a recent meeting of their organisation they unanimously came to the conclusion that Mr Browne s methods and work were a success, ana that it would be a great loss to that district if they were ever cut off from the W Tanganui Education Board, — Messrs Perry and S. Hall spoke an similar terms.—Mr Curteis spoke ot the work as it concerned the schools from the pasture point under three headings, viz.—(l) Experiments carried out in .growing mixtures of seeds and the development of pasture;, (2) the growing of pasture plants for seed purposes; (3) the top-dressing of pasture to observe the results. These were of interest to the children and to the farmers. The Maagatoki school grounds were now frequently visited by farmers watching the various experiments, and the farmers' classes had asked the senior boys to Accompany them on the farms when instruction was being given, and it did the boys a wonderful amount of good. He had been teaching agriculture for a number of .years, and although at one time sceptical, he was now satisfied that the methods of the Wanganui- Education Board's instructor were on the right lines. The Teachers' Institute had strongly protested against the possibility 6f the northern portion of the Wanganui Board's district being transferred to the Taranaki Board, and one of the reasons %vas because of the great development in agricultural education. If that development should cease it would be a calamity not only to the school children but to the farmers also, who were at present being educated along specialised lines. The Minister said he was gratified to find throughout a recognition of the importance and benefit of agricultural education, and he hoped that that feel- j ing of recognition would be spread I throughout New Zealand, so that they might have more attention paid to the education of those who were going on the land and those who were already , there. He also noticed with satisfaction that among those who bad spoken of the value of this work were young men and young farmers. It snowed that they recognised that education was essential for the success of the man on the land. He could understand" that where they had a valuable agency like their present instructor they would naturally be anxious that he should continue his work, and he (the Minister) was anxious to see a system of education which would secure to our people a technical training fitting them for the vocation or occupation which would form their life's work. THE MINISTER'S CONCLUSIONS. Summing up the impressions of his visit, the Minister said "The evidence adduced in all parts I have visited, as demonstrated by an improvement in the productive capacity ot the land and the results through the land being put to more profitable use, speak as to the benefits o^ primary education as imparted by the instructor under the Wanganui Education Board. I can understand now why the Wanganui Education Board places such high importance upon this feature of the work they - are carryingoova feature they are extending. The opinion that [ have been led to form is that where you have agriculture in connection with a school the work all round is of a higher standard than the work of those schools in country districts where no gardening work is done or agricultural instruction given. I have heard the praises sung of the agricultural instruction which has been imparted with such good results to the fathers and the children of the farmers of this district. I am sorry, in some other parts of the Dominion children—country children — are not receiving similar instruction to that given by the Wanganui Education Board. I would like to hear the farm- I ers of the district 1 have visited impressing upon farmers in other parts of New Zealand the benefits of the instruction being given to their children. This phase of the work has only to be tested like it has been in the localities I have j visited to receive the same good support that it has received in the Wanganui Education District. A very pleasing feature of the policy of the \\ anganui Education Board is that of looking ahead and providing ample and good areas for school grounds so that the children may be able to take advantage of organised games in the form of athletic exercises. It is to be regretted that this policy of looking ahead and providing for the future requirements in the way of having good play grounds assured to the schools has not" obtained in the past in connection with some districts. It will cost thousands of pounds in some towns to provide new buildings and large play grounds because we have schools in several places wifhotit any play grounds, and so ill-provided in this respect that the children are forced to play in the streets. I also note with satisfaction ! from the Chairman of the Wanganui Board that the policy of that Board has loeen to encourage self-help throughout tne districts, and that the people are willing to put their hands in their pockets and help to provide that which is looked upon in some districts as luxuries in education. The opinion generally, which I have formed is that primary edweation, technical education, or vocational training should receive a j larger share of the' attention of the | Education Department ill an those j branches of education which av.e not j very intimately connected with the ma- i jority of the rising generation, so far j as their life's work is concerned. Probably, as a result of the agricultural education in the primary schools, there was an utter absence of any desire on the part of the country children to take up town occupations. This fact was elicited by personal questions to the pupils themselves. Altogether I was gratified to find an utter absence of | any slackness, incompetence or neglect J in " any of the schools visited In the Taranaki enu of the district so far as I could ascertain."