FARM SCHOOL NEAR CITY

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 263, 6 November 1929, Page 8

FARM SCHOOL NEAR CITY

PROPOSAL OUTLINED. "DEPARTMENT ON THE JOB." PRACTICAL INSTRUCTION IN AGRICULTURE. Negotiations are in progress for an area suitable for the establishment of a farm school adjacent to Auckland. This information was communicated to the Auckland Education Board this morning, when a Department memorandum stressed the need for adequate outdoor instruction in agriculture being given Training College students. The , board was asked to give the matter early consideration with a view to impressing the importance of students acquiring practical knowledge of agriculture. That the Department was putting a rather restricted interpretation on the word "agriculture" was the opinion voiced by Mr. H. S. W. King, who urged that it be pointed out to the Department that it was more or less impossible to carry out practical observations in agriculture until a suitable school had been provided. Could the board undertake practical agriculture at the Training College ? He did not think it could. The Department spoke of the importance of primary production and practical instruction pertaining to it, and it was time a school with definite agricultural bias was established in the vicinity of the city so that trainees could receive proper experience. The Chairman (Mr. A. Burns): That is in train now.

"It has been •in train for eighteen months," replied Mr. King. "You would be nearer if you said eighteen years," retorted Mr. J. Boddie. It was argued by Mr. R. Hoe that valuable work could be accomplished with demonstration plots at the Training College. Mr. E. C. Banks thought that next in importance to the school subjects of English and arithmetic were the subjects of plant life, animal physiology and physical geography. Some of these studies could be carried out with small plots at the Training College. Seeing that half the teachers went to the country and ]S T ew Zealand was essentially dependent on primary production, agricultural subjects should be taught trainees. Mr. Burns: Tenders are now being called for soil for a half-acre plot at the Training College. That will give some practical experience to the students. The Director of Education is also negotiating for an area of thirty-eight acres within easy access of the city with the object of establishing an agricultural area for Training College trainees and Technical School trainees. While the Department may have been a little dilatory it was on the job now. It was agreed to strengthen the Department's hand by impressing on it the need for the establishment of a farm school in the Auckland district.