NORTH OR SOUTH?

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 162, 10 July 1926, Page 15

NORTH OR SOUTH?

AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE SITE, i i PREMIER URGES NATIONAL ASPECT. STATUS OF LINCOLN COLLEGE. (By Telegraph.— Parliamentary Bcporter.) WELLINGTON. Friday. ••When wo look into the question at all in connection with primary industry, the Agricultural College looms up," remarked the Prime Minister, when discussing Sir Frank Heath* report on scientific organisation, in the House of Representatives to-day. New Zealand's efforts in this respect must be centralised, he continued, but here ho realised thero was some difficulty with many members because they had at the moment one agricultural college in the- South Island. That College was managed by a Board of Governors, anrl in no sense was it a fetatc institution. The Government assisted it from time to time, but only to" a limited extent. "The next point is, would the board of governors of Lincoln College be prepared to hand over that concern to the State? 1 should say decidedly they would not. It is not, therefore, in any sense a national concern. It was intended primarily for the use of Canterbury and it has valuable uses, but that point should not be lost sight of It should bo brought up to date. Nobody who has been over that institution can say its housing so far as laboratories and buildings arc concerned is satisfactory." The Money Question. The Premier said he knew the money question would be brought up. How were they going to do it? Well, they could not do it all at once; it must cost money. But agriculture was our biggest industry, the one we depended on, because at the moment the only possibility of developing our secondary industries was to provide sufficient for our own people. They must take the broadest possible view of the matter in makin" up their minds whether Lincoln College could fill the bill. It had disabilities, 'and he had mentioned one. Another wae that it was primarily a Canterbury College. . Mr. G. E. Sykes (Masterton): It is endowed. Mr. E. J. Howardt (Christchurch South): That is not a disadvantage. The Prime Minister went on to cay that one of our chief industries, and likely to bo so for many years, was dairying, and Canterbury was not wha.t would be called a dairying province. Sir Frank Heath had drawn attention to this point, and had suggested that the Agricultural College should he. somewhere in the centre of the North Island. Mr. D. G. Sullivan (Avon): You cannot get any college suitable for everything. The Hon. J. G. Coatee: That is why it is essential Lincoln should be maintained and brought up to a higher standard. But its purpose is primarily agriculture. With dairying we have to come to the North Island before we are in the thick of it. The Prime Minister explained that he had been asked to allow Sir F.tenk Heath to select the site, but he hli objected. If we could not settle thle ourselves we were certainly not going to send outside the country to get someone to do so. The Governmesf had practically decided on the location, following out the lines of the report. Mr. Sullivan: Do you include Lincoln College as an integral part of the scheme ? Mr. Coates replied that the scheme was to co-ordinate and to secure greater co-operation between the different scientific institutions in the Dominion, so that Lincoln College would be one of them. A specific question had been asked come time ago as to the status of Lincoln College, and would it be maintained? What was meant by this question was whether the certificate of Lincoln College would be barred by the operation of the central college. He had to be quite candid with the questioner and tell him that it ran in hia mind that they had to run with the times and brush aside many of the difficulties which came in the way, so as to place New Zenland in the position of running alongside its competitors. So the central collego must eventually be the senior college. It would undoubtedly take the senior position as time went on. The questioner, on the other hand, was told that the diploma of Lincoln College, ■with Canterbury College, would certainly rank as a certificate. The Hon. D.'Buddn: It is the question of the bachelor of agriculture degTee, Mr. Coatrs: I understand it was never the intention to interfere with it. but m> say it would never be altered would be to say something I am not sure about. Certainly it "has not been the intention of those I have discussed it. *ith to interfere with the issue of Degrees. Not a Parochial Matter. Nobody would consider the site of tho Agricultural College from ' ;i parochial point of view, said Mr. H. E. 'Holland, Opposition leader. All who realised the groat need for expert agricultural Jtnowled ? p and instruction would desire to see the college established on the most suitable site available in New Zealand. Scientific knowledge would brinw intensive production and closer settlement which would mean extermination or rabbits and noxious weed pests. Part oi the science must embrace better means of distribution, which went hand ™ Hand with greater production. In conclusion, Mr. Holland trusted that £meoln College woulrl not lose its status ™ any way when the agricultural college was established, and that the activities of experimental farms would be increased. Mr W D. Lysnnr said it was to be Doped that parochial interests with regard to the agricultural college would •" irely eliminated. The only two racfbrs for consideration were situation and climate. The college ought to be within reasonable distance of Wellington. wr. TTasli: Hoar, hpar. Mr Lysnar: It should bo noar to Wellington. I S3 y. Mr. \ asa . And on good lam] «, ! r, Lvsnar: No, I do not agree with Wat Tt should be on rather poor land, ep that it could be worked up by scientific means, so that valuable experiments could be carried out. Mr. n. W. Forbes thought all feelings other than those of national welfare should be set aside.. If we could establish the college and obtain all the advantages without spending huge sums of money, so much the better. A Reform member: That is impossible. r . Mr. Forbes t I dont know that it is.

He went on to say that he did not think Lincoln College should be taken over by the Government. That would be no solution of the dificulty, since it would mean that Lincoln would then lobo it 8 Canterbury character, and become merely a number on a list of Government institutions. That sort of thing did not increase efficiency. "If our college ie going to be at all comparable to those of England, Canada, and United States of America, it must have a home science department," said Mr. F. Waite (Clutha). We spent a lot of time on teaching how to feed and house pigs, but we did not spend nearly enough time on instruction regarding the feeding of the human being. It had been left to an American woman to go into the vitamine content of New Zealand butter. The result of that investigation was going to be a great talking point, because, if it could be shown that New Zealand butter had higher vitamine content than the Jlanish product, our butfor would be in great demand. Mr. Waite thought that if New Zealand could afford to spend £50,000 on turning out batches of lawyers, 50 per cent of whom were not wanted, then the Dominion could quite properly spend money on the education of farmers. Research Stations. The Minister of Agriculture, Hon. O. •T. Hawken, said that a central agricultural college was needed as the directing agency for a number of research stations throughout ihe Dominion. It had been suggested that the proposed expenditure of £20,000 a year on the college was too much. However, the total expenditure on university education was f 150,000 a year, and in view of the great importance of the primary industries he did not think that £20.000 a year was at all excessive. The college would not only train instructors and give short courses to farmers, but also, as he had said, would be a centre for research. Prime Minister in Reply. The Prime Minister, in reply, said he was pleased to find the general tenor of the speeches was in favour of the report and in approval of the Government's attitude toward it. He was fully convinced the Prime Minister should be at the head of the Department. The Council of Experts would be New Zealanders, and he was confident they could get a New Zealander to act as its permanent head. There were at present four research scholarships awarded. These were worth about £100 each. This number, he thought, would be doubled. He wished again to affirm that it was not intended to interfere with Lincoln College, but in the case of the new college it must be in the centre of the districts with which it would be most closely allied,, and that was the North Island. Scientific libraries would be established, and an extension of the Meteorological Department was contemplated. He then moved that Sir Frank Heath's report be referred to the Government for consideration. This was agreed to on the voices.